I'm almost stunned to be reading him saying this:
Over the last year, the possibility of automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC has been tossed around. One of those proposals had the SEC and Big Ten receiving three automatic bids with the ACC and Big 12 each getting two with another bid for the highest-ranked conference champion from other major FBS conferences.
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer told On3 last week he’s a believer in auto bids. And Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule pitched the Big Ten receiving four auto bids at media days last summer.
“I don’t care how good you are, I think you ought to prove it,” Finebaum responded. “It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of. The SEC and the Big Ten are always going to get a pretty large number. Listen, not only do I understand this argument, I’ve made the argument before in terms of, ‘Hey, the SEC, they go through a different gauntlet than another conference.’
“But I also just don’t like starting the season knowing no matter how good or bad your teams are, you’re going to be grandfathered in. To me, there’s something wrong with that.”
Over the last year, the possibility of automatic bids for the Big Ten and SEC has been tossed around. One of those proposals had the SEC and Big Ten receiving three automatic bids with the ACC and Big 12 each getting two with another bid for the highest-ranked conference champion from other major FBS conferences.
South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer told On3 last week he’s a believer in auto bids. And Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule pitched the Big Ten receiving four auto bids at media days last summer.
“I don’t care how good you are, I think you ought to prove it,” Finebaum responded. “It just smells of a level of elitism that I’m not a big fan of. The SEC and the Big Ten are always going to get a pretty large number. Listen, not only do I understand this argument, I’ve made the argument before in terms of, ‘Hey, the SEC, they go through a different gauntlet than another conference.’
“But I also just don’t like starting the season knowing no matter how good or bad your teams are, you’re going to be grandfathered in. To me, there’s something wrong with that.”
