Who to root for on Champion Saturday for maximum chaos?

[CJasmer]

Unbelievable finish. SMU deserves to be in playoffs

 

[CJasmer]

It will be interesting if Alabama jumps SMU. SMU statistically beat Clemson.

 

[storrsroars]

Maybe Pitt just isn’t that good.

They were #17 in week 10 when they played @#22 SMU.

I don't know why in hell you want Alabama. In hoops terms, Bama has two bad Q3 losses. That alone should take them out of any conversation to play for a championship. You want to penalize SMU for having to play in a conference championship - something Alabama wasn't even good enough to make. Crazy talk.

 

[traitor71]

They were #17 in week 10 when they played @#22 SMU.

I don't know why in hell you want Alabama. In hoops terms, Bama has two bad Q3 losses. That alone should take them out of any conversation to play for a championship. You want to penalize SMU for having to play in a conference championship - something Alabama wasn't even good enough to make. Crazy talk.

Alabama has two terrible losses, but that seems to just get glossed over. Even the last few weeks aren't great for them. They beat a bad Auburn team at home, got humiliated at Oklahoma (a bad team), and beat up on an FCS opponent (Mercer). I can't believe they were even in before tonight, and they should be out for sure now. At least you would think so anyway.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

They were #17 in week 10 when they played @#22 SMU.

I don't know why in hell you want Alabama. In hoops terms, Bama has two bad Q3 losses. That alone should take them out of any conversation to play for a championship. You want to penalize SMU for having to play in a conference championship - something Alabama wasn't even good enough to make. Crazy talk.

I am not a homer like you. I have no skin in the ACC game. You like Pitt because that’s your local team( and wife’s team)..which is fine. But if you look at SMU’s schedule, they didn‘t play the top ACC teams this year. And when they played an average Clemson team, they lost.

It’s fine you think SMU is a good team because they beat your Panthers. But the rest of the country realizes that the ACC is a weak conferenece and that while SMU is a nice story, Clemson is yet again the ACC leader of mediocrity.

Alabama would smoke SMU, Pitt and Clemson..

 

[Patman]

I am not a homer like you. I have no skin in the ACC game. You like Pitt because that’s your local team( and wife’s team)..which is fine. But if you look at SMU’s schedule, they didn‘t play the top ACC teams this year. And when they played an average Clemson team, they lost.

It’s fine you think SMU is a good team because they beat your Panthers. But the rest of the country realizes that the ACC is a weak conferenece and that while SMU is a nice story, Clemson is yet again the ACC leader of mediocrity.

Alabama would smoke SMU, Pitt and Clemson..

That's nice. Shame Bama went out and wrapped their pants against Vandy

 

[storrsroars]

That's nice. Shame Bama went out and wrapped their pants against Vandy

I'd argue losing 24-3 to Oklahoma was worse.

 

[noeynox]

So if Beck is injured does a potentially 3 loss Georgia without their starter fall like FSU last year?

No. They won their conferences championship game and these new rules put them in

 

[storrsroars]

I am not a homer like you. I have no skin in the ACC game. You like Pitt because that’s your local team( and wife’s team)..which is fine. But if you look at SMU’s schedule, they didn‘t play the top ACC teams this year. And when they played an average Clemson team, they lost.

It’s fine you think SMU is a good team because they beat your Panthers. But the rest of the country realizes that the ACC is a weak conferenece and that while SMU is a nice story, Clemson is yet again the ACC leader of mediocrity.

Alabama would smoke SMU, Pitt and Clemson..

I'm familiar with Pitt for the reasons you mention (wife, I live here), but they're not "my" Panthers. I'm a UConn fan.

SMU's schedule was more difficult than ND's, another team that didn't have to play a 13th game. Alabama lost to TWO six loss teams. That's disqualifying to me. Odds are both Bama and SMU make the 12 though.

 

[Goldenflash]

If you think both Alabama and SMU are in the field of 12, who are you leaving out?

 

[UConnTrumbull]

SMU should be out just because efffff them and efffff the ACC

 

[Jimdish255]

I am not a homer like you. I have no skin in the ACC game. You like Pitt because that’s your local team( and wife’s team)..which is fine. But if you look at SMU’s schedule, they didn‘t play the top ACC teams this year. And when they played an average Clemson team, they lost.

It’s fine you think SMU is a good team because they beat your Panthers. But the rest of the country realizes that the ACC is a weak conferenece and that while SMU is a nice story, Clemson is yet again the ACC leader of mediocrity.

Alabama would smoke SMU, Pitt and Clemson..

Not based on their performances this year. They have never looked like previous Alabama teams.

 

[CJasmer]

Not based on their performances this year. They have never looked like previous Alabama teams.

Alabama has been inconsistent all year. If they make the playoffs which team shows up? The A team can make noise in the playoffs. The C team they showed up for Oklahoma and Vanderbilt will exit early.

 

[ZooCougar]

So if Beck is injured does a potentially 3 loss Georgia without their starter fall like FSU last year?

No because they only lost to SEC teams.

 

[Zerostatic]

Personally I wish the playoffs was 16 teams and every conference champion (including all the G5 conferences) would make the tournament and then after that just put them best teams in and strength of schedule should be strongly incorporated so it would mostly be SEC and B1G schools. This would get everyone involved and give every D1 program the hope of being national champs. Instead of Byes the top conference champs would get to play the worst G5 champs. Sure, they might be blowouts but the 1st round of March Madness has a lot of these blowouts and it's still awesome (probably my favorite sports event of the year)

As for today's decision Alabama is the better team so going by that metric they clearly should be in, on the other hand the thinking was that generally conference championships should not hurt you in the standings if you were in already and SMU's rank meant they were in. Perhaps they need to reevaluate how they do rankings.

For selfish reasons, I hope SMU gets left out, as annoying as the SEC/B1G cartel is, the attitude of superiority in the ACC when it relates to UConn has irked me. The fact that they extended invitations to SMU, Cal and Stanford after denying UConn who is such a better fit geographically, culturally and rivalry-wise was the cherry on top. Them being a 1 bid league who has a good shot of getting eliminated in the first game hopefully humbles some of the loud mouths in that sphere.

 

[ZooCougar]

I am not a homer like you. I have no skin in the ACC game. You like Pitt because that’s your local team( and wife’s team)..which is fine. But if you look at SMU’s schedule, they didn‘t play the top ACC teams this year. And when they played an average Clemson team, they lost.

It’s fine you think SMU is a good team because they beat your Panthers. But the rest of the country realizes that the ACC is a weak conferenece and that while SMU is a nice story, Clemson is yet again the ACC leader of mediocrity.

Alabama would smoke SMU, Pitt and Clemson..

Really? Why couldn’t they smoke Vandy and Oklahoma?

Sorry but they are not good and don’t deserve to be there. But they will probably get there anyways.

They need to go play in a bowl game and get ready for next season like everyone else.

 

[CJasmer]

No because they only lost to SEC teams.

Main reason rule change. All P4 conference champions make playoffs. Although they could give Georgia a lower seating but highly doubtful it happens.

 

[ZooCougar]

Main reason rule change. All P4 conference champions make playoffs. Although they could give Georgia a lower seating but highly doubtful it happens.

I was joking.

The SEC doesn’t have any elite teams this year. There really aren’t any elites.

They don’t deserve any sort of special consideration.

 

[storrsroars]

If you think both Alabama and SMU are in the field of 12, who are you leaving out?

If the committee includes Bama, then they're assigning a high score to SOS. And if you're assigning a high score to SOS, then it makes sense to bump Indiana, which had the worst SOS of any non-champion.

If SMU is left out, what is the incentive for any team that's assured a spot in the CFP to even play a conference championship when losing it by 3 points puts you out of the field?

 

[ZooCougar]

If the committee includes Bama, then they're assigning a high score to SOS. And if you're assigning a high score to SOS, then it makes sense to bump Indiana, which had the worst SOS of any non-champion.

If SMU is left out, what is the incentive for any team that's assured a spot in the CFP to even play a conference championship when losing it by 3 points puts you out of the field?

Their task is to select the best teams. Not the most deserving.

The unstated task is to pick the teams that will deliver the best tv ratings,

 

[UCFBfan]

If the committee includes Bama, then they're assigning a high score to SOS. And if you're assigning a high score to SOS, then it makes sense to bump Indiana, which had the worst SOS of any non-champion.

If SMU is left out, what is the incentive for any team that's assured a spot in the CFP to even play a conference championship when losing it by 3 points puts you out of the field?

This is the argument that will be had moving forward for a conference like the ACC that only has one team make the playoffs when they have an upset in the title game and the higher team is then knocked out entirely unlike the B1G and SEC who have teams who don't even make their title games get in. There will be a lot of noise over cancelling these games. There already is.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

If the committee includes Bama, then they're assigning a high score to SOS. And if you're assigning a high score to SOS, then it makes sense to bump Indiana, which had the worst SOS of any non-champion.

If SMU is left out, what is the incentive for any team that's assured a spot in the CFP to even play a conference championship when losing it by 3 points puts you out of the field?

SMU didn’t play the top 3 teams in their conference until the championship game…when they did they lost. I think they are similar to Indiana…who looked great until they played a ranked team and lost.

Alabama beat the SEC champion. Yes they lost to Vandy and OK. But at least they proved they could beat a good team.

 

[champs99and04]

If SMU is left out, what is the incentive for any team that's assured a spot in the CFP to even play a conference championship when losing it by 3 points puts you out of the field?

This is my least favorite argument. For starters, a win last night would have put SMU in the round of eight - meaning the benefit of playing the game was at least neutral, even before considering the quality of opponent (which was lesser than they likely would have played in an opening playoff game) and the chances of still getting in with a loss. Somehow, SMU played a game yesterday as a favorite on a neutral field, where they never led and trailed by 17 at the end of three quarters, and came out of it with much more of America's support than they had going into it. This is what drives me crazy about the subjective nature of the playoff in a nutshell.

SMU is a playoff-caliber team and worthy of consideration on its own merits, but the "you can't penalize them for playing in a championship game!" drives me batsh. Playing in a CCG has never meant less in the mega conference era. Teams are playing vastly different strength of schedules within their league with no parameters to ensure they ever have to play the teams they're competing with. The combined record of SMU's ACC opponents was 25-31 and they never played either of the teams jockeying with them the whole season. Their best win is Louisville who may or may not be ranked.

BYU has the same number of losses, a better Strength of Record, a better Strength of Schedule, and oh yeah, beat them at their place. Yet they're not even considered because they only "tied" for first with four other teams in the mega conference cluster farce and lost the arbitrary tie-breaker. The whole thing is idiotic and they should go back to four teams or even the BCS.

 

[ZooCougar]

SMU didn’t play the top 3 teams in their conference until the championship game…when they did they lost. I think they are similar to Indiana…who looked great until they played a ranked team and lost.

Alabama beat the SEC champion. Yes they lost to Vandy and OK. But at least they proved they could beat a good team.

But they also had two terrible losses.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

But they also had two terrible losses.

uh yeah…I said that.