Does an All-SEC Championship Game Make other Conferences Jealous?

[Hawgzinbowlz]

We are getting closer and closer to what the NFL has. Many are looking forward to it. Who else is looking forward to players resting the last week of the regular season for teams that have already won their division? Playoff folks are going to end up ruining college football.

Now that's some funny stuff. +1

" GO HOGS "

[Hogsolo]

Is there a way for both to lose?  That's the only scenario that could interest me in any way for the game.  I'm onto Hogs 2018 and NFL playoffs.   

[oldhawg]

Now that's some funny stuff. +1

" GO HOGS "

Players already skip meaningless bowl games to prepare for the pro draft, or not to risk injury.

The SEC Conference Champion is always going to be included in the college football playoffs.

Scenario:  Arkansas has clinched the SEC West title with one game left in the regular season.  With a spot in the college football playoffs assured if they win the SEC Championship game, why not rest a few key players against an underdog Missouri team?  Other than seedings, what is at risk?  Get people who are banged up a little a chance to heal before the championship game in Atlanta.

[Peter Porker]

Players already skip meaningless bowl games to prepare for the pro draft, or not to risk injury.

The SEC Conference Champion is always going to be included in the college football playoffs.

Scenario:  Arkansas has clinched the SEC West title with one game left in the regular season.  With a spot in the college football playoffs assured if they win the SEC Championship game, why not rest a few key players against an underdog Missouri team?  Other than seedings, what is at risk?  Get people who are banged up a little a chance to heal before the championship game in Atlanta.

And that's what will happen. Say goodbye to end-of-the-regular season rivalry games. I mean, you'll still have them, but they'll sometimes be meaningless with players resting. It's going to be really sad when that happens.

[bennyl08]

First, college season is a lot shorter than the NFL season. Less time to pull ahead and clench anything.

Two, seeding would matter a lot. Heck, look at the what the playoff would have included this year with 8 teams. Difference in one seed vs 3 seed could be huge, and the difference in win totals is small to zero, so an additional loss could really make things even more difficult.

Three, why is anybody assuming it would be tied to conference championships? If you go 8-4 and win the conference, you don't deserve to get into the playoff. Plain and simple. 8 best teams regardless. Most every year that would include all the major conferences, but if your champ isn't one of the top 8, then too bad.

Four, we are talking about 8/120+ teams. There's another 50+ teams playing in bowl games where taking off a game in the regular season is going to drop them from the cotton bowl to the liberty bowl. Sure, if you aren't in the playoff, maybe you don't care what bowl you are in anyways. So, how is that any different from the past 100 years of college football anyways? Most bowl games aren't played by anybody who has any claim to a national title. If teams stop caring and looking to next year and if players stop caring and looking to the NFL, that's not on the system, that's on the individuals.

Lastly, the resting of players is an overblown problem in the NFL in the first place. What, the ram's and cheifs were the only 2/32 who really did that week 17 this year. Everybody else still had something to fight for. Quite often the conference championships aren't clinched in college until week 17. For the times that they aren't, if you want to be in the playoff, winning your conference with 3 losses is a good chance that you won't make the playoff despite being the conf champ. So, If you have 2 losses, you absolutely can't rest any players, you need to win the game. If you have 1 loss, there's several 2 loss teams that are left out, so you are taking a gamble that the conference championship win will be enough to put you above those other 2 loss teams and into the playoff. If you are undefeated, odds are you will want to keep striving for perfection. Even if you are entirely guaranteed, plenty of NFL teams don't rest their starters because they don't want to get rusty. So, the odds of being in a position to rest your starters in college football is low to begin with, and the odds that a team would do that in the first place is low as well. In short, it's a complaint that has very little likelihood of manifesting in reality.