[FirstFlaBn]

Let me try again. I'll do it in steps.

1. 11 games. (Still with me?)

2. 7 conference games, home and home, plus FSU. That's eight total, or four home games every year.

3. Georgia in Jax. That makes nine games total.

I know this is getting tricky for you, but hang in there.

That leaves two games.

If your financial obligations require six home games and you have four committed through SEC and FSU, guess how many you need to get to six. That's right! Two. Which means no road games available outside FSU and the SEC. Can you tell me any major team that doesn't play six (or more) home games?

See, it's not really that complicated when somebody holds your hand through it, is it?

It's not only my opinion that the SEC year after year plays the best ball. If they didn't, the network guys who get paid millions of bucks to get ratings wouldn't pay the most to the SEC. Check the figures, the SEC consistently ranks first in TV money, even though the natural TV market for the PAC10 and Big Ten is larger. What does this mean? It means more people around the country are interested in watching the SEC teams play.

I'm beginning to sense you're a Colorado fan upset with the bad luck of scheduling a pushover game to open with and having it turn out that team is better than expected. If so, I sympathize. In '91 Florida played at Syracuse, a team that had been so-so for awhile. Didn't work out. UF's only loss in the regular season. So it goes.

A sixteen team playoff would be stupid. It would include BYU and a few 8-3 teams from the big conferences. TV money is why the game is so big, and TV would never risk the fluky chance of losing an 11-0 team from a big TV market in the first round to reward either a team that played a chump schedule or a team that lost twice early and again late.

I get upset sometimes with TV's power, sitting in the stadium through endless commercial breaks and ever-changing start times, but he who pays the piper calls the tune. The current system is the best possible considering these realities.

[Binghamton_native]

even though the natural TV market for the PAC10 and Big Ten is larger

How can the natural market for the Pac10 be larger? We have CA, AZ, WA, and OR as states with schools in the Pac10. I would think that the population density of the northeast, midwest, and southeast would provide a larger TV audience. Granted, LA is a big TV market. But the interest in a Pac10 game goes down markedly if it doesn't include USC or UCLA.

[Diddle E. Squat]

OK, you're right, forgot to include the world's largest cocktail party in the math. Sorry about that. But nothing precludes FL from playing in a pigskin classic type game. I'd be shocked if they had never been approached about participating.

A 16 team playoff is only stupid if you are a team that regularly rides the polls to one of the 2 champ game slots(aka FSU). Why give up the free ride and enhanced chances over other teams for a playoff that would force you to perform on the field. Much easier to smooze the writers for a higher ranking than to actually have to earn it(and I'll admit, Texas also benefits from this pre-season, they have often been overrated). Just ask Washington about last year. And don't tell me that Virgina Tech was the second best team in the country a few years ago. But the polls are a joke. Nothing short of a playoff will prove who is the best, it will only be a subjective popularity contest that will prove who is best among the two prom queens chosen to participate in one game.

[max61]

Additionally I have been informed (and I am attempting to validate), the SEC also produces the most NFL players.

---max