Running CFB playoff thread

No, I will not acknowledge that it's entirely correct.

Both teams played true road games, which very often result in lopsided results. Not exactly a surprise there were some ugly games. As much as I love home playoff games, it is the downside of having them. Home teams usually win. Home teams often win by a lot regardless of the level of competition. So for Indiana and SMU (and, oh by the way, Tennessee got hammered worse than either of them did, so not sure why they were worthy and the other two weren't) to lose by decent margins isn't some repudiation of the CFP. It's a confirmation that having home-field is really important.

I'm not weeping for the road teams. It's how the system is set up and none deserved a home playoff game. None of them succeeded in the mission to overcome it, but you have to drag out your Jump To Conclusions mat to extrapolate that it means those teams were unworthy over several three-loss teams who had the chance to make their case in the regular season and failed to do so. Alabama and Ole Miss have zero excuse. They both had a glide-path into CFP and fucked it up with late losses. That's on them 100%.

In the case of Indiana, their schedule wasn't great, but going into the game with Notre Dame, their SOS was within 10 spots of the Irish. Notre Dame showed up, Indiana didn't. It happens, but it doesn't suddenly mean 2+2=4 and that Indiana wasn't worthy. Indiana beat the hell out of the teams they did beat. They were 11-1 in a major conference. If that doesn't get you in the field for the sake of some on-paper supposedly better three-loss team, then we've really lost the plot of what this is all about.

 

I still see the calendar as a big problem for the FBS playoffs. Whether it’s 12, 14 or 16 teams you’ve got four rounds of games colliding with Christmas, the traditional New Year’s bowl games and the NFL playoffs on January weekends.

Other levels of college football, such as FCS, work around Christmas by starting their playoffs earlier and getting through the semifinals the weekend before Christmas. But then there’s a two-week (or longer) delay before the championship game and it really can be an afterthought unless your team is playing.

We’ll see how viewership is for this year’s FBS semifinals, which happen after the traditional New Year’s Day time frame.

 

I listen to the wails about Alabama and think, "Yeah, but you lost to Vanderbilt and to the Oklahoma team that Texas beat by thirty points."

If you're outside the Preseason Top 25 club, the idea that a "lesser" team which has a particularly successful season and loses only one game should be shut out of the playoff before the season even starts is the height of privilege. That team may not be as attractive a television match up, but they by god earned the right to be there. Besides, if you exclude all the Davids no one ever dumps Goliath on his ass.

 

Play playoffs on Army/Navy day.

 

Let the SEC bubble teams play each other instead of the FCS schools ahead of rivalry week.

And would it be terrible if the top seed played the winner of an 11-12 game, instead of an 8-9 games? second seed would -play winner of 9-10 game, third seed winner of 7-8, and fourth seed winner of 5-6 game?

You are already screwing the seeding up by pulling out the highest ranked conference champs.

 

Well, Tennessee had more good wins this season than SMU and Indiana combined. They had one.

 

We should just end every season with an SEC-Fat 10 Challenge in football, with the finals staged annually at the Rose Bowl so everyone can jack off over a sunset. It’ll get huge ratings from all of the other teams stuck at home.

 

Probably could have done without Tennessee and SMU. Not sure who else you dismiss. As far as Indiana goes, games are 60 minutes long. They still came within a successful two-point conversion of making the loss at ND a one-score game.

So far the Big Ten has looked PFG. I wouldn't be as quick as you to dismiss a one-loss team from that league. Ohio State and Tennessee both took third in their leagues, and the Buckeyes boatraced them.

Tennessee and SMU were absolutely outclassed and never had a prayer.

Do a deeper dive on Tennessee's schedule. They had one "quality" win, over a three-loss Alabama team that couldn't even score a TD against Oklahoma. Their OOC schedule was not strong, and neither was the collection of 6-6 SEC teams they beat.

 

College football is about passion, tradition, and pageantry. I'm going to watch the Rose Bowl because it's the Rose Bowl. I'm going to watch the Sugar Bowl with an SEC team in it, and I'm going to watch the Orange Bowl with an ACC team in it.

The chances of me watching Oregon and Penn State play on a random Monday night near the end of January are slim. The chances of me actually seeing the end of that game are non existent.

 

It is amazing how the national media has zeroed in on Indiana and SMU and completely ignores the absolute beatdown absorbed by Tennessee.

It will be even more interesting to read the excuses when ND whips Georgia. As much as I dislike the Irish, their defense is going to dominate that backup QB and they have more than enough offensive tools to score 25-30 points.

The Big Ten and SEC are already conspiring to change the 2026 playoffs to a model that would feature four auto qualifiers from each of their leagues. So that essentially would turn the current P4/G5 format into a P2/G8 (ACC, B12, MAC, MWC, CUSA, AAC, SBC, Pac-12) arrangement, with only one at-large team.

College Football Playoff format changes: What's potentially on the table and how/when things could happen - Yahoo Sports