FYI: Dude’s name is apparently Benjamin Wolk.
Actually, Liberty would get the last spot as the highest ranked group of 5 champion so Oklahoma is out.
Correct. My bad.
I just pissed myself laughing!
I’ve got no problem with the four playoff teams. Five conference champions walk into a bar, only four come out. FSU with the weakest strength of schedule - one of the judging factors. FSU with a season ending injury to the star quarterback - also a judging factor.
Maybe they’ll get to show the world (small world) in the bowl game by cleaning Georgia’s clock.
I know no one cares, and I’ve done this rant here before, but the entire CFB playoff is a foolish endeavor. It’s always been figure skating. Back in the dark days of the 80s the National Champ was awarded in the newspapers on January 2nd by a bunch of hack writers and coaches, most of whom didn’t watch 80% of the games. That was the Natty in it’s purest form. And most teams and fan bases rightly cared more about winning their conference, winning a major NYE bowl game, and then reading the final rankings in the papers and going about their day.
The BCS and the subsequent CFB Playoff are just window dressing over what is effectively the same fraudulent premise. The major downside is that programs, networks and fans now care more about their seeding than they do about winning their conference. Teams that aren’t national media darlings can’t really win their way into the conversation. Which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as recruits know the game and aren’t going to “stay home” or attach themselves to a coach anywhere but the blue-chip schools.
FSU was undefeated. Bama lost to one of the teams in the tournament. That should be treated like a de facto single elimination.
So, if we’re actually just awarding slots to the “best” team based on arbitrary judgment at a single moment in time, why don’t we extend the logic? What if Bama beats Michigan in the Title game, but Milroe pops an Achilles at the start of the 4th quarter? When the season’s over and we sit back and decide who the best team in the country is, can’t we just say that this version of Alabama wouldn’t be able to beat Michigan? They are no longer the best team in the country without that player.
Washingon and Oregon played twice. Much of the hype before their second game was that the winner would be in the four-team playoff. If Oregon had won that game, they would have split their two games with Washington and finished with the same record, so why does that give Oregon the automatic bid? Some games seem to count more than others.
You’re right that it’s still arbitrary. I think the posters who are saying that a twelve-team playoff will settle the matter are fooling themselves. We’ll have the same hue and cry from the 13th place team that we now get from the 5th place team.
<old geezer mode>
With all these extra games, how do the players find time to go to class?
</old geezer mode>
Seen on the interwebs yesterday:
Breaking news: Florida St fans are now claiming all over the internet that the Jacksonville Jags are no longer eligible for the playoffs because their starting quarterback, Trevor Lawrence is out with a severe ankle injury.
Of course, now it appears Lawrence will return sometime this season, so this assertion is no longer valid.
I don’t like the “their star player is injured so they’re no longer a top 4 team” excuse. Maybe the #2 is perfectly capable but never got the chance.
I look at FSU and ask: “would they have treated Clemson that way?” In my opinion, no way. CFB is a caste system. Some teams are allowed a loss or even two to get in, some are allowed in IF they have a perfect record and IF they’re key players are healthy, some have no chance whatsoever to get in even with a perfect record. The 12 team playoff is a step in the right direction but to be fair, EVERY conference should get their champion in, just as is done in basketball.
In fact if they continue to win that should solidify their place in the playoffs because it shows the success is due to the whole team and not just one star player.
Their #2, Tate Rodemaker, suffered a concussion before the Louisville game and was ruled out. They won the game with their #3, Brock Glenn, who made his first collegiate start that day.
If we combine the Pac-2 and Mountain West, there are 9 conferences. 9 conference champions + 7 wild cards = 16 teams. Perfect. AAAAAAAND the 8th highest ranked wild card can’t complain because
- Win your conference
- Seriously?! You’re 8th best in the also rans. Why do you deserve a spot?
I would actually add a limit to the number of teams from a conference but then we have to listen to the 5th best team in the SEC saying they were left out and “16 best teams”.
The problem is, even if Florida State beats Georgia in the Orange Bowl, it’s going to be very hard to find a computer ranking that has Florida State above the CFP winner. Colley (the one that ranked UCF #1 in 2017) won’t; it currently has FSU #5 and Georgia #7.
Besides, even if, somehow, one does, unless it’s one of the ones that whoever maintains the list of “Final National Poll Leaders” in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records document (the one that UCF’s supporters use to claim that its national championship is “recognized by the NCAA” somehow), UCF will just say that “our championship is recognized by the NCAA, so it’s legitimate, while yours isn’t, so stop claiming one, and if any of your players got championship rings, make sure all of the games they play in from now on are vacated as they are ineligible” (which, BTW, isn’t true - any team in a bowl game is entitled to give out rings for that game, win or lose, and the NCAA doesn’t care if they say “National Champions”, as long as they don’t say “NCAA Champions”).
Where it goes wrong is the goal of determining the “best” team. That goal will always produce controversy sooner or later, because it’s not objectively measurable. There will always be deficiencies like the lack of every team playing every other, or edge cases like groups of three teams forming a cycle of wins against each other.
That is why a single-elimination tournament consisting of only conference champions is a better system. If you win your conference, you’re in; if you fail to win your conference, you’re out. No complaining about it–win your conference next season. Then put all the conference champions in a single-elimination bracket. Add byes as needed. The winner of the tournament is undisputedly the champion of champions.
A champions-only system gives every team a path to being champion of champions. But as you say, no one cares.
I’m eagerly awaiting the day when the B1G and SEC reach 24 teams each, then completely break free from the NCAA for football. Then we can have eight 6 team divisions. The division winners face off in a 4 team playoff for the conference title. Then a final title game to settle the crown. Screw everyone else, sorry UCF and Lousiville, you can be the champions of the NCAA. Let’s end this charade where we pretend we’re filtering out the full 120+ FBS teams.
Fully concur. And maybe then we can FINALLY get rid of this idiotic “athletes must enroll in classes at the university” requirement. Why? What’s the point? Let’s end this charade where we pretend that “student-athletes” are attending and participating in class, much less working toward a degree.
The problem there is, you still have the “cycle of three teams” problem - just at a lower level. Any tiebreaker is going to be either convoluted or objective. What are you supposed to do - bring all three teams to a neutral site, have each offense start first-and-10 from the 25 against both of the other two defenses, and see who scores the most points?
For example, if Penn State would have beaten Michigan this year, the Big 10 East champion would have been decided based on the combined conference records of the three teams’ (including Ohio State’s) three Big Ten West opponents. At least it beats tossing coins.
If TCU got beaten down in a semi, I would entertain that argument. But they beat Michigan in a pretty fun game, so that seems like an invalid place to come from.
FSU getting left out is absolute nonsense.
Exactly. Finding the “best” is a problem at every level. You avoid it by not trying to find the “best” team. Conference championships should be decided by clear rules. (For example, the Big Ten tiebreakers.) There’s no subjectivity; a team could’ve always qualified if it’d won more games.