College Football Playoff Rankings Running Thread

Eh, collapse? I think it would only strengthen the case to expand the bracket to eight teams ASAP. And that's a good thing, right?

 

Where does it end? 8? 16? 32? No matter where, you are always going to have SOMEONE crying they got hosed, just like the basketball tournament.

I do think Mississippi State will lose again and we'll have a lot less controversy with four different conference champions represented (assuming neither Oregon or Florida State lose their conference title games.)

If one of the Big Four loses a conference title game to a lower-ranked team and ends up costing that conference a seat at the table, will the conference re-think the wisdom of having a title game in the first place?

 

Conference title games are here to stay, $$$$$.

 

Is there any team whose resume has gotten better?
Mississippi State and Alabama made their bones by running through the SEC West, which has had several teams take midseason dumps. Florida State is covered above. Oregon's resume took a hit when Michigan State lost last week, and would take another if USC beats UCLA this week. Oklahoma and a few other Big 12 teams haven't done TCU and Baylor any favors.
So much parity across the board this year makes the "who beat who" game a tough measuring stick to use.

 

All teams schedule are going to look worse as the season goes on because SOMEONE has to lose these head-to-head showdowns. Notre Dame looks a lot worse because Stanford, Michigan and Northwestern are having sub-par years.

So if Auburn beats Alabama and Ole Miss beats Mississippi State and Auburn, Bama and MSU each have two conference losses, then what? And what if the SEC East winner wins the conference title game? That has to count for something, doesn't it?

Ditto if Oregon or Florida State loses its conference title game? They would be screwed the same way Ohio State got screwed last year losing the Big Ten title game.
Maybe that's the silver lining to having a four-team playoff with five power conferences. If one of the big boys trips up, chances are there will be someone to take that spot.

Wouldn't it be awesome for Georgia or Missouri to win the SEC title game and no SEC team get in the playoff?

 

The University of Texas pulled its weight and had the Big 12 do away with its championship game by capping its membership at 10 schools.

 

I think you're wrong, because a quarterfinal round would be worth more.

I don't think there's any question, like it or not, that we're headed for a playoff expansion. Sooner, rather than later. For all the breathless talk about a potential 16!! or 24!!...8 is what works. On every level. It includes all of the power 5, allows a bone to be thrown to the "mid-majors", allows for a wild card (or 2), and keeps the bowl system alive. It keeps football a one semester sport, minimally impacts final exams (yeah, yeah...I know. But it's a sticking point with the Presidents....)

The conference championship weekend (first weekend of December) becomes quarterfinal week. It would be seeded, probably played in home stadiums (Oh PLEASE make an SEC team come to the snowy north in December....). Everything else remains exactly the same .....with the exception of the regular season schedule. There's going to be few, to no, out of conferences games. Considering the blood lust most folks seem to have for a playoff, just the price that will have to be paid.

 

We've seen so much conference shifting that I'd bet on the Big 12 poaching schools from elsewhere to have their own title game before that happens, Layman. It's so much easier to move the schedule up to the weekend before Labor Day as opening week. That way, you can keep the conference title games AND have the eight-team playoff.

 

Michael, for the Big 12 to expand it would have to find a pair of schools that are a big enough TV draw to convince Fox and ESPN to renegotiate at a rate that makes the new cut bigger for each of the 10 current schools. There aren't a lot of candidates out there that could do that.

When Florida State was talking about wanting to jump, that made sense. It might have been a good move at one point to grab Louisville and Cincinnati, getting two high-profile, successful departments that bridged the geographical gap to West Virginia. But with Louisville in the ACC now that isn't going to happen.

So who could possibly bring enough to the table to make it worth it? BYU? Cincy? UConn?

You can read between the lines of some quotes from Big 12 ADs and figure out they've asked ESPN if adding BYU would be worth it and the answer was no.

 

Jake pretty much covers it. There are not two teams out there that would be worth adding financially for the Big 12 to make that move.

There's a better chance they could get the 12-team rule changed than there is they'll add two more teams.

That said, if BU and TCU win out, they did play a conference championship game. It was in October and Baylor won.

 

I was lamentably unclear. I do not regard Big 12 expansion as likely, only as more likely than the elimination of conference championship games.

 

I really believe the committee thinks Baylor won that game on the back of two horrendously shitty pass interference calls/non-calls in the final two minutes, and thus is throwing out head-to-head altogether in that situation. That's the only explanation that makes sense to me as to why they keep ranking TCU ahead of the Bears.