Well renewing the storied Clemson vs Georgia series appears to be getting close happening according to CBSSportsline. I’ve been to two of these games. The atmosphere was incredible. The 2013 game that Clemson won 38-35 was one of the best games I ever attended. The teams have a great history each other, and in the foreseeable future they look like national powers. The schools are less than 100 miles apart. It’s certain to be one of the top non-conference games of any year, and both fanbases will love it. The problem is it’s a bad idea for both schools when it comes to reaching the playoffs.
I wrote back in December that the playoff committee had devalued the worth of playing tough non-conference games. I’ve been challenged on twitter for this opinion from some followers I highly respect, but on this point we didn’t agree.
You don’t gain as much by winning the game as what you do losing the game. The risk is too high.
Since the playoffs era has began, there has been 1 team that lost a non-conference game and still made the playoffs. It was Ohio State in 2014 when they lost to Virginia Tech on September 6. They didn’t lose a game the rest of the year, and barely made it into the playoffs as a 4 seed.
Now look at the teams that have just missed the playoffs with an additional non-conference loss…
2015 – #6 Stanford won the Pac 12, but lost to 16-6 to Northwestern
2016 – #5 Penn State won the Big 10, but lost to Pittsburgh 42-39
2017 – #5 Ohio State won the Big 10, but lost to Oklahoma 31- 16
2017 – #7 Auburn made it to the SEC Title game, but lost to Clemson 14-6
You may be able to argue that winning a high caliber non-conference affords you a loss in conference, but I’d counter that last year Clemson, Georgia, and Oklahoma still make the playoffs without wins over Auburn, Notre Dame, and Ohio State last year. Now add that additional loss to Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma and tell me if they make the playoffs in 2017.
The fact is even though the playoffs are an improvement over the previous BCS System, (for power 5 schools) the best and easiest path to the playoffs is simply not lose – so why choose to play a loseable game by choice?
The loser of the Georgia and Clemson game will basically be forced to run the table the rest of the year to make the playoffs. In premier football conferences like the SEC and ACC, that’s a difficult path and I don’t think it’s worth risk.
These kind of games are interesting, fun, great for TV, great for fans. I enjoy them too, but I’m just not scheduling it if I’m AD of a projected playoff contender.
