Running CFB playoff thread

Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Notre Dame!

 

And then the argument is does Texas deserve to make it since it already lost to Georgia twice, shouldn’t someone else be the presumed four seed

 

Clemson! God said so.

 

Here's my direct answer: Oregon, Georgia, Notre Dame and Boise State.

Here's my honest answer: I don't care. Genuinely. What's the point -- to determine the best team in the country? We already know who that is. There is one undefeated team that beat three other playoff teams. Oregon may well lose a playoff game, because this is college football, but they are the best team in the country.

That is frequently the case. Everybody screams that we need to expand the playoff, and at the end of the season we debate over which undeserving team should get in to fill out the field. SMU has done nothing to merit a playoff spot, but people were cheering for them to make it because they convinced themselves that was somehow sticking it to ESPN.

In the process of this, we are killing what was cool about college football and pretending it's progress. College football is great when it's a regional game pitting rivals against each other. Auburn vs Alabama, Ohio State vs Michigan, Oregon vs Oregon State. Now those rivalries are being lessened because there's more money in a national product. My team just ran the table against a bunch of schools I don't give a shit about.

This version of college football is not better. We don't have a moral obligation to chase every dollar for the schools and ESPN, which is all this is.

More than anything else, the playoff is providing an opportunity for people to complain. Make it 16 teams and they'll complain about that.

Bottom line: every year people demand changes to make college football better, and each change makes it worse.

(And to clarify: none of my comments are about NIL.)

 

Once some of the bowls start falling out of the rotation — because despite the Worldwide Leader’s various attempts to prop them up, the playoff exposes them as participation trophies (in one case, with a side of mayonnaise) — they’ll be able to go to 24 teams and take all the conference champions.

 

Can't wait for that Oregon vs. Ohio (lost 41-6 to Kentucky) first-round game.

 

In re: NIL, you can't have one without the other. If the players are going to have the right to unlimited financial compensation and unlimited freedom of movement, the schools have to chase the almighty dollar. They were gonna do that anyway, but now they really have to hustle.

 

NIL: Are there still limits on Bowl swag?

 

The SEC teams whining need to STFU:
Bama lost to Vandy and a bad bunch of Okies.
Ole Miss couldn't beat a 4-8 team (Kentucky) at home and probably should be beaten Florida, which was 5-5 at the time.
South Carolina, to me, had the best case of the SEC's three 9-3 teams. Lost to Bama and LSU by a combined five points. Crapped the bed against Ole Miss but didn't have a loss nearly as bad as Bama vs. Vandy and Ole Miss vs. Ky.
I also don't think enough has been made of the fact that two teams from the much-maligned Pac-12 won half the automatic bids for conference champions.

 

Yeah, I don't think Georgia players who are driving Lambos and the hottest SVUs on the market are going to be impressed with backpacks and headphones.