Playoff Bracket

[huskymedic]

 

[ScottVib]

Texas' reward for losing the SEC title game... the bottom two teams that qualified for the playoff. I think they'll adjust to reseeding because the top-ranked non-bye team will typically end up with the "easiest" path to the semis, while the top two seeds face comparatively more difficult paths. (This year it turns out even the 6 seed got a "easy" paths.

They might keep the conference champion byes... but I still think they reseed the quarterfinals starting next year.,...

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Texas' reward for losing the SEC title game... the bottom two teams that qualified for the playoff. I think they'll adjust to reseeding because the top-ranked non-bye team will typically end up with the "easiest" path to the semis, while the top two seeds face comparatively more difficult paths. (This year it turns out even the 6 seed got a "easy" paths.

They might keep the conference champion byes... but I still think they reseed the quarterfinals starting next year.,...

Agreed. Also Oregon getting Ohio State in their first knockout game is crazy. I know tOSU lost to Michigan but they’re always playoff contenders.

 

[ScottVib]

Especially the optics where you can argue both the SEC & Big Ten champions got tougher matchups than the teams they beat in their conference title games.

 

[KryHavok]

At the very least, the new playoff system forces a couple of them to play in the cold for once...

Yep, and I love this. The legacy B10 showed their advantage against the southern teams in playing in cold weather. Kinda easier to run up the score when it's +70°. Tenn and SMU can defrost over winter at home.

 

[Tenspro2002]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

 

[nelsonmuntz]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure, and it really brings into question the entire college football product. If you look at the history of this sport, it has always been this way at the top, just a series of mismatches and blowouts.

The middle of the pack teams, in the fat part of the distribution curve, produce fun, competitive games between each other for the most part, but the top teams have always been so much better that a playoff was pointless. Finding two teams that should play for a championship was manageable, four, difficult given the number of blowouts in the CFP the last 10 years, and 12 teams, silly. Unfortunately, if any kind of playoff outcome is predetermined, it turns all the games into exhibitions. None of them matter. They are just for entertainment.

 

[Purple Stein]

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure, and it really brings into question the entire college football product. If you look at the history of this sport, it has always been this way at the top, just a series of mismatches and blowouts.

The middle of the pack teams, in the fat part of the distribution curve, produce fun, competitive games between each other for the most part, but the top teams have always been so much better that a playoff was pointless. Finding two teams that should play for a championship was manageable, four, difficult given the number of blowouts in the CFP the last 10 years, and 12 teams, silly. Unfortunately, if any kind of playoff outcome is predetermined, it turns all the games into exhibitions. None of them matter. They are just for entertainment.

It keeps the game interesting on a local level, not just a national level.

I would love to see a 24 team, FCS style playoff. UConn could have a shot at a playoff game every once in a while. Give the MAC a spot, the Sun Belt, everybody. Not because they are going to win a national championship, but because it gives us more meaningful football and regionalizes a national tournament. And the occasionally upset -- imagine the equivalent of App State winning at Michigan in a playoff context.

 

[Vowelguy]

The 12 team CFP has been an abject failure,

We are 1 weekend in and you’ve already decided this?

 

[Vowelguy]

Funny people keep talking being more like the FCS playoffs ….

The round of 16 games had an average margin of 18 points, and only 2 of 8 were 1-score games.

 

[Tenspro2002]

We are 1 weekend in and you’ve already decided this?

The rest of the CFP may be a rousing success, but the opening weekend was a total dud, and predictably so.

Doesn't mean that an 8-team playoff wouldn't have been compelling, but we can already conclude that 12 was pointless.

 

[ZooCougar]

FBS needs to either go to 16 or completely relook how the seeding happens.

Being a conf champ should get you in the door not a bye.

The next batch of games will be bad too.

 

[Jimdish255]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

Year 1 is a pretty small sample size and the fact that the home teams won is a big surprise to no one. But I agree that it should be 8 or 16. I hate byes in any tournament but the physical demands of football with travel and potential injuries make it punitive.

 

[ZooCougar]

Year 1 is a pretty small sample size and the fact that the home teams won is a big surprise to no one. But I agree that it should be 8 or 16. I hate byes in any tournament but the physical demands of football with travel and potential injuries make it punitive.

Well. They are professionals and employees now. So they have to put out.

 

[NEforceUConn]

These games all suck.

Aint that the truth. Awful. I checked out after viewing the early scores.

 

[Vowelguy]

FBS needs to either go to 16 or completely relook how the seeding happens.

Going to 16 means the end of conference championship games.

 

[ZooCougar]

Going to 16 means the end of conference championship games.

Oh no

 

[Tenspro2002]

Year 1 is a pretty small sample size and the fact that the home teams won is a big surprise to no one. But I agree that it should be 8 or 16. I hate byes in any tournament but the physical demands of football with travel and potential injuries make it punitive.

Eh, I mean, this wasn't just "the home teams won." The home teams were over 90% to win for the vast majority of each game. There was never a realistic doubt about who would win.

They shouldn't have gotten greedy and should have just gone to 8 -- 5 or 6 auto-bids and 2 or 3 at-larges to account for conferences that were really strong and have multiple worthy teams. Did we need 2 ACC teams or the 3rd best SEC and Big Ten teams?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

^^^^
The right thing to do would have been expanding from four to eight, then, down the road expanding to twelve.

The thing is, to get the P2 to agree the expansion had to guarantee additional (more than two) bids, which, as the P2 had two bids in the past required expanding beyond eight.

 

[B1GEast]

What was the point in going to 12 instead of 8? (This is rhetorical, I know it was money. But that was a horrible product this weekend.)

The outcomes of the 12 team shouldn't matter. The SEC will complain that SMU should not have gotten a slot.

I think that none of the poor showings by Indiana or SMU will diminish this years championship.

But unfortunately next year the SEC will probably get it's way with similar scenarios if they arise.

 

[HCCForever]

The outcomes of the 12 team shouldn't matter. The SEC will complain that SMU should not have gotten a slot.

I think that none of the poor showings by Indiana or SMU will diminish this years championship.

But unfortunately next year the SEC will probably get it's way with similar scenarios if they arise.

The SEC should be more concerned about how bad TN looked.

 

[How Sway?!]

Eh, I mean, this wasn't just "the home teams won." The home teams were over 90% to win for the vast majority of each game. There was never a realistic doubt about who would win.

They shouldn't have gotten greedy and should have just gone to 8 -- 5 or 6 auto-bids and 2 or 3 at-larges to account for conferences that were really strong and have multiple worthy teams. Did we need 2 ACC teams or the 3rd best SEC and Big Ten teams?

Ohio State wouldnt have made it in an 8 teams playoff, unless you were to remove auto bids, which would only serve so solidly the P2. 12 is fine, there have always been blowouts in the playoffs and always will be. That is a small price to pay to ensure the post season isn't limited to the same 6 teams.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

The outcomes of the 12 team shouldn't matter. The SEC will complain that SMU should not have gotten a slot.

I think that none of the poor showings by Indiana or SMU will diminish this years championship.

But unfortunately next year the SEC will probably get it's way with similar scenarios if they arise.

The SEC should be more concerned about how bad TN looked.

Tennessee, looking every bit as overmatched as SMU & Indiana (while facing the lowest seeded home team) may be the one thing that saves this from being a five or six SEC school playoff in the near future.

Yes, a claim can be made that the fifth, sixth, seventh best SEC could beat the top G5 school or the second ACC or B12 school but the issue should be who is more deserving of the opportunity to have a chance at the playoffs. All Alabama needed to do was win one of their games against Tennessee, Vanderbilt or Oklahoma. Hell, they didn't even need to beat Tennessee as soundly as Ohio St did.

A massive part of the problem is the schools in that conference want the upside of the realignment moves they've made without having to face the downside that is inherent in adding name brand schools.

 

[B1GEast]

Tennessee, looking every bit as overmatched as SMU & Indiana (while facing the lowest seeded home team) may be the one thing that saves this from being a five or six SEC school playoff in the near future.

Yes, a claim can be made that the fifth, sixth, seventh best SEC could beat the top G5 school or the second ACC or B12 school but the issue should be who is more deserving of the opportunity to have a chance at the playoffs. All Alabama needed to do was win one of their games against Tennessee, Vanderbilt or Oklahoma. Hell, they didn't even need to beat Tennessee as soundly as Ohio St did.

A massive part of the problem is the schools in that conference want the upside of the realignment moves they've made without having to face the downside that is inherent in adding name brand schools.

I agree with everything you wrote. Right now, ESPN and the SEC are going to do everything they can to make sure this doesn't happen next year, which is unfortunate, because the purpose of expanding the playoffs was to give additional teams a shot which would minimize the argument over who really is the best college team.

The problem is that the team that wins isn't always the best team that year, but the team the played it's best football at the end of the season.

Expanding to 12 was also about more money for the SEC and Big 10.

I really hope that Boise State or Arizona St wins the championship. Notre Dame, the Big 10 and SEC game go screw themselves

 

[Vowelguy]

Tenn were 3rd best SEC and got stomped