College Football - Championship Week (Dec. 1)

[Smack]

Kind of weird Florida gets in over Georgia.

 

 

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Yeah, I can see it's because Georgia would have an extra loss (to AL this week), but the 3rd place SEC team would fairly regularly make the playoff then while the SEC Championship game loser wouldn't make it. Right?

 

The SEC has held 21 championship games. Both participants have been ranked in the top-4 going into the game three times (08 and 09 with Florida and Bama both times, and this year).

 

In 08, Bama was undefeated and dropped to No. 4 in the BCS after the loss (and still made a BCS game). Florida was No. 4 going in and would not have made the playoff but would still have made a BCS game as the next best SEC team was a 9-3 Georgia.

 

In 09, Florida lost and dropped to No. 5 but still made a BCS game. It's entirely possible they still get selected over No. 3 Cincy or No. 4 TCU in a playoff. I assume Alabama would have been in the same boat (both were undefeated) had they lost the SEC title game. The next best SEC team was 9-3 LSU.

 

Only three other times has an SEC team ranked in the top-4 lost the SEC title game (94, 01 and 05). In 94, No. 3 Alabama lost to Florida and dropped to No. 6. Auburn was ranked in the top-10 but ineligible from postseason play. In 2001, No. 2 Tennessee lost the SEC title game to LSU and was left out of the BCS to a Florida team it beat 34-32 on the road. In 05, No. 3 LSU lost to Georgia and was left out of the BCS in favor of Notre Dame.

 

So seeing as it's happened twice in 21 years, no, I don't think it will happen every year.

 

Thanks, that's a lot more helpful. Every year was an exaggeration, but that makes 3 out of 5 years? That's not counting last year where Alabama and LSU couldn't play each other in the conference championship game but if LSU had lost to Georgia would they have ended up in a hypothetical Final 4 playoff? They were far enough ahead they probably would've I guess.

[Smack]

Obviously things change but with the current power structure, money, facilities, culture, coaching, recruiting, etc. the SEC is built to dominate college football regularly for the foreseeable future. Hell, they've won 6 in a row, and likely 7 with this year.

[Andy]

Kind of weird Florida gets in over Georgia.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I can see it's because Georgia would have an extra loss (to AL this week), but the 3rd place SEC team would fairly regularly make the playoff then while the SEC Championship game loser wouldn't make it. Right?

 

The SEC has held 21 championship games. Both participants have been ranked in the top-4 going into the game three times (08 and 09 with Florida and Bama both times, and this year).

 

In 08, Bama was undefeated and dropped to No. 4 in the BCS after the loss (and still made a BCS game). Florida was No. 4 going in and would not have made the playoff but would still have made a BCS game as the next best SEC team was a 9-3 Georgia.

 

In 09, Florida lost and dropped to No. 5 but still made a BCS game. It's entirely possible they still get selected over No. 3 Cincy or No. 4 TCU in a playoff. I assume Alabama would have been in the same boat (both were undefeated) had they lost the SEC title game. The next best SEC team was 9-3 LSU.

 

Only three other times has an SEC team ranked in the top-4 lost the SEC title game (94, 01 and 05). In 94, No. 3 Alabama lost to Florida and dropped to No. 6. Auburn was ranked in the top-10 but ineligible from postseason play. In 2001, No. 2 Tennessee lost the SEC title game to LSU and was left out of the BCS to a Florida team it beat 34-32 on the road. In 05, No. 3 LSU lost to Georgia and was left out of the BCS in favor of Notre Dame.

 

So seeing as it's happened twice in 21 years, no, I don't think it will happen every year.

 

Thanks, that's a lot more helpful. Every year was an exaggeration, but that makes 3 out of 5 years? That's not counting last year where Alabama and LSU couldn't play each other in the conference championship game but if LSU had lost to Georgia would they have ended up in a hypothetical Final 4 playoff? They were far enough ahead they probably would've I guess.

LSU was being discussed as a title-game lock last year regardless of the SEC title game, so I'm guessing they'd have slipped into the top 4.

[WrigleyField 22]

Kind of weird Florida gets in over Georgia.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Florida probably has the best resume of any sec team, Bama included

But Georgia and Bama are ranked ahead of them at the moment.

 

I guess I'm just basing my perception strictly on the rankings. But it seems the better teams are punished. If both trams play Bama and both lose are they still 3-4? Is it possible GA makes it competitive enough even in a loss that they edge FL since FL didn't do anything to jump that spot other than not being good enough to make the championship?

 

Now subjectively you can probably argue for Florida, but objectively they will benefit by not being good enough to make their championship game, while of the two teams good enough to make it, one will be punished.

 

Also Oregon gets this same benefit now that I think of it. Just wait out whichever SEC team gets bumped. Can't lose position and even if they were in the title game, winning probably doesn't do much. Just odd that a bunch of games involving likely playoff opponents would bump teams from the field while teams at home make it in. The SEC title game is like a play-in to get into the actual (hypothetical) playoffs except instead of the two lesser teams fightly for the chance to play the better team its flipped. I'm gonna expand the NBA playoffs to 9 teams and the 2 and 3 seed will play eachother to see who gets to play the 8 seed in round 1.

 

Just hope that when we get the playoffs the committee thinks like this under a similiar scenario.

 

 

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[Tracer Bullet]

Well, assuming the 2 best teams in a conference are in the conf title game is severely flawed. Conf title games are also sort of stupid to me. Other than make money, I don't know what purpose they serve. That's even more true with a playoff. So maybe the sec and others will decide to abandon the conf title game if they believe it unfairly hurts their teams in the playoff race. Or maybe they start scheduling non-fcs teams OOC so they have a better overall resume than the other teams in their conf and other conferences. Or maybe the playoff expands quickly bc people like money.

[Exile on Waveland]

The SEC has held 21 championship games. Both participants have been ranked in the top-4 going into the game three times (08 and 09 with Florida and Bama both times, and this year)..

 

Thanks for this analysis, but I don't think twenty-one years ago has much relevance to the current landscape. The relative quality and/or perception of the SEC is so much higher now that will be far, far more prevalent than it was in the early 1990s -- as shown by it occurring three of the last five years and the unprecedented six straight national titles. Further expansion may make it even more likely than it is today.

[Guest]

Kind of weird Florida gets in over Georgia.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, I can see it's because Georgia would have an extra loss (to AL this week), but the 3rd place SEC team would fairly regularly make the playoff then while the SEC Championship game loser wouldn't make it. Right?

 

The SEC has held 21 championship games. Both participants have been ranked in the top-4 going into the game three times (08 and 09 with Florida and Bama both times, and this year).

 

In 08, Bama was undefeated and dropped to No. 4 in the BCS after the loss (and still made a BCS game). Florida was No. 4 going in and would not have made the playoff but would still have made a BCS game as the next best SEC team was a 9-3 Georgia.

 

In 09, Florida lost and dropped to No. 5 but still made a BCS game. It's entirely possible they still get selected over No. 3 Cincy or No. 4 TCU in a playoff. I assume Alabama would have been in the same boat (both were undefeated) had they lost the SEC title game. The next best SEC team was 9-3 LSU.

 

Only three other times has an SEC team ranked in the top-4 lost the SEC title game (94, 01 and 05). In 94, No. 3 Alabama lost to Florida and dropped to No. 6. Auburn was ranked in the top-10 but ineligible from postseason play. In 2001, No. 2 Tennessee lost the SEC title game to LSU and was left out of the BCS to a Florida team it beat 34-32 on the road. In 05, No. 3 LSU lost to Georgia and was left out of the BCS in favor of Notre Dame.

 

So seeing as it's happened twice in 21 years, no, I don't think it will happen every year.

 

Thanks, that's a lot more helpful. Every year was an exaggeration, but that makes 3 out of 5 years? That's not counting last year where Alabama and LSU couldn't play each other in the conference championship game but if LSU had lost to Georgia would they have ended up in a hypothetical Final 4 playoff? They were far enough ahead they probably would've I guess.

 

It's three out of five years where two top-4 teams have met in the SEC title game. But it's only once in the last 11 years and twice in 21 where the SEC title game loser gets bumped in the BCS in favor of a team it beat because said team made and lost the SEC title game while the other one didn't. And that's assuming Georgia loses. If Georgia wins, then it's only once in 21 years.

 

If we're considering a four-team playoff, Florida was No. 4 in 08 and won the game so they wouldn't have been affected at all. If anything, they benefited because they no longer had to worry about No. 5 USC getting selected ahead of them. Bama dropped to No. 4 that year so who knows what would have happened between them and USC. In 09, we don't know what the committee would have done with No. 3 Cincy, No. 4 TCU and No. 5 Florida (who dropped from No. 2 after losing to Bama). And last year, as Andy said, LSU probably still makes the four-team playoff because No. 5 and 6 were Oregon and Arkansas, two teams that LSU handled during the year and both had two losses.

[Soul]

I can't believe the Badgers are playing for a title of any kind.

[bcl412]

I have a hard time not seeing the playoff not getting expanded eventually. Every other sport has had a playoff that started off small and it expanded. I wouldn't be surprised if we did have a 12-16 team playoff in 15-20 years.

[Guest]

The Heisman Blind Test

 

1. Quarterback who led his conference in total touchdowns and yards per passing attempt. Struggled in two losses to ranked teams but ran for over 200 yards against a stout defense in a key road win. Surprised many with his mature decision making on the field.

 

2. Electrifying West Coast underclassman receiver who tallied at least 100 receiving yards in 6 weeks out of 7 in one stretch. Biggest scoring threat on a team that otherwise finished with a disappointing record. Averaged over 15 yards a reception.

 

3. Linebacker who led the nation in forced fumbles and his team in solo tackles. Had two key sacks in a late season game to keep his team in the hunt for the conference championship. Battled back from horrific injury to be a the cornerstone of an elite defense.

 

4. Consistently outgunned and working with fewer resources, this dynamic young player used cunning and stealth to defeat superior opponents before ultimately falling to a juggernaut in the last week of the season. Academic All-American.

 

5. A quarterback seen by many as too small to play who nonetheless consistently distributed the ball with poise, helping his team average well over 50 points a game in the month of November. Defense did not match his effort, leading to two heartbreaking overtime losses in that period.

 

6. Running back who averaged over seven yards a carry and a touchdown every nine touches. Team's only loss came in a game when he missed the second half with a leg injury.

 

And the answers:

 

Number 1: Taylor Martinez, Nebraska

 

Number 2: Austin Franklin, New Mexico State

 

Number 3: Khaseem Greene, Rutgers

 

Number 4: That one lead velociraptor in Jurassic Park

 

Number 5: Muggsy Bogues, 1994-1995 Charlotte Hornets

 

Number 6: Bazooka Catastrophe, a player I just made up

 

[Guest]

I have a hard time not seeing the playoff not getting expanded eventually. Every other sport has had a playoff that started off small and it expanded. I wouldn't be surprised if we did have a 12-16 team playoff in 15-20 years.

 

We're definitely going to have that and it's going to be a shame when we do.

[Tracer Bullet]

4 was the only one I got right

[Tracer Bullet]

I have a hard time not seeing the playoff not getting expanded eventually. Every other sport has had a playoff that started off small and it expanded. I wouldn't be surprised if we did have a 12-16 team playoff in 15-20 years.

 

We're definitely going to have that and it's going to be a shame when we do.

 

You think the regular season will be pared down to 10 games or that, despite all the concerns with brain damage, schools will say "F it, we're playing 15-17 games a season"

[Old Style]

Do the Stanford & UCLA fans know that the game is tonight? That stadium looks to be less than half full.

[Guest]

Do the Stanford & UCLA fans know that the game is tonight? That stadium looks to be less than half full.

I'd venture to guess there are more UCLA fans there than Stanford fans.

 

Stanford fans doesn't support their team well normally, let alone at a 5 pm weeknight game with heavy rain in the forecast.

[NonProfitCow]

Stanford's helmets are awesome.

[Guest]

Same officiating crew as last week. Still waiting for Stanford to be called for a holding.

[bcl412]

I hope Northern Illinois squeezes into a BCS game and upsets whomever they play just because Iowa beat them.

[Guest]

FINALLY A [expletive] HOLD ON STANFORD!! Only took :29 seconds shy of 6 quarters against UCLA before Stanford was called for holding.

[Careless]

The winner of Dr Pepper's $100k scholarship on how she won "I had a very good friend who won this last year and he gave me some very good advice"

[rawaction]

This MAC game is the [expletive]

[rawaction]

Kent St. wasn't going to the BCS if they won anyway. Didn't look good enough for most of the game.

[Careless]

my cousin's boyfriend was the one who caught the pass to send it to overtime. That'll be the high point of his career.

[Smack]

UCLA / Wisconsin Rose Bowl, would 8 combined losses be the most ever?

[Andy]

UCLA / Wisconsin Rose Bowl, would 8 combined losses be the most ever?

Without looking, I can guarantee it, because teams only started playing 12 games every year in 2006.