Paul Finebaum emphasizes how College Football Playoff negated the regular season, SEC championship

Paul Finebaum The recent changes to the playoffs of College football made the conference championships less significant. The field expanded from four teams to 12 last season and was another significant change in sport.

The top four conference champions all receive an automatic bid for the playoffs, so one could argue that there is still a certain meaning in the game. But Finebaum argued that after the season, a conference title does not matter if they did not win in the CFP. He pointed to it Georgiawho won the SEC championship, but lost as an example in the quarter -finals of the playoff.

“I spoke to that Kirby Smart And I tried to make a caller for a caller who asked me what was going on with Georgia, ”Finebaum said Mcelroy and Cubelic in the morning. “I got to the point that I said:” Hey, it's not that bad. You have won the SEC championship. “He looked at me and said:” Well, they seem to have forgotten that too. “It is a double -edged dancer.

“… Unfortunately, the CFP is now so big and so important that it negated what I am for sacrosankt and that is, and this is the SEC championship. It used to be the mantra at the beginning of the year.” We do not try to win anything other than the SEC championship. “And I sincerely doubt that many fans or players in Georgia were so great when they packed out of the dome on January 1, after they had lost against Notre lady and they told their parents, friends and their friends:” Hey, we are still second champions. “It was diluted as much as I hate.”

In the past, winning a conference title did not mean the right to fight a national title. Some teams who knew that they wouldn't do the playoff were just happy to fight this goal. But now, argues Paul Finebaum, the following games are more important.

He pointed to it TexasThe runner-up in the second title game for Georgia. The Longhorns got into the semi -finals of the CFP and he said he had not noticed any fans who complain after the season about the defeat of the conference championship.

“Listen, I'm a purist and traditionalist and I am as old school as you can come in today's media, but as much as we love this game and it was celebrated and the memories of there are enough to fill 10 30 for 30S, the problem is that there is something more important for the next week, ”said the SEC network analyst. Clemson is proud to have won the ACC. Why? Because it brought it to the CFP. If this is the case, it is more important.

“But last year they had the two best teams again. When it was over, it was a big victory for Georgia because I think there was the first round. But Texas wasn't that bad either. They had to go home and play, some said, inferior teams.

We are still early in this new era of playoff and College football in general. But based on what he saw last season, Finebaum can already see how it changes an aspect of the game that many love.