College GameDay 2015

Last year College GameDay was under a microscope as ESPN entered into a business relationship with the SEC and the creation of SEC Network.  The nature of college football, with opinion and narrative driving so much of the conversation around the sport and having a tangible effect on the final rankings, demands a closer watch of potential conflicts of interest.

So with ESPN being the unquestioned top dog in college football media and with them investing so much in the SEC, worries of ESPN’s potential “SEC bias” became a major talking point last year.  It all came to a head with College GameDay seemingly visiting an SEC school every week and the program spending an inordinate amount of time covering the league compared to everyone else.  The SEC got over twice the coverage of any other conference on ESPN’s flagship college football show in 2014.  The claims of slanted coverage became so loud that Chris Fowler forcefully responded to those critics on College GameDay and ESPN’s perceived favortism towards the SEC even became a talking point for ESPN analysts themselves.

The company line from Bristol was that it was not the money invested in the SEC that saw them get so much love, but the caliber of football.  When the SEC got knocked off their pedestal, we were told, things would even out.

To ESPN’s credit, that’s been the case this year.

Here you can see hosts by conference for each of the last five years.  Just for clarity’s sake, the host locations count for both conference games and non-conference games.  Also, 2015’s count includes the trip to Stillwater for Oklahoma-Oklahoma State and the Army-Navy Game in December.  Incredibly, no conference has more than three occasions to host College GameDay with the Big Ten leading the way (Michigan State-Oregon, Michigan-Michigan State, Ohio State-Michigan State) and the SEC tied with the Big 12 and Pac 12.

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
SEC 4 6 4 6 2
Big Ten 3 1 3 1 3
Big 12 1 1 1 2 2
Pac 12 3 2 3 1 2
ACC 1 1 3 2 1
Neutral Site 1 1 0 1 1
Non Power 5 1 1 0 1 2
FCS 0 0 1 2 1

ESPN has lived up to their end of the bargain this year and not stuck with the SEC just because of prevailing narratives or money invested in the SEC Network.  Look at the Top 10 and Top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings and you’ll see that the SEC isn’t at the top.  There’s just one team in the Top 10 (#2 Alabama) and four overall in the Top 25 (#12 Florida, #18 Ole Miss, #21 Mississippi State).  Compare this to last year’s rankings in Week 13 and it’s a marked difference.  The SEC had four teams in the Top 10 (Bama, MSU, Ole Miss, Georgia) and six in the Top 25.

Unbelievably, the SEC has almost flip flopped with the Big Ten in just one year, at least in the rankings.  This time last year it was the B1G with just one team in the Top 10 (#6 Ohio State) and four overall in the Top 25.  In 2015, it’s the Big Ten has four in the Top 10 (Iowa, Mich St, Ohio St, Michigan) and five overall in the Top 25.

And in chart form here are the Power 5 conferences represented by GameDay hosting gigs.  Notice the giant SEC drop this year:

GameDayHosts

The SEC is the only conference in the last five years to get to four GameDay hosting appearances.  If Iowa and Michigan State both win this weekend, you can imagine that the Big Ten Championship Game would be the favorite to host Championship Saturday as a de facto play-in game for the playoff.  (UPDATE: That is indeed the case so you can move the Big Ten to four appearances this year.)

The last time the SEC had this few schools host College GameDay?  You have to go all the way back to 2000 when Tennessee was the lone representative!

It’s honestly been so refreshing this year to not have “ESPN SEC bias” be a major storyline in college football.  Sure, there have been some moments that make us still scratch our head at the ESPN-SEC relationship, and there will likely always be a watchful eye there given the relationship between the two.

However, with College GameDay spreading the wealth more equally across college football, it’s made for a much more enjoyable college football season from a media perspective.  The regional tribalism that dominates the sport has cooled and every conference and fanbase can feel like they’re involved in the national title challenge.  The more balanced rankings and coverage this season is much better for the sport and for ESPN than the “SEC vs The World” mentality that has existed in seasons past.

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