College Football - Week 14 (Nov. 29)

[CubColtPacer]

25 minutes ago, I owned a Suzuki said:

 

I think one of the biggest flaws of the 12 team playoff is that we are going to debate if a 3 loss Texas should get in over a 3 loss Alabama or a 2 loss Vanderbilt or a 2 loss Utah. A 2 loss OSU won last year. Heck losing to Michigan may have done them good.

Point being it is really diluting regular season games. I get that expanding playoffs does dilute regular season, no way around it. I also get that it probably really benefitted a program like Indiana. I just get grumpy about arguing which 2 or 3 loss team should get in. 

I fully understand the loss of the tension of a team losing a game and how transformative that was for their whole season.

But I know for me, I've watched way more regular season college football the last two seasons than I had in a long time.  And that's because so many more games matter.  I think the gains have outweighed the losses, even if you are just thinking about the regular season.  

[Andy]

We're like 10 hours in and I'm so damn sick of the "welp if we don't get in guess we should cancel all our real non conference games" nonsense from Horns Twitter. Don't lose to 3 win Florida, need a miracle to escape Mississippi State and go to overtime with Kentucky.

Teams played real non conference opponents for decades before this stupid 12 team playoff with the understanding that if they lost there would be a problem but if they won there would be rewards. And indeed, Oklahoma is only on the right side of the bubble - and Miami is only near the bubble at all - because they have major non conference wins over ranked opponents. But now that there's a bigger playoff we've decided all these games should be free rolls.

I really wish these coaches who politic for playoff bids all the time would be made to say who is currently in the field that they think should be bumped out to make way for them.

Edited November 29, 2025 by Andy

[Andy]

Also worth noting that BYU is going to be sitting at 11-1, with a ranked road win (Arizona), their only loss to a top 4 opponent, and only one real stinker of a performance in a win (Colorado), and literally nobody seems to care. If anyone should be politicking, it's them.

Edited November 29, 2025 by Andy

[Old Style]

Michigan player just headbutted an official and somehow didn't get ejected.

[Derwood]

Michigan is so in Ohio State’s head. 

[sneakypower]

our senior starting LB found God and quit on the team; all our scholarship RBs are disabled; JJ Smith fumbles across the goal line and replay officials uphold it anyway

maybe these are signs i should be putting up Christmas decorations today instead

Edited November 29, 2025 by sneakypower

[Soul]

Nobody can stop the Buckeyes

[gflore34]

Just now, Soul said:

Nobody can stop the Buckeyes

Superior talent vs. good talent with a very raw QB is not a recipe for a Wolverine victory.

[Derwood]

You might think that OSU running the table for a second straight NC would shut SEC fans up, but you'd be wrong

[soccer10k]

4 hours ago, CubColtPacer said:

I fully understand the loss of the tension of a team losing a game and how transformative that was for their whole season.

But I know for me, I've watched way more regular season college football the last two seasons than I had in a long time.  And that's because so many more games matter.  I think the gains have outweighed the losses, even if you are just thinking about the regular season.  

Do more games actually matter or do different games just matter? Like last year's Michigan-Ohio State game didn't actually matter. Michigan wasn't getting in regardless while Ohio State was getting in the playoff no matter what. OSU-Oregon and OSU-Penn State ended up not mattering last year either because all three teams got in the playoff anyway. I get that spots in conference championship games and seeds/byes are at stake, but that's not what we talk about when we say a game matters. It means whether or not you have a chance to play for a title.

I'm sure I could do the same thing with the SEC.

[UMFan83]

Back to reality...it was a fun 4 years.  Michigan seems pretty far away from relevance.

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Superior talent vs. good talent with a very raw QB is not a recipe for a Wolverine victory.

It's super disappointing that I didn't really see any development or improvement from Bryce all season.  You can plainly see the talent that's there, but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to take advantage of it.  Hopefully another offseason will make a difference.

[CubColtPacer]

43 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

Do more games actually matter or do different games just matter? Like last year's Michigan-Ohio State game didn't actually matter. Michigan wasn't getting in regardless while Ohio State was getting in the playoff no matter what. OSU-Oregon and OSU-Penn State ended up not mattering last year either because all three teams got in the playoff anyway. I get that spots in conference championship games and seeds/byes are at stake, but that's not what we talk about when we say a game matters. It means whether or not you have a chance to play for a title.

I'm sure I could do the same thing with the SEC.

Byes I do think are an important consideration, but let's put that aside for now.

This week and conference championship week would be the key weeks for games mattering in the old system and not mattering now.  This year, Ohio State/Michigan, Indiana/Purdue, and Ole Miss/Mississippi State are games that didn't matter for either team other than seeding.

Oklahoma/LSU, Notre Dame/Stanford, Alabama/Auburn, BYU/USF, Miami/Pitt, Virginia, SMU, Tulane, James Madison, even the Duke game all matter because of the new system when they wouldn't have in the old system.

So even in this week, more games matter by a good margin.  And if you back up three weeks to a month, there are 0 games that didn't matter whatsoever (because even an undefeated team could lose 2-3 games straight and lose their spot) and way more teams that were alive if they could win out.

[soccer10k]

We're going to have to agree to disagree. I don't think you can pick one week out, list a few of the games and extrapolate that out to a full season. All it means is that games involving 2 loss teams are the ones that matter versus games involving 0 and 1 loss teams. Ohio St-Indiana next week means very little to the national title picture. Might not even affect byes. But in the old system, the loser might be out.

Did it matter that Texas A&M lost yesterday? Georgia is likely still in the playoff with a loss yesterday too.

Like okay, maybe there's a couple more games that matter in the new system because you're including more teams. But I really liked sitting down watching a pair of 8-0 teams play knowing that the loser might not have a shot to play for a title. Now, the loser can win out and they're in for sure.

I'll also disagree about any of the ACC games, Tulane and James Madison actually being relevant to people. I know that a couple of those teams are getting in, but nobody thinks any of them have a shot at winning 4 straight playoff games. Maybe Miami but that's it. If they're relevant to you, that's fine. But I doubt the average college football fan cares all that much about any of those games.

[CubColtPacer]

14 minutes ago, soccer10k said:

We're going to have to agree to disagree. I don't think you can pick one week out, list a few of the games and extrapolate that out to a full season. All it means is that games involving 2 loss teams are the ones that matter versus games involving 0 and 1 loss teams. Ohio St-Indiana next week means very little to the national title picture. Might not even affect byes. But in the old system, the loser might be out.

Did it matter that Texas A&M lost yesterday? Georgia is likely still in the playoff with a loss yesterday too.

Like okay, maybe there's a couple more games that matter in the new system because you're including more teams. But I really liked sitting down watching a pair of 8-0 teams play knowing that the loser might not have a shot to play for a title. Now, the loser can win out and they're in for sure.

I'll also disagree about any of the ACC games, Tulane and James Madison actually being relevant to people. I know that a couple of those teams are getting in, but nobody thinks any of them have a shot at winning 4 straight playoff games. Maybe Miami but that's it. If they're relevant to you, that's fine. But I doubt the average college football fan cares all that much about any of those games.

I get that.   I just picked this week out because it (other than conference championship week) is literally the best for your side of the argument.  The beauty of the playoff on the regular season is most valuable between mid-October to mid-November, when you have a ton of 1-2 loss major conference teams who are fighting to stay alive in the race (in the SEC there were 10 of them in the middle of the season).

Texas A&M I left out because of the game's relevance for Texas.  Georgia with a loss yesterday and another loss in the SEC title game would be pretty rocky for the playoff, so that's why I left that game out.

But yeah, we can definitely agree to disagree.  I think it just depends if you like to have 20 games over the course of a season that have a ton of stakes, or 100 games that have high stakes but not as high as the 20.  I prefer the chaos.  And I can always get the tons of stakes games back in the actual playoff.

[I owned a Suzuki]

2 hours ago, Derwood said:

You might think that OSU running the table for a second straight NC would shut SEC fans up, but you'd be wrong

SEC tribalism is weird. 

[Soul]

23 minutes ago, I owned a Suzuki said:

SEC tribalism is weird. 

Or maybe SEC denialism. 

[I owned a Suzuki]

14 minutes ago, Soul said:

Or maybe SEC denialism. 

Yeah....their 2 decades of "dominance" is mostly on the backs of 2 programs. I get Auburn and LSU had their moments. But move Alabama and Georgia to the ACC and they would be the conference with 2 decades of dominance 

[gflore34]

2 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

It's super disappointing that I didn't really see any development or improvement from Bryce all season.  You can plainly see the talent that's there, but for whatever reason he hasn't been able to take advantage of it.  Hopefully another offseason will make a difference.

I agree, clearly very talented but, very little progress, no evolution in the passing game at all.  What they were doing today was the same limited passing game they were running from the start of the season.

[bukie]

Quick look at the CFP:

At this point, I think you have to lock in Indiana and Ohio State at 1-2, regardless of the B1G championship result. Winner gets 1 and loser gets 2.

3 I'd probably give to Texas Tech if they win the Big 12 championship. Committee will probably give it to SEC champ with TT 4 but I'd reverse it. Maybe if Bama wins it they'd be 4, but I'm still hoping they just lose tonight.

Oregon locks up a spot with a win today, along with Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Notre Dame. I'd personally have Georgia 4, Oregon 5, Ole Miss 6, A&M 7 and ND 8 (though I think ND is currently a better team than any of the SEC).

Now, BYU probably should be next, but the committee likes OU and Bama better (thus I'm hoping both lose yet today), but only 2 of those 3 are sneaking in. ACC champ is 11 and G5 champ (North Texas) is 12.

[CubColtPacer]

2 minutes ago, bukie said:

Quick look at the CFP:

At this point, I think you have to lock in Indiana and Ohio State at 1-2, regardless of the B1G championship result. Winner gets 1 and loser gets 2.

3 I'd probably give to Texas Tech if they win the Big 12 championship. Committee will probably give it to SEC champ with TT 4 but I'd reverse it. Maybe if Bama wins it they'd be 4, but I'm still hoping they just lose tonight.

Oregon locks up a spot with a win today, along with Georgia, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Notre Dame. I'd personally have Georgia 4, Oregon 5, Ole Miss 6, A&M 7 and ND 8 (though I think ND is currently a better team than any of the SEC).

Now, BYU probably should be next, but the committee likes OU and Bama better (thus I'm hoping both lose yet today), but only 2 of those 3 are sneaking in. ACC champ is 11 and G5 champ (North Texas) is 12.

I think if Indiana loses the Big 10 Title Game and Georgia wins the SEC title game they'll give Georgia the second spot.  But it depends a lot on the style points of each game as well.  I don't think Ohio State will likely fall further than 2 at this point.

I agree that Texas Tech deserves respect.  I think they are likely 4, but they do have an argument for higher.

[Andy]

I think Miami jumps Notre Dame on Tuesday and we're like 2 more results after that from ND getting squeezed out of the playoff when they're in the top 5 in every advanced metric. (To be clear if it works out like this it works out like this. The resume isn't there despite what the computers think.)

If this happens and anyone besides Ohio State wins the title this year I'm going to be absolutely horsefeathers livid.

Edited November 30, 2025 by Andy

[bukie]

6 minutes ago, Andy said:

I think Miami jumps Notre Dame on Tuesday and we're like 2 more results after that from ND getting squeezed out of the playoff when they're in the top 5 in every advanced metric. (To be clear if it works out like this it works out like this. The resume isn't there despite what the computers think.)

If this happens and anyone besides Ohio State wins the title this year I'm going to be absolutely horsefeathers livid.

I don't think a Miami team that the committee already ranked below ND will jump ND for beating a team ND just beat 2 weeks ago by basically the same margin, unless ND absolutely lays an egg tonight against Stanford.

[bukie]

Personally, I'm still quietly rooting for the "Duke wins the ACC but ends up not being the 4th or 5th highest rated conference champ and the ACC is completely shut out of the playoff hilariously" scenario. 

[bukie]