OT: D1

[Fightingscot82]

The challenge is that the perception of the Top 25 rankings (largely created by bias and uninformed AP writers) inflate teams with brand or conference recognition unfairly. Why did it take Syracuse beating #6 Miami to reach 9-3 to get them into the Top 25? All season the voters have been finding ways to rank Illinois and Missouri. Is Cuse worse than either of those programs? Pound for pound, I have no idea, but one being in the ACC compared to the others in the B1G or SEC means way more than it ever should.

And if anybody thinks those rankings (at that level) do not influence how the CFP committee assesses things and sets their own rankings, they have very little knowledge or understanding of how college football works.

I used to work for someone who was on the CFP Committee. I was amazed at how little respect he had for football below what was then the P5. He was the most surprising person I've met who thought the divisions were based on promotion/relegation instead of money - and he was the president at a college with D3 football! They chose who made the most sense for TV ratings and revenue.

The most fair model is what you see in FCS. Expand to 16 teams and the power 4 conferences each get 2 bids, G5 conferences each get 1, and that allows for 2 at large bids to cover independents. Ideally everything is objective with no human element. But there are too many people advocating for the #4 team in the SEC who played a 50 scholarship FCS school in Week 9 over the #1 team in the Mountain West who beat 12 FBS teams.

[IUP24]

What I am actually surprised about is not one person has correctly evaluated what the CFP said and did last night with their rankings. Specifically, with the 2nd point here regarding SMU.

1) Miami - season over. They are 12 and will get automatically booted for the Big 12 champion. The committee just told everyone that they value a 3-loss SEC program over a 2-loss program from the ACC who lost on the road at Georgia Tech and 9-3 Syracuse. The ACC has the most bowl eligible teams. That doesn't just "happen" without having some decent football teams in your league. I think a fair Miami comparable is a local B1G school.

Sure, Miami pulled out some games late. You know who else did? James Franklin... Penn State needed a fake punt to beat Minnesota, they needed OT to beat USC, and a late pick six to separate themselves from a 5 win Wisconsin team. They beat Illinois in a game that 'apparently,' carries a TON of weight. They lost the game to the best team they played. THAT SOUNDS A LOT LIKE MIAMI!!!!!!!! And Miami went on the road to Gainesville and STOMPED Florida! If I'm told by everyone that the SEC is so elite, why does that win not matter????

2) SMU - They are slotted 8th, but need to win their conference to reach the CFP after having an 11-1 regular season. The chair of the committee said it last night. He was asked, "If SMU loses the ACC Championship game, would they fall below Alabama?" His response: "Yes, potentially." Indiana, with a far weaker schedule, is safely and squarely in the field. So what the committee told you all is that if SMU had a B1G patch on their jersey, they would be in the field. Can't compare schedules when Indiana had the worst P4 schedule in the country. SMU has the better resume! LOL

I can't believe I'm typing this, but if I was SMU I would forfeit the game against Clemson (and there's real chatter about others suggesting they do that online - they won't of course). If I am good enough for the CFP right now at 11-1, like Indiana is, then evaluate me with my 11-1 record like you are evaluating the Hoosiers. The immediate argument is "Well SMU hasn't beaten anybody! This is their shot to do so!"... You know who else hasn't beaten anybody? Indiana!!!!!

3) Big 12 - "Screw off Big 12 fans! Thanks for playing" - That's what they said with the final rankings last night. All that fun and excitement in the Big 12 all year with Iowa State, BYU, Colorado, and Arizona State meant absolutely nothing. They were all just placeholders for when it was time to rank the REAL teams.

[IUP24]

Good points, although Top 25 rankings are so subjective. I'd hate to use subjective rankings in a subjective selection process, but alas, here we are. South Carolina posted online their "argument" for inclusion and it was all about this and that against top 25.

Alabama went 3-1 against top 25 teams. Miami didn't play any top 25 teams. Why? All four top 25 teams Alabama played were SEC conference games. The ACC doesn't have any top 25 teams other than Miami. I will always argue that conference schedules aren't the fault of the school. They are going to play who they play in the conference. They don't get to pick the best teams and ignore the bad ones.

The challenge is that the perception of the Top 25 rankings (largely created by bias and uninformed AP writers) inflate teams with brand or conference recognition unfairly. Why did it take Syracuse beating #6 Miami to reach 9-3 to get them into the Top 25? All season the voters have been finding ways to rank Illinois and Missouri. Is Cuse worse than either of those programs? Pound for pound, I have no idea, but one being in the ACC compared to the others in the B1G or SEC means way more than it ever should.

And if anybody thinks those rankings (at that level) do not influence how the CFP committee assesses things and sets their own rankings, they have very little knowledge or understanding of how college football works.

[IUP24]

I pegged how this was all going to go 6 weeks ago. I was stumping for Pitt to gain some respect, and they certainly did not hold up their end of the deal (LOL), but the fact is the committee does not care about universities playing football outside of the SEC or B1G. And if you can't see that now, I don't know what to tell anybody. This was always a money grab. Nothing more.

If you all paid attention to when the 12-team playoff expansion was getting created, the B1G and SEC had advocated (and this was before super conferences became a thing) to get two things:

1) An absurdly unequal distribution of the television money from the CFP.
2) A guarantee that both leagues would be awarded 4 bids each.

They got the other leagues to agree to 1, but not to 2. Which is fine, because the committee just did the bidding for ESPN, the SEC, and the B1G.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

And Alabama also lost to Vandy, which while better than usual this season, is hardly a national powerhouse. Beating the big teams is important, but there's also something to be said for beating the teams you're expected to beat.

There already has been some rumbling about expanding the playoff even beyond 12 teams, but this is a prime reason I'd be against that. Pretty soon you'd have four-loss SEC teams playing for a national title.

It would almost be like the PSAC getting 4 teams in the SR1 football playoff every year.

Oh, wait.

[Ship69]

As controversies go, it’s not earth shattering. Alabama did beat Georgia and South Carolina. Miami’s best win is Duke. At each team’s best, I’d favor Alabama slightly. But man, Oklahoma really sucks and they didn’t just beat Alabama, they throttled them.

And Alabama also lost to Vandy, which while better than usual this season, is hardly a national powerhouse. Beating the big teams is important, but there's also something to be said for beating the teams you're expected to beat.

There already has been some rumbling about expanding the playoff even beyond 12 teams, but this is a prime reason I'd be against that. Pretty soon you'd have four-loss SEC teams playing for a national title.

[Chuck Norris]

Good points, although Top 25 rankings are so subjective. I'd hate to use subjective rankings in a subjective selection process, but alas, here we are. South Carolina posted online their "argument" for inclusion and it was all about this and that against top 25.

Alabama went 3-1 against top 25 teams. Miami didn't play any top 25 teams. Why? All four top 25 teams Alabama played were SEC conference games. The ACC doesn't have any top 25 teams other than Miami. I will always argue that conference schedules aren't the fault of the school. They are going to play who they play in the conference. They don't get to pick the best teams and ignore the bad ones.

Of all the teams on the precipice of the last spot, South Carolina is playing the best right now. But they lost to Bama and Ole Miss so it’s hard to argue for them.

I agree about conference schedules and with these mega conferences and no more divisions within them, it’s going to be a huge factor. It worked great for Indiana, who avoided all the B1G heavies accept for OSU and took care of business against everyone else. Miami didn’t get Clemson or SMU so they had practically no room for error.

[Fightingscot82]

As controversies go, it’s not earth shattering. Alabama did beat Georgia and South Carolina. Miami’s best win is Duke. At each team’s best, I’d favor Alabama slightly. But man, Oklahoma really sucks and they didn’t just beat Alabama, they throttled them.

Good points, although Top 25 rankings are so subjective. I'd hate to use subjective rankings in a subjective selection process, but alas, here we are. South Carolina posted online their "argument" for inclusion and it was all about this and that against top 25.

Alabama went 3-1 against top 25 teams. Miami didn't play any top 25 teams. Why? All four top 25 teams Alabama played were SEC conference games. The ACC doesn't have any top 25 teams other than Miami. I will always argue that conference schedules aren't the fault of the school. They are going to play who they play in the conference. They don't get to pick the best teams and ignore the bad ones.

[Chuck Norris]

It's the old question. What would (in this case) Alabama do in one of the 'perceived' lesser conferences? What would Ole Miss do in the ACC?

The popular opinion (obviously) is a 3-loss Alabama is better than a 2-loss Miami.

To your point, if you don't think the 'brand' influences this ...

As controversies go, it’s not earth shattering. Alabama did beat Georgia and South Carolina. Miami’s best win is Duke. At each team’s best, I’d favor Alabama slightly. But man, Oklahoma really sucks and they didn’t just beat Alabama, they throttled them.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

ESPN has to protect their bottom line. Wouldn't be surprised if they have an NIL deal with SEC players.

It's the old question. What would (in this case) Alabama do in one of the 'perceived' lesser conferences? What would Ole Miss do in the ACC?

The popular opinion (obviously) is a 3-loss Alabama is better than a 2-loss Miami.

To your point, if you don't think the 'brand' influences this ...

[Fightingscot82]

UMass making about as strong of a hire as they could have made for UMass taking the Rutgers DC and making him the highest paid coach in the MAC. I had forgotten that he was the HC at Maine several years ago and took them deep into the FCS playoffs.

[Fightingscot82]

It’s not taking long for ESPN and the powers that be to push a 3 loss SEC team into the playoff field. Yes Miami has lost two of three, but I don’t think losing to a ranked Syracuse and a GT that just went into Georgia and should’ve won is any worse than getting absolutely trucked by a really bad Oklahoma team. It’ll get even more interesting should SMU lose to Clemson. Will Alabama jump ahead of SMU to stay in the field if that happens?

ESPN has to protect their bottom line. Wouldn't be surprised if they have an NIL deal with SEC players.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

It’s not taking long for ESPN and the powers that be to push a 3 loss SEC team into the playoff field. Yes Miami has lost two of three, but I don’t think losing to a ranked Syracuse and a GT that just went into Georgia and should’ve won is any worse than getting absolutely trucked by a really bad Oklahoma team. It’ll get even more interesting should SMU lose to Clemson. Will Alabama jump ahead of SMU to stay in the field if that happens?

Roll. Damn. Tide.

[Chuck Norris]

It’s not taking long for ESPN and the powers that be to push a 3 loss SEC team into the playoff field. Yes Miami has lost two of three, but I don’t think losing to a ranked Syracuse and a GT that just went into Georgia and should’ve won is any worse than getting absolutely trucked by a really bad Oklahoma team. It’ll get even more interesting should SMU lose to Clemson. Will Alabama jump ahead of SMU to stay in the field if that happens?

[IUPNation]

So The Cignetti Mafia makes the playoffs. Fake Indiana sits at 10 and with only Conference title games determining the last rankings they will be on the road to someplace for Round 1.