Is there SEC favoritism or is it just a Good ‘Ol Boys club? | The Boneyard
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Is there SEC favoritism or is it just a Good ‘Ol Boys club?

The SEC is in the luxurious position of being able to only play itself and say "look how great we are." They are certainly overrated.

I do think the bloom is off the rose a bit, but bowl/playoff results will be swiftly forgotten in the preseason buzz.

It is in their best interest to continue to rush toward a P2 while their reputation is still intact.
 
phillionaire said:
The espn ticker when Tennessee lost said “first loss versus unranked opponent this season”. Technically true but fails to state “also has no wins over team with record above .500”.
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“Technically true” on something with the “depth” of a ticker? That’s the same thing as saying “true.”
 
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It's a media conspiracy they don't want fans to understand.

Why do they wait to release CFP rankings until November? Because you need data.

But for some reason it's okay to provide rankings before the season starts. So the SEC always gets multiple teams in the top 25. Their out of conference schedules are usually not as strong because they say SEC conference is strong.

So many continue to be ranked artificially higher than other teams that have to earn it.

It's a shell game that benefits the SEC with preseason rankings.

There really should be no rankings until week 3 in college football. If you did that, some of the smaller teams with good wins would be in the rankings for longer and probably climb higher quicker.

This is well known, but it's the elephant in the room.

Ranking teams before they play is absurd and unnecessary.
 
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there is no way Alabama should’ve been in the playoff. They got completely beat down in the SEC championship game and that should’ve been it for them. They defeated a very weak Oklahoma team in the playoff. Can’t believe Notre Dame was left out of the playoff when they were so much better than Alabama.
 
SEC teams are 0-2 against the other P4 conference teams in the playoff this year.
Last year they were 2-3 on the strength of Texas' victories against #12 Clemson & #4 Arizona State; Texas was #3 in the rankings, but under that year's rules they got to play #12 and then #7... before they ran into Ohio State (ranked #6).. the 8 seed.

2-5 over the last two years is hardly a ringing endorsement.


The Big Ten by comparison in 2024 was 4-2 (counting Notre Dame as a P4 team, as I did for the SEC as well)
In 2025 they are 2-1... for a combined 6-3; but won't have another chance before the Finals.
 
uconntailgater said:
there is no way Alabama should’ve been in the playoff. They got completely beat down in the SEC championship game and that should’ve been it for them. They defeated a very weak Oklahoma team in the playoff. Can’t believe Notre Dame was left out of the playoff when they were so much better than Alabama.
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That's what I was saying. Should have been either BYU or ND. Although seeing ND whine has been great
 
DoctorWho85 said:
That's what I was saying. Should have been either BYU or ND. Although seeing ND whine has been great
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In the end, the SEC will push for more teams in the CFP, which really means more SEC teams get in if they cap it at 16 and they'll also push for only top 16 ranked teams, which further benefits them and the flawed ranking system.
 
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From ESPN:

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said there is "a fine line" between his team's historic 38-3 loss to Indiana in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl and where it wants to be.​
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"It may not feel like it when you're in this moment right now and what happened today, but I can tell you it's a fine between being here and being at the top,"​

My dude. You lost by 35 points. That's the Grand Canyon.
 
BRS24 said:
From ESPN:

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said there is "a fine line" between his team's historic 38-3 loss to Indiana in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl and where it wants to be.​
​
"It may not feel like it when you're in this moment right now and what happened today, but I can tell you it's a fine between being here and being at the top,"​

My dude. You lost by 35 points. That's the Grand Canyon.
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He sees it for what it is. A couple key players at key positions and some other tweaks. DeBoer is a good coach and he knows what it takes. He’s got to go get it in the portal.

Cignetti has a great mix of players with ability and most importantly, maturity. The discipline and sense of team is just off the charts. I’m curious how he’ll follow this up. I’m pretty sure he can keep doing it at a playoff level. He’s always won a lot of games. However, I think even he will find it hard always getting over that “fine line”.
 
My favorite image is the Cignetti look after Alabama went for and was stuffed on 4th down in their territory during the 2nd quarter. Cignetti looked like he was thinking "really dude? you're not playing Eastern Illinois at home in November"
 
BRS24 said:
From ESPN:

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said there is "a fine line" between his team's historic 38-3 loss to Indiana in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl and where it wants to be.​
​
"It may not feel like it when you're in this moment right now and what happened today, but I can tell you it's a fine between being here and being at the top,"​

My dude. You lost by 35 points. That's the Grand Canyon.
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Yeah. Fine line. If we got over that line we’d have only lost by 28.

That game was as much of a mismatch as Tulane was.

I think deBoer is a good coach too but he is going to to be an ex-Alabama coach after next year I think. Missed the playoffs last year. Embarrassed this year. Alabama won’t get special treatment next year .
 
Easy. SEC hate aside, remember how we felt after getting b slapped by Maryland last year. Turns out we weren’t that bad.
 
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Hoophound said:
He sees it for what it is. A couple key players at key positions and some other tweaks. DeBoer is a good coach and he knows what it takes. He’s got to go get it in the portal.

Cignetti has a great mix of players with ability and most importantly, maturity. The discipline and sense of team is just off the charts. I’m curious how he’ll follow this up. I’m pretty sure he can keep doing it at a playoff level. He’s always won a lot of games. However, I think even he will find it hard always getting over that “fine line”.
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Indiana has zero 5 star players, Bama has around 15. Around half of Bama's starters are 5 star, around half of Indiana's are zero stars with zero P4 offers out of high school.

Obviously the Indiana players turned out to be great players, the players and Cignetti deserve all the credit for that. Things are easier now with the portal but what Cingnetti has done is the best coaching job I've ever seen. That was a total coaching mismatch yesterday.
 
superjohn said:
Indiana has zero 5 star players, Bama has around 15. Around half of Bama's starters are 5 star, around half of Indiana's are zero stars with zero P4 offers out of high school.

Obviously the Indiana players turned out to be great players, the players and Cignetti deserve all the credit for that. Things are easier now with the portal but what Cingnetti has done is the best coaching job I've ever seen. That was a total coaching mismatch yesterday.
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It is an incredible job he’s done. My point is simply that DeBoer is not wrong in saying it’s a “fine line”, it is. Winning championships takes a perfect storm every time. I am curious to see if Cignetti can recreate this or if he’ll need 5* talent to keep doing it.
 
Hoophound said:
It is an incredible job he’s done. My point is simply that DeBoer is not wrong in saying it’s a “fine line”, it is. Winning championships takes a perfect storm every time. I am curious to see if Cignetti can recreate this or if he’ll need 5* talent to keep doing it.
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Cignetti went 11-2 in his first season at IU and then took a bunch of new players and went 14-0 so far in his second year. He's already proven he can recreate it and refine it to make an even better team.
 
superjohn said:
Indiana has zero 5 star players, Bama has around 15. Around half of Bama's starters are 5 star, around half of Indiana's are zero stars with zero P4 offers out of high school.

Obviously the Indiana players turned out to be great players, the players and Cignetti deserve all the credit for that. Things are easier now with the portal but what Cingnetti has done is the best coaching job I've ever seen. That was a total coaching mismatch yesterday.
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The gap between 4 and 5 star players is often marginal.

Not every talented recruit with similar measurables will be 5 star. It's left to recruiting services to make those distinctions.

I see what you're getting at, and it does track as most 5 star recruits have obviously skill sets, but rating's in the end are merely projections.
 
B1GEast said:
The gap between 4 and 5 star players is often marginal.

Not every talented recruit with similar measurables will be 5 star. It's left to recruiting services to make those distinctions.

I see what you're getting at, and it does track as most 5 star recruits have obviously skill sets, but rating's in the end are merely projections.
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While your point is technically correct, the whole argument is about the massive perceived talent gap.

Bama has 14 5* and 50 4* players on their roster. It ranks only behind Georgia.

Indiana has 0 5* and 7 4* players on their roster.

It's not a small gap. It's a massive gulf.
 
NHUConnfan said:
While your point is technically correct, the whole argument is about the massive perceived talent gap.

Bama has 14 5* and 50 4* players on their roster. It ranks only behind Georgia.

Indiana has 0 5* and 7 4* players on their roster.

It's not a small gap. It's a massive gulf.
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And the gulf is even bigger when you realize around half of Indiana's starters were 0 star recruits coming out of high school with no P4 offers.
 
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NHUConnfan said:
While your point is technically correct, the whole argument is about the massive perceived talent gap.

Bama has 14 5* and 50 4* players on their roster. It ranks only behind Georgia.

Indiana has 0 5* and 7 4* players on their roster.

It's not a small gap. It's a massive gulf.
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Fair enough and accurate, and it points to the true measure of the quality of coach Cignetti is. Coaching is what turns a 4 start into 5 star talent.
 
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