Money.
Get off my lawn.
OK, I was wrong.
And they should do that.
Teams that have to get through a conf championship game play one extra game against a pretty solid opponent. I think that should absolutely be factored in when comparing teams.
I’m a Pac 12 fan and I felt the same way when we didn’t have a conf champ. I watched Big 12 and SEC teams have to fight their way through an extra tough game and I always gave them credit for that when I was analyzing and comparing teams.
Having said that, I don’t think the conf champ game consistently helps determine the “best” team in the league (we’ve all seen the various outcomes and scenarios), but it’s a clear cut way to determine the “winner”.
If there is any consolation, I get to hear whines and complaints from the B1G apologists about having to go to SEC territory to play the semifinal. All this month and next month.
ROLL TIDE (and I hate 'Bama)
I got to think that the B1G (and/or Rose/Sugar Bowls) and said we need to see tickets and TCU (and Baylor) don’t bring the people like tOSU does.
My thoughts on CFP:
1 - The system worked much better than a 2 slot system - nobody on the planet is arguing that tOSU, TCU or Baylor has a resume that legitimately should place them in the #1 or #2 slot - so we are arguing about teams that are on the bubble - which is exactly the type of debate that is ok.
When Oregon and Auburn (in different years) were left out of the NC - there was really no distinguishing them from the #2 ranked team - that’s the type of “left out” we are trying to avoid.
2 - Adjusting rankings more freely than AP
I like the fact that the CFP committee is willing to adjust teams more freely than traditional AP rankings based on new information.
I always hated it when the AP started the year with team X ranked Y and then they rarely fell unless they lost - as if the AP’s original ranking was so good they needed to stick with it.
3 - I’m looking forward to the games, I love watching top ranked teams play
4 - Big 12
I think you’re strategy of have “no true champion” worked against you. I can’t say for sure the CFP committee thought it was playing games, but if I was on the committee, I would.
It is a remarkable coincidence that the team which made it in out of the three marginal candidates happens to have a massive national fan base, isn’t it?
BTW, my system (and most certainly my gut) would have also been perfectly happy to take both Baylor and TCU and leave Alabama (also .888) out in the cold, but I figured that probably wouldn’t happen.
So, we welcome Florida State to the Rose Bowl. Hope they enjoy the parade. Roll Ducks!
Right. Imagine if they had to leave one of Alabama, FSU or Oregon out. Heads would explode!! (and my suspicion is that the team which didn’t have the undefeated record or the huge fan base would have been the loser, which would have been the worst tragedy in human history, at least since we last got screwed in 2002).
Big 12 having no true champ is indeed stupid. This is one of those cases when head to head should count. ymmv
Opinion with no possibility of a cite being offered: I don’t think NCAAF will ever have a championship game that works for everyone (or even most) because of the very nature of college football. It’s hard to fix what may not be truly “broken.” Unless the bowl system is completely replaced by a large playoff bracket like basketball is. And what are the real chances of that happening any time soon?
Oddly, I’ll root for tOSU because I dislike all four teams in! 
Those stats aren’t the kind of stats that matter, it’s things like comparing same opponents, schedule, etc.
This is my analysis:
1 - From a conf champ perspective
Baylor should be it - no doubt - it should be black and white based on the rules including tie breaker
I personally think the Big 12 commish blew it by ignoring the Big 12’s own rules.
2 - From a “best team” perspective
The TCU Baylor game was almost a wash but Baylor gets some credit for pulling it off (they get tons of credit when calculating who wins the conf, they get a little bit of credit when determining best team - two different calcs)
But TCU didn’t lose to anyone else and Baylor did - that’s huge
Based on looking at the whole season, I would say TCU would beat Baylor 6 times out of 10 - they are close but they get the edge
The conference title has to be Baylor; that’s just the rule.
In rankings, I’d pick TCU just based on the fact that they scheduled at least one decent non-confernce team. When you go with three creampuffs, you lose all benefit of the doubt.
The committee should make an announcement like:
Not at all.
You are confusing “conference champion” with “the team that gets the conference’s automatic bowl berth”. The tiebreaker rules apply only to the latter. Not that anybody at TCU really cares that they were co-champions, any more than all of those Pac-8/10/12 co-championships Cal has won in the past 40 years or so really mean anything given that none of those teams went to the Rose Bowl.
I remember a year when USC and Washington tied for the Pac-10 title; USC beat Washington, so it got the Rose Bowl berth, but in the end, Washington got a share of the national championship with Miami.
I completely agree.
And I agreed when my team (Wa Huskies) used to schedule Pacific every year. I freaking hated that. I would rather play a good team and potentially lose than play a team that has absolutely zero chance of winning.
I like the following OOC formula:
1 - First game is a warmup, this is the throw away game, play a weak opponent as a kind of “pre-season” game
2 - Play a team that traditionally is at least top 60
3 - Play a team that is frequently top 25
You’re right, Big 12 only has those rules for bowl
IMO all conferences should have a clear winner. So in that sense, it’s just my opinion that Baylor did what they needed to do to win the conf.
It sounds like you may be confused on this (or I’m reading your post wrong).
The year Wa got the national title, they were undefeated, beat USC, went to the Rose Bowl and beat Michigan soundly.
I think a simpler rule is one FCS team, one midmajor, 10 P5 teams.* Anything less than that and you’re a half-game behind everyone else in the playoff race.
- I think we can count Notre Dame, Boise, BYU, and a couple others as P5 teams.
What about a team that schedules Florida, Notre Dame and Oklahoma St for a NON-CON schedule?
Somehow they kept getting demoted and all they did was keep on winning.
I don’t get the love for conference championship games. In the Big12, every team plays the other. If a team has the best conference record out of that, that team is the champion; no need for a manufactured game to prove what 9 games already showed. When teams are tied, like this year, I believe that the head to head matchup speaks far more than what the stats or a 2nd game might show. Baylor was the Big12 champion in my mind.
Why should Ohio State get rewarded because the Big 10 added chump teams like Rutgers and Maryland, to give it at least one more manufactured win, and have an additional opportunity to win in the CC game?
In the near future, I see conferences going to a 4 team playoff to give their champion yet another opportunity to bump those neanderthal conferences that only have a single championship game.
Does anyone believe that adding UCF and Cincinnati would add to the strength of the Big12?
You’re right; I was confusing 1991 (how could I forget that - it’s about as close as Cal has been to the Rose Bowl since 1959) with 1982 (Washington’s only loss was to USC, which had losses to UCLA, LSU, and Notre Dame; Washington beat Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, but ended up #2 behind BYU which, thanks to being allowed an extra game due to having one at Hawaii, was 13-0).
Maryland and Rutgers were not the doormats of the B1G. In fact, Maryland gave the B1G one of it marquee wins, against Syracuse. SNERK SNERK.
Strange how one of the ACC doormats turned into a middle of the road B1G team in one season.
And one of the AAC (American Athletic Conference) doormats had identical record in the B1G this year.
FTR: Doormats = Teams with losing records in the conference
I do.
I think “Conference Strength” is additive…a not an average.
I think Cincy and UCF have better football programs than ISU, Kansas, TTU.
And it helps the better teams in the Big 12 get a foot in the door to a lot of HS talent in Florida.
I know that Missouri was glad that TAMU joined the SEC at the same time Mizzou did. Mizzou recruits heavily from Texas and to tell a recruit that they will play in their home state every other year is better than not being able to say it.*