40 bowls. Goddamn. That’s a lot of beer to drink.
I’m ready, Coach! Put me in! 
No bowl is more grateful for this loophole than the Hawaii Bowl. They are giddy about having the home team in the game. For some reason, Rice vs Fresno St and San Diego St vs Cincinnati were hard sells for locals on Christmas Eve.
I’m rooting for Washington tonight because I don’t want anything to be easy for this committee. And I hope Penn State absolutely throttles Wisconsin. You’d have some explaining to do if you left them out in that case.
Does anyone care that an undefeated team will be passed over by the playoff committee for a 2 loss team if Michigan or PSU or Wisconsin get in? Yes, I’m talking about Western Michigan. It’s always bothered me that those non-power-5 teams play for nothing all year. What’s the point?
Isn’t it odd that the 2 highest ranked B1G teams aren’t playing for the conference title? I get how it happened…but it’s very weird.
By that measure, every undefeated FCS, Division II, and Division III (and why not throw in NAIA schools, where we’re at it) team should be considered ahead of a 2-loss Big 10 team.
Who you played matters. Choosing an undefeated team blindly does not always work; for every 2006 Boise State, there’s a 2007 Hawaii.
I have a feeling that, in pretty much every case, the answer to, “What’s the point (of being in FBS)?” is, “The Money.” According to the CFP Media Guide, each FBS conference gets something like $55 million (for a Power 5 conference) or $17 million (for a Group Of 5 conference), plus $8 million for each team in the semi-finals, plus $2 million for each team in one of the other four CFP bowls; meanwhile, “certain FCS conferences” share $2.4 million.
I think that’s why we need an 8 team playoff. The mid-majors should get a spot for their undefeated teams. Have the first round at the higher seeded team’s stadium. So WMU might visit Alabama in mid-December in my scenario. If they get blown out, at least they got their shot.
Filled:
Texas - Herman (UH HC)
LSU - Orgeron (LSU interim transition to permanent)
Indiana - Tom Allen (IU DC)
Fresno State - Jeff Tedford (Oregon OC)
Florida Int’l U - Butch Davis
UC Davis - Dan Hawkins
Vacancies:
Houston
Baylor
Oregon
Nevada
San Jose State
FAU
Purdue
Coaches under consideration:
Les Miles (former LSU HC)
Mike MacIntyre (CU HC)
Lane Kiffin (ALA OC)
Spike Dykes (Cal HC)
Lincoln Riley (OU OC)
Art Briles (former BU HC)
Larry Fedora (NC HC)
PJ Fleck (WMU HC)
Gregg Schiano (OSU DC)
Jeff Brohm (WKU HC)
Round and round and round you go…when it stops some people end up with announcing jobs.
Rumor on the street is PJ Fleck might be going to Oregon.
Meanwhile championship weekend is less than 90 minutes away. Unfortunately being in the east, I have to drink coffee past my usual cut off time of 2 pm so I can stay awake to watch it. Man I miss the left coast.
Um, no. Just FBS undefeated teams. I know WMU is not a top 4 team, but what are they playing for? I have a feeling that revenue is not a huge motivator for student athletes.
Washington is currently showing they are a much better team than Colorado near the end of the 3rd quarter. First time I’ve seen them play but they actually look really good.
I think - and have thought - Washington was better. I’m not sure they’re as good as the score suggests. I question Colorado’s decision to go back to their starting QB, as Montez seemed to be managing the game well. I get that Lifau is their starter, but he’s playing on a bum ankle and lost his feel for the game. The game seemed to be turning on the decision to put him back in. I wish he hadn’t gotten hurt - that way we’d have a much better idea about the complexion of the game.
All of that said, I can’t see how the CFP committee locks a 1-loss Huskies team out of the playoff as a conference champion. Michigan had a great year but they lost 2 games, both of which were very winnable. Next year, Blue.
And all of THAT being said, I don’t think Washington has played a team as strong and as talented at every single position as any of the other 3 teams likely to be in the CFP. Unless the format has changed they’d probably play Alabama first (assuming they beat UF). We’re talking about a Crimson Tide team that is arguably the best that any Nick Saban has personally coached during his time in Tuscalooosa – and he’s coached 4 title winners already. Don’t get me wrong – Washington is a solid team that could beat any team on a given day and beat teams #5-10 reliably. But the top 3 teams are beasts.
Just don’t bring up a paper towel tube in that discussion. 
Go Badgers! (sorry, dogs)
Yeah, that game kinda sucked, but the mere consideration that Washington would be out of the playoffs seems ridiculous to me. Ranked #4, Conference Champ, One-loss season? C’mon? What do you want more? A blow-job?
On the other hand, Washington’s performance tonight does not bode well for a match-up with 'Bama. I think they’ll get crushed. 
I hope I’m wrong. I usually am, so there is that to hang a hope on.
Washington is a very talented team, but this year’s Alabama defense is easily as good as the 2011 squad, and they might even be better at penetrating the backfield and getting after the quarterback. Their offense, meanwhile, is absolutely as good as any I’ve seen in the Saban era.
The one weakness that Alabama might have is the one they’ve had in the past which is their defensive backfield’s occasional tendency to get burned by the deep ball. Washington’s got a good passing game but only if their running game establishes itself, and that’s going to be very hard against the Crimson Tide.
I started a thread just about just the playoffs (any level) if anyone is interested.
I think that if we go with 8 teams it actually works out perfectly.
Money 5 champions get in
Highest ranked mid major
2 wild cards but they cant be from the same conference
Now for the games
Rose Bowl: Pac12 vs Big10 champs
Fiesta Bowl: Big12 vs TBD
Sugar Bowl: SEC vs TBD
Orange Bowl: ACC vs TBD
Once again the four bowl games would be relevant.
If I go back back and look at the archived threads from the past few years, I wonder how many pro B1G and anti-SEC posts there will be complaining about non Conference Champs in the BCS playoffs.
Especially BCS participants who didn’t even get a spot in their conference Championship.
What is Fresno State playing for? They’re playing football. Maybe they can get into a bowl game. The NCAA learned a lesson with limiting a tournament to conference champions with men’s basketball.
The main reason they don’t do it this way; the schedule would run too far into January for at least two teams. There was some talk that the championship game should be moved to the Saturday eight days before the Super Bowl. It’s bad enough that the NCAA baseball tournament can run into July.
Let’s go Gators!
Gators score first and I predict that at the end of the day, Western Michigan will be the only undefeated team in the country (NCAA FBS, blah blah blah; y’all know what I’m talkin’ 'bout).
My autumn predictions aren’t nearly as good as my late winter predictions, it seems. :o