Looks like former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is coming to Michigan State. I like this pick, he knows the area, is fairly young, and did a good job at NU as I recall.
Who knows what could happen, but he won 4 games total his last two years at Northwestern and was fired under a hazing scandal (which to be fair the school says they can’t prove) he’s not exactly a rising star.
Well, my Buckeyes got thrashed in a very physical, defensive game: 10-13. Could’ve gone either way, but we were outplayed. Congrats to any and all Hoosiers.
8-5 Duke wins the ACC championship game.
This is a joke, but I don’t have a punchline.
I was born and raised in Indiana. I specifically avoided watching this game because I was afraid of being bad luck.
WE DID IT!
But now comes the hard part.
The Duke victory will surely knock Virginia out of the playoff, opening the door for the Sun Belt champion, the Dukes of James Madison.
Top seeds (with accompanying byes) in the upcoming playoffs, Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia, Texas Tech?
ESPN suggested that Oklahoma is definitely in the field of 12 and only then did I notice the Sooners’ No. 8 ranking. I appreciate them winning in Tuscaloosa (see a trend with me?) but they don’t pass my eyeball test for an 8 ranking.
My eyeballs are nearly always wrong, though.
Oklahoma is 6-2 in the SEC and 10-2 overall. Their best win, as you noted, was handing Alabama its only conference loss. But the Sooners got spanked by Texas and lost a close game to Ole Miss. Their best non-conference win is over Michigan.
Is that good enough to put them in the top 12? Like you, I have no clue.
CFP has been announced.
First round
(12) James Madison at (5) Oregon – Winner faces (4) Texas Tech
(9) Alabama at (8) Oklahoma – Winner faces (1) Indiana
(11) Tulane at (6) Ole Miss – Winner faces (3) Georgia
(10) Miami at (7) Texas A&M – Winner faces (2) Ohio State
5 from the SEC and 3 from the Big 10.
Notre Dame is left out.
Next year they’ll be 16 teams let in so Notre Dame won’t have hard feelings.
Mostly a joke. ND is probably a top 5 or 6 team this year and peaking at the end. They’d give a good game to any of the other ‘elite’ teams. Maybe get off their high horse and join a conference? Play a more demanding schedule? Whine less?
I had no strong rooting interest in this game, but was hoping for Indiana as somewhat “underdogs.” It was a fun game to watch. The players thanking their god when it was over was the only thing that left a sour taste in my mouth.
As a Texas Tech alumnus, we were hoping to move up to be able to play in the Cotton Bowl. As it is, we probably have a decent matchup with either Oregon or James Madison.
Jerry Jones will be rooting for Texas A&M to beat Miami; the Ags will fill up Jerryworld if they get to play Ohio State.
This. Exactly this.
Dominate the ACC and they’d easily make the playoffs. Or finish in the top 3 of the Big 10 and they’re in.
There’s no reason for ND to join a conference. If other schools could get a TV contract on their own, they would go independent as well.
And why should they? It certainly can’t be because a conference championship game is important. Alabama got demolished in the SEC title game and got rewarded as the first 3-loss at-large team in the playoff’s history. Miami lost to 2 shitty ACC teams and didn’t even make their conference title game, and they got in. If Duke puts up a better conference record than you, you should be disqualified from the post-season.
People who don’t like ND will, I’m sure, come up with pretty thin arguments for why joining a conference is somehow more important over long standing scheduling priorities and traditions in an effort to make college football less interesting and more generic. Boy, won’t that be fun.
You just answered your own question. Bama got in and Miami got in.
And Dame did not.
That’s circular reasoning. Winning the ACC title didn’t get Duke anything, and Miami and Alabama are rewarded for fading down the stretch.
“Gotta win the head-to-head” is Miami’s trump card here, and I understand that argument. I think Notre Dame’s performance throughout the season was stronger, and the committee should be capable of a more nuanced decision. What I really don’t understand is Alabama’s inclusion after showing absolutely nothing the last few weeks.
Miami won its last four games. That’s not exactly fading down the stretch. And while I don’t think Bama deserves to be there, 2 of their 3 losses were to playoff teams. Their loss to a sub .500 FSU team should have kept them out.
My point stands: if Dame was in the ACC and won the conference championship with two losses, they’d be in the playoff.
The Irish were 5-1 against the ACC, 2 games shy of Miami and Duke’s 6-2. Duke won the title game, Miami wasn’t even in it. What is the actual point of the conference championship if Miami doesn’t have to play in it to go the playoffs, and Duke wins the damn thing and doesn’t go? Is it to only serve the conference overlord? Because functionally, it seems vestigial at best.
Conferences are outdated at this point, and serve no one but the networks. They used to be great engines of strength of schedule - you can say Alabama is the perfect example, as they had a hell of a tough road this season, a direct result of the SEC. But then look at Texas A&M - they managed to dodge every big team in the SEC this season (yeah, both LSU and Texas spent time at the top, but they were exposed in the end). IU played Oregon, but that was it. These conferences are so bloated that the bottom feeders are simply chum for the pollsters.
Notre Dame has declined to participate in a bowl game this year after being left out of the CFP.