Hunt for the CFP 2017

[tzznandrew]

OSU beat another playoff team in Oklahoma last year. You could have argued that PSU deserved it by head to head and conference championship but OSU had a good resume.

OSU shouldn't have been in last year, but had a better resume than this year's Alabama.

College football doesn't have enough games for me to believe that we can distinguish between two teams as close as Alabama and Ohio State.

 

[06029]

Alabama beat exactly 3 teams with 8 or more wins (LSU, MS State, Fresno St) and only one of those will be ranked in the final Top 25 poll (LSU).
OSU beat 5, (Wisc, PSU, MSU, Mich, and Army) and three of those are ranked in the Top 25, two are in the Top 10.

None of the other games matter. Alabama beating Tennessee is the same as beating Maryland. If you want to ding them for losing to Iowa, fine it still doesn't put Alabama's resume over OSU's. If I'm Jim Delaney I let everyone know that the CFP is dead as soon as the contract is up.

Or you expand to 8 teams. P5 plus best G6 plus next two highest ranked. Winning a conference needs to matter way more like in BB and if you want the NCAA to have any shred of relevance you need to have a path for non P5 schools like UCF this year and Boise and BYU in the past.

 

[FartMan69]

How did they rank Wiscy above USC??

 

[shizzle787]

How did they rank Wiscy above USC??

I would argue Wisconsin should have been Ohio State due to one fewer losses even if they lost to them. Ohio State should have been behind USC as well.

 

[shizzle787]

Or you expand to 8 teams. P5 plus best G6 plus next two highest ranked. Winning a conference needs to matter way more like in BB and if you want the NCAA to have any shred of relevance you need to have a path for non P5 schools like UCF this year and Boise and BYU in the past.

No, it should be the eight most deserving regardless of conference. If a G5 school goes undefeated and plays a challenging schedule, they would probably be in.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

OSU beat another playoff team in Oklahoma last year. You could have argued that PSU deserved it by head to head and conference championship but OSU had a good resume.

Who is the better team OSU or Bama? That’s all that should matter.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

How did they rank Wiscy above USC??

Pretty easily.

 

[shizzle787]

Who is the better team OSU or Bama? That’s all that should matter.

More deserving is what the criteria should be. Alabama was BOTH more deserving and a better team as Ohio State had two losses. The regular season should matter. Losses should matter. The committee followed my criteria to a tee. They got it right.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

More deserving is what the criteria should be. Alabama was BOTH more deserving and a better team as Ohio State had two losses. The regular season should matter. Losses should matter. The committee followed my criteria to a tee. They got it right.

I agree they got it right. I was convinced they were gonna put OSU in though.

 

[shizzle787]

I agree they got it right. I was convinced they were gonna put OSU in though.

I thought that too, and I even had a small thought they might squeak USC in there to surprise everyone.

 

[traitor71]

Pretty easily.

Do we really care about the rankings outside of the 4 playoff teams? Even after the playoffs the major bowls are pretty locked into who they can contractually take.

 

[shizzle787]

Do we really care about the rankings outside of the 4 playoff teams? Even after the playoffs the major bowls are pretty locked into who they can contractually take.

Not really, but it is interesting to note how the committee ranks the next few teams.

 

[SubbaBub]

OSU shouldn't have been in last year, but had a better resume than this year's Alabama.

College football doesn't have enough games for me to believe that we can distinguish between two teams as close as Alabama and Ohio State.

Precisely, there are not enough common data points to determine who is better. What we do know is that Bama is not better than Auburn or Georgia. We know that OSU is the best team in the Big 10. If the goal is the best teams then the only way to know is how many good teams did you beat and adjust for any losses. No one seems to care that Clemson lost to Syracuse, by far the worst loss of any playoff team. In a year with multiple zero-one loss teams, it would keep them out. This year, there other quality wins combined with the issues with other teams resumes makes it a non-factor.

Who is the better team OSU or Bama? That’s all that should matter.

The only way to know is for them to play. If we have to guess then how many good team did each beat. Bama beat one Top 25 team. UCF beat 3, OSU beat 2 Top 10 teams and one other Top 25 team. It shouldn't matter if people think Bama is better they haven't accomplished as much as other teams. If that is the case then just go back to the poll system and hand Clemson the trophy.

Do we really care about the rankings outside of the 4 playoff teams? Even after the playoffs the major bowls are pretty locked into who they can contractually take.

It does. The Orange Bowl gets to pick the highest ranked non-champion from BIG/SEC/ND. That means OSU gets Miami in the OB. Wisc gets stuck vs USC in the Fiesta. Likely putting Auburn in the Peach vs UCF. That could change if they put Auburn in the Orange to meet rotation requirements. Penn State is likely going to the Cotton Bowl. It will be interesting who they pick to play them. The top contenders are TCU and Washington finishing in the Top 12, or does the Committee slide ND up one and bump one of those teams.

 

[shizzle787]

Precisely, there are not enough common data points to determine who is better. What we do know is that Bama is not better than Auburn or Georgia. We know that OSU is the best team in the Big 10. If the goal is the best teams then the only way to know is how many good teams did you beat and adjust for any losses. No one seems to care that Clemson lost to Syracuse, by far the worst loss of any playoff team. In a year with multiple zero-one loss teams, it would keep them out. This year, there other quality wins combined with the issues with other teams resumes makes it a non-factor.
The transitive property doesn't work in sports. We don't know if Alabama would beat Georgia but I believe both will win their semifinals so we may find out.


The only way to know is for them to play. If we have to guess then how many good team did each beat. Bama beat one Top 25 team. UCF beat 3, OSU beat 2 Top 10 teams and one other Top 25 team. It shouldn't matter if people think Bama is better they haven't accomplished as much as other teams. If that is the case then just go back to the poll system and hand Clemson the trophy.

 

[noeynox]

More deserving is what the criteria should be. Alabama was BOTH more deserving and a better team as Ohio State had two losses. The regular season should matter. Losses should matter. The committee followed my criteria to a tee. They got it right.

I disagree. Winning your division should matter. Ohio State did and earned the chance to beat a 4th ranked unbeaten team while Bama sat home. SEC bias doomed the Big Ten.

 

[shizzle787]

I disagree. Winning your division should matter. Ohio State did and earned the chance to beat a 4th ranked unbeaten team while Bama sat home. SEC bias doomed the Big Ten.

Two losses doomed Ohio State.

 

[SubbaBub]

There is nothing transitive about it. Is Alabama the SEC Champion? No they aren't. Are they the best team in the SEC East? No, they aren't. Ask those same questions about OSU. Now compare wins. Is beating LSU and Miss St and losing to Auburn better than beating Wisc, PSU, MSU, Mich but losing to OU and Iowa? No it isn't. If you pick Alabama, you are picking by brand, past years performances, and an unsubstantiated SEC lovefest. None of those are actual criteria allowed by the Committee.

 

[jbdphi]

More deserving is what the criteria should be. Alabama was BOTH more deserving and a better team as Ohio State had two losses. The regular season should matter. Losses should matter. The committee followed my criteria to a tee. They got it right.

If Auburn had won the SEC championship game they would have been ranked higher than Alabama and would have been in. It isn’t just the number of losses but the quality of the losses and the wins.

 

[noeynox]

Two losses doomed Ohio State.

They played Oklahoma non conference. I realize Bama played Florida State but they ended up sucking.

I just think winning yiur division should matter. Bama essentially got the benefit of an extra week of rest to not risk injury by losing their division.

 

[SubbaBub]

Two losses doomed Ohio State.

That is the excuse being given but, one of those losses is to the #2 team in the CFB. Anyone else play a game that tough? No, they didn't. OSU is worse that OU, duh. This is about the 4th spot. To decide it based on a loss to Iowa, means you have to hit OU for losing to ISU and Clemson for losing to Syracuse.

 

[shizzle787]

That is the excuse being given but, one of those losses is to the #2 team in the CFB. Anyone else play a game that tough? No, they didn't. OSU is worse that OU, duh. This is about the 4th spot. To decide it based on a loss to Iowa, means you have to hit OU for losing to ISU and Clemson for losing to Syracuse.

I don't care if they lost to God, they lost twice. They blew their chance.

 

[Walker11]

The 30 point loss to a mediocre team is rightfully disqualifying. I'm not sure people would have taken the candidacy seriously if it was a different name on the uniform.

 

[shizzle787]

The 30 point loss to a mediocre team is rightfully disqualifying. I'm not sure people would have taken the candidacy seriously if it was a different name on the uniform.

They didn't take USC seriously and they had a marginally better resume than Ohio State.

 

[SubbaBub]

The 30 point loss to a mediocre team is rightfully disqualifying. I'm not sure people would have taken the candidacy seriously if it was a different name on the uniform.

Clemson lost to Cuse, Wisc lost to OSU, Bama lost to Auburn. By your logic Clemson should be out.

 

[Walker11]

Clemson lost to Cuse, Wisc lost to OSU, Bama lost to Auburn. By your logic Clemson should be out.

Clemson very clearly deserves to be in.

 

[SubbaBub]

Clemson very clearly deserves to be in.

Why, if horrific losses are disqualifying? Clemson has the worst loss by far. The entire point of the committee was to remove arbitrary reasoning. They change the criteria for every team. Bad losses don't matter for Clemson, but CC and qualtiy win/resume does, Oklahoma has the best resume but are ranked #2, Georgia lost to Auburn missed Alabama and beat ND and Auburn no other top 25 wins but SEC champ, they are solid but there resume isn't any better than OSU's. We've covered Alabama losing to the one good team they played and only one Top 25 win. The CFP was supposed to end the rankings by reputation. There are huge dollars here. OSU or UCF deserved the bid. OSU would be my choice seeing as 4 of there wins are better than anything Alabama did.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Clemson lost to Cuse, Wisc lost to OSU, Bama lost to Auburn. By your logic Clemson should be out.

Auburn lost to Clemson. Auburn beat Bama. So, (some of) your logic may be flawed.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

How did they rank Wiscy above USC??

Apparently, losing to a pretty good Wazzu team and the typically over-ranked Notre Dame may not have helped USCw's plight. Good wins limited, with an early season defeat of Stanford and a Pac12 championship victory against the Tree. Otherwise, blah!

 

[zls44]

Why, if horrific losses are disqualifying? Clemson has the worst loss by far.

Wait, no. 31. Iowa.

Iowa.
31.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Why, if horrific losses are disqualifying? Clemson has the worst loss by far. The entire point of the committee was to remove arbitrary reasoning.

Perhaps, but news reports suggested injuries mattered to "the committee", e.g., Clemson's QB literally knocked out when slammed onto the Orange's concrete floor turf. I think Clemson was losing at the time, but just tossing out a possibility.