College Football - Championship Week

[soccer10k]

Committee clearly making a prescient that a team shouldn’t be punished for losing a conference title game, which I 100% disagree with. Not saying a team has to be punished necessarily though.

Like if you replaced any of Penn St’s wins with at Oregon, are they in the title game still? Probably not. So you’re putting OSU behind them because their game against Oregon was in the regular season and ignoring that it was a closer game and on the road.

[UMFan83]

9 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

If you want to argue against Indiana, I’ve got no problem with that. One small difference between the two is SMU had 4 games decided by 10 or less whereas Indiana only had 1. 

It’s not really SMU vs Indiana. It’s the standard set where one team with an iffy resume avoids their conference title game due to losing a SOS tiebreaker and gets into the CFP without much debate while another team with an arguably better resume loses their conference title game on a 56 yard FG in the final seconds and is left out in favor of a 9-3 team that lost multiple games to .500 teams.  

[Andy]

42 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

That's insane.  Why havent they played?

I'm not sure why they didn't play in the early years but recent history suggests they haven't played in the modern era is because ND wasn't wasting a B1G game on IU when they weren't good and IU probably didn't want to play a big time non conference game either.

I believe they have a home and home on the books in 2030-31 though.

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

That's insane.  Why havent they played?

Probably because they turned down the Big 10 fifty different times

[Ding Dong Johnson]

4 hours ago, Derwood said:

Penn State has BY FAR the "easiest" path to the final four

Funny, I immediately picked them as the most likely to get upset in round 1.

[mul21]

22 hours ago, soccer10k said:

Committee clearly making a prescient that a team shouldn’t be punished for losing a conference title game, which I 100% disagree with. Not saying a team has to be punished necessarily though.

Like if you replaced any of Penn St’s wins with at Oregon, are they in the title game still? Probably not. So you’re putting OSU behind them because their game against Oregon was in the regular season and ignoring that it was a closer game and on the road.

OSU is behind them because they lost to a mediocre Michigan team in the last week of the season at home.  

[soccer10k]

39 minutes ago, mul21 said:

OSU is behind them because they lost to a mediocre Michigan team in the last week of the season at home.  

And they also went to Penn St and beat them and beat Indiana by 23. Penn St’a best win was at home against No 20 Illinois. I know you can just say, like you did, that OSU shouldn’t have lost to Michigan. And that’s fair. But these conference title games can’t mean nothing when it comes to seeding, besides who gets a bye or not.

[UMFan83]

2 hours ago, soccer10k said:

And they also went to Penn St and beat them and beat Indiana by 23. Penn St’a best win was at home against No 20 Illinois. I know you can just say, like you did, that OSU shouldn’t have lost to Michigan. And that’s fair. But these conference title games can’t mean nothing when it comes to seeding, besides who gets a bye or not.

Actually they absolutely can if they wanted to.  They could come out and say the evaluation for the CFP ends after the regular season.  The conference championship games are soley to determine auto-bids and byes.  You can play yourself into the field like Clemson did but you cant play yourself out of the field.

I put absolutely no thought into this idea before posting it so there's probably 1000 reasons why its the dumbest thing ever.  But it just rubs me the wrong way that a team like SMU could play themselves out of the CFP due to an extra game they are forced to play while a team like Indiana could remain in the field due to not having to play that extra game that everyone knows they probably would have lost.  I know it didn't even happen, but just the discussion of that happening bothered me.  I realize that we have completely polar opposite takes on this one and aren't going to convince the other though.

Also I guess my other thought on this is that maybe we shouldn't put much thought into it.  The point of the expanded playoff was to ensure that all championship worthy teams (both by perceived ability and by resume) could make it (just kidding, the point was more $$$).  There are no 2023 FSUs out there to be screwed this year when we're talking about whether a 2 loss team that didn't beat anyone or a 3 loss team that lost to multiple bad teams is the 12th best team in the country.  It was inevitable that there would be fierce debates just like there is in the 68 team basketball tournament, but I feel comfort in knowing that a) all deserving teams are in there and b) every FBS team now theoretically has an opportunity to win the championship

 

Edited December 9, 2024 by UMFan83

[soccer10k]

I’m more on board with not necessarily playing yourself out of the playoff with a loss in the conference championship game except under more extreme circumstances. SMU loses by 21+ and is completely overmatched? Then that should matter. SMU loses by 3 and you don’t want to punish them? That’s understandable. I disagree but I get it. Bama had their chance but lost to Vandy and Oklahoma. Ole Miss lost to Florida and Kentucky. SMU didint blow a game to a crappy team. Personally I’d put Ole Miss in but that’s not a huge deal 

Penn St being ranked above Ohio State bugs me a whole lot more though. By Sagarin, OSU played 5 of the top 25 teams, including all 5 other Big 10 teams in the top-25. Penn St played 1 (give them 2 if you want to include #26 USC). There just isn’t a good argument to have Penn St above OSU besides “well they lost 1 less game during the regular season” which isn’t a good argument at all.

Edited December 9, 2024 by soccer10k

[bukie]

The way I see it, it is in no way unfair that 3 loss Alabama doesn't get a shot at the national title this year.

There were 15 teams with 0, 1, or 2 losses. 11 of them made the CFP, with the 12th spot going to a Clemson team that won the ACC and got the bottom seed. Successful playoff selection. The four teams that didn't make it with 2 or fewer losses:

- Memphis - 2 losses, didn't make AAC championship game, best win was probably against Tulane, had probably the 50th best resume in the field.

- Army - 1 loss, won the AAC, run off the field by ND, best win probably also Tulane. Closer loss to ND and they might be there instead of Clemson.

- BYU - 2 losses, didn't play in the B12 championship, best win was SMU, lost to the only good B12 teams they played, and now get an odd bowl game where they play a conference matchup with Colorado.

- Miami - 2 losses, didn't play in the ACC championship, they're probably in if they make the ACC championship even though their best win was...I dunno, maybe Florida? Worse resume than Indiana for sure.

Hard to argue with any of it, really, even if Alabama might be the 10th best team instead of the 12th best team in reality. Would have been annoyed if Bama made it over Miami, so at least it didn't come to that.

If I had to make changes for next year, I'd suggest two simple things:

1. Expand to 16 teams and take champions from all 9 conferences. Still get 7 at larges, just like this year, but there's no arbitrary voting decisions between, say, Clemson, Boise State and Army on who gets a chance and who doesn't.

2. No protected seeding, just seed 1-16 based on strength to balance out the bracket. I think this hurts Oregon and Georgia the most this year, so I think this is the likeliest change to actually happen.

[minnesotacubsfan]

On 12/8/2024 at 10:35 AM, soccer10k said:

Committee clearly making a prescient that a team shouldn’t be punished for losing a conference title game, which I 100% disagree with. Not saying a team has to be punished necessarily though.

Like if you replaced any of Penn St’s wins with at Oregon, are they in the title game still? Probably not. So you’re putting OSU behind them because their game against Oregon was in the regular season and ignoring that it was a closer game and on the road.

Counterpoint, horsefeathers osu

[Rex Buckingham]

1 hour ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

Counterpoint, horsefeathers osu

[Andy]

19 hours ago, bukie said:

If I had to make changes for next year, I'd suggest two simple things:

1. Expand to 16 teams and take champions from all 9 conferences. Still get 7 at larges, just like this year, but there's no arbitrary voting decisions between, say, Clemson, Boise State and Army on who gets a chance and who doesn't.

2. No protected seeding, just seed 1-16 based on strength to balance out the bracket. I think this hurts Oregon and Georgia the most this year, so I think this is the likeliest change to actually happen.

FWIW it seems like the most likely change based on last offseason is 14 teams, possibly with the byes automatically reserved for the B1G and SEC champs (as if they wouldn't always get them anyway). Last year the talk was 3 or 4 guaranteed auto-bids for those two conferences, two guaranteed bids for the ACC and Big 12, and the highest-ranked champ of one of the other conferences. ND would be bribed with an auto-bid if they were ranked in the top 14 (basically protecting them from being bid-sniped by one of the other auto-bids if a team was middling) to sign on. There would only be a couple at-large spots being selected by the committee.

I personally don't care for it - I like that every team theoretically has a chance and that there is still a human element to the process - but Greg Sankey in particular is going to throw an absolute fit this offseason because Alabama didn't get in, and Petitti will probably agree with him because those two run the sport now.

[bukie]

There is a very real chance that no SEC team makes the semifinals this year.

[Derwood]

Full schedules are being released later today, but here are the conference home/road games for next year's Big Ten teams:

 

Illinois Fighting Illini

2025 Home: Maryland, Northwestern, Ohio State, Rutgers, USC
2025 Away: Indiana, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin

Indiana Hoosiers

2025 Home: Illinois, Michigan State, UCLA, Wisconsin
2025 Away: Iowa, Maryland, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue

Iowa Hawkeyes

2025 Home: Indiana, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oregon, Penn State
2025 Away: Nebraska, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin

Maryland Terrapins

2025 Home: Indiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Washington
2025 Away: Illinois, Michigan State, Rutgers, UCLA, Wisconsin

Michigan Wolverines

2025 Home: Ohio State, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin
2025 Away: Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, USC

Michigan State Spartans

2025 Home: Maryland, Michigan, Penn State, UCLA
2025 Away: Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, USC

Minnesota Golden Gophers

2025 Home: Michigan State, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin
2025 Away: Iowa, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon

Nebraska Cornhuskers

2025 Home: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, USC
2025 Away: Maryland, Minnesota, Penn State, UCLA

Northwestern Wildcats

2025 Home: Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Purdue, UCLA
2025 Away: Illinois, Nebraska, Penn State, USC

Ohio State Buckeyes

2025 Home: Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers, UCLA
2025 Away: Illinois, Michigan, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin

Oregon Ducks

2025 Home: Indiana, Minnesota, USC, Wisconsin
2025 Away: Iowa, Northwestern, Penn State, Rutgers, Washington

Penn State Nittany Lions

2025 Home: Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oregon
2025 Away: Iowa, Michigan State, Ohio State, Rutgers, UCLA

Purdue Boilermakers

2025 Home: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Rutgers, USC
2025 Away: Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Washington

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

2025 Home: Iowa, Maryland, Oregon, Penn State
2025 Away: Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Washington

UCLA Bruins

2025 Home: Maryland, Nebraska, Penn State, Washington
2025 Away: Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, USC

USC Trojans

2025 Home: Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, UCLA
2025 Away: Illinois, Nebraska, Oregon, Purdue

Washington Huskies

2025 Home: Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Rutgers
2025 Away: Maryland, Michigan, UCLA, Wisconsin

Wisconsin Badgers

2025 Home: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Ohio State, Washington
2025 Away: Indiana, Michigan, Oregon, Minnesota

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Ohio having a normal one

 

[Rex Buckingham]

soooo soft

[CubinNY]

A buckeye is a poisonous nut. 

[Derwood]

My favorite local sports radio guy: