CFP Rankings Week 5: The 12-Team Playoff Was A Horrible Mistake

[selmaborntidefan]

First, let's go with the rankings and the ups and downs of the numbers:

1) Ohio State
2) Indiana
3) Georgia (+1)
4) Texas Tech (+1)
5) Oregon (+1)
6) Ole Miss (+1)
7) Texas A/M (-4)
8) Oklahoma (same)
9) Alabama (+1)
10) Notre Dame (-1)
11) BYU (same)
12) Miami (same)
13) Texas (+3)
14) Vandy (same)
15) Utah (-2)
16) USC (+1)
17) UVA (+1)
18) Arizona (+7)
19) Michigan (-4)
20) Tulane (+4)


1) We are now arguing over which of SEVEN 2-loss teams should....."make the playoff".....

What's funny is this:
- Oklahoma beat Alabama by 2 and is ranked higher
- Miami beat Notre Dame by 3 and is ranked lower
- Texas has 3 losses and not 2...but their 3-point win at home has them above Vandy (which makes the ND>>>Miami more confusing)
- Notre Dame fans who have suddenly received a new infusion of 70s arrogance have littered Twitter trashing Miami and now are going with "Alabama barely beat a 5-7 Auburn team and moved up!" You see, Notre Dame thinks you should lose head to head but be ranked higher....

2) Hunter Yurajerk, head of the CFP.....I can't even....

The debate between Alabama and Notre Dame over the past three weeks has been one of the strongest debates we've had in the room for the past two years that I've been a member of the committee. I think this week, as we looked at those two teams and how closely they have been over the past three weeks, Notre Dame went on the road, had a strong win at Stanford, but Alabama went on the road and a rivalry game looked really good, especially in the first half, getting up 17 to nothing, ran the ball well. Auburn came back at them. 
They had a great gutsy call on fourth-and-2, late in the third quarter to get a touchdown and then got the turnover late in that game. And I think that was enough to change the minds of a couple of committee members to push Alabama up ahead of Notre Dame in this week's rankings.

What is this fixation on "running the ball"?
This is not 1962, folks.

3) Let the conspiracy theories begin

The same Irish fans who have had delusions of adequacy (constant appeals to beating a crippled UGA in New Orleans last year) blew their collective stacks over this, saying - probably correctly - "this is designed to give Alabama a leg up and not punish them if they lose to Georgia."

Well, Alabama shouldn't be punished for losing to Georgia because ALABAMA SHOULDN'T EVEN HAVE TO PLAY THE
DAMNED GAME!!!

That game has been played already - in the state of Georgia no less - and the winner has already been determined. Notre Dame fans are thinking we should be punished for an extra game against the #3 team in the country...and yet they're the ones who have chosen to not join a conference that would put them in the same heat of the spotlight.



I think we can all agree there are times when "losing head to head" has to be the decisive factor and, indeed in most cases it is. I also think we can agree that as a season goes along there's a reason you might think the losing team (in a close game) would beat the winning team in a rematch.

But it's been hilarious to watch Notre Dame fans argue like the last half century of college ball didn't happen, like we're back in the days where "we get our way just because we're Notre Dame."

- they're trashing head to head by saying, "Miami lost to two unranked teams".....HOW is this a GOOD argument for the Irish?
- they're wanting head to head to matter when it's Oklahoma and Alabama but not when it's them
- they're trashing Oklahoma because "they don't score many points"; funny......in 2018 when both OU and Notre Dame made the playoff, they trashed OU because "they don't play defense!" AREN'T WE VERSATILE????

What would have HELPED our argument, of course, is if the Aggies had made the SECCG and we'd had to play them.

But you can't blame us because aTm soiled the sheets, either.

 

[DawgAlum2054]

As a Georgia fan, I wouldn't mind seeing my own team lose the SEC championship game just so ND is out of the playoffs

probably need BYU to win as well for that to for sure happen

 

[tusks_n_raider]

As a Georgia fan, I wouldn't mind seeing my own team lose the SEC championship game just so ND is out of the playoffs

probably need BYU to win as well for that to for sure happen

I don’t even hate ND that bad…lol

If you guys were to win you’ll be the 2 Seed most likely.

Lose and you probably still get a 1st round home game as a 5-8 seed but still that’s an extra game to have to play.

ND to me is irrelevant this year and would be just as much fodder for another team as either of the G5 teams or ACC teams.

 

[The Ols]

As a Georgia fan, I wouldn't mind seeing my own team lose the SEC championship game just so ND is out of the playoffs

probably need BYU to win as well for that to for sure happen

Love this guy!!!

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I don’t even hate ND that bad…lol

If you guys were to win you’ll be the 2 Seed most likely.

Lose and you probably still get a 1st round home game as a 5-8 seed but still that’s an extra game to have to play.

ND to me is irrelevant this year and would be just as much fodder for another team as either of the G5 teams or ACC teams.

Notre Dame fans take their close call last year as "evidence" that they're back and gonna replace Alabama as the cream of the crop in college football. I have not seen this level of arrogance from their fans in over 20 years, but they are constantly haranguing about "there's more important things than head to head" and bringing up that 73-7 or whatever it was blowout over Syracuse as proof they're a powerhouse.

Oh - and "we beat the SEC's best team last year!"

Jeez......

 

[92tide]

As a Georgia fan, I wouldn't mind seeing my own team lose the SEC championship game just so ND is out of the playoffs

probably need BYU to win as well for that to for sure happen

i'll take it

 

[davefrat]

The guy doesn't even know what happened when in the Auburn game. The 4th and 2 TD play was with 3:50 left in the 4th quarter not the 3rd quarter

 

[TideEngineer08]

The point that is missed, and this is the fault of the stupid committee, Notre Dame should have never been ahead of Alabama (or Miami).

"But this is just a setup so Alabama can make the playoffs if they lose to Georgia." OF COURSE IT IS! The committee has been "setting up" its rankings since its inception back in 2014! This is why a committee giving weekly ranking is the stupidest concept ever conceived for determining the championship of college football. This makes the old bowl system look genius in comparison. It would not be so bad if we played out the season and then the committee met the day of the conference championships and produced its bracket after said games were played, a la the way college basketball does it. But this weekly ranking crap only sets itself up to be pilloried.

What must happen in order to fix this insanity, is that Notre Dame must join a conference, the G5 must be jettisoned, and then the power 4 conferences must split into divisions and stage a playoff for their own conference championship and have the 4 winners advance to the national final 4. Thus, eliminate this moronic committee. Since the power 4 conferences are all at least 16 teams, they need to be divided into 4 divisions. So you would have a 4 team playoff for each conference championship, then those winners advance.

There is some unfairness to that system, in that winning the SEC is far tougher than winning the Big 12 would be. But it would be much more fair than what we are doing now.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

All we needed was the old bowl system, the BCS rankings and a Plus One.

What we got was……a bunch of rematches….

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The guy doesn't even know what happened when in the Auburn game. The 4th and 2 TD play was with 3:50 left in the 4th quarter not the 3rd quarter

Meh, who knows?

I suspect he knows what happened and it's about 50-50 whether he misspoke or whether the transcriptionist got it wrong.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Let's dispense with another talking point:

"Why isn't Alabama being punished for a loss to Florida State?"


Uh, they are.

had they won that game, Alabama would be #3 in the country right now ahead of Georgia.

 

[crimsonaudio]

 

[Padreruf]

I never thought that anyone could make me agree with Paul FInebaum on anything related to CFB -- and then along comes the Playoff Committee and they do exactly that. In what world did they have ND ahead of UA -- or Miami for that matter.

Let's don't play the games...just lock a few people into a room and let them decide.

BTW, TideEngineer08 has the best solution I have heard to date.

 

[Con]

The point that is missed, and this is the fault of the stupid committee, Notre Dame should have never been ahead of Alabama (or Miami).

"But this is just a setup so Alabama can make the playoffs if they lose to Georgia." OF COURSE IT IS! The committee has been "setting up" its rankings since its inception back in 2014! This is why a committee giving weekly ranking is the stupidest concept ever conceived for determining the championship of college football. This makes the old bowl system look genius in comparison. It would not be so bad if we played out the season and then the committee met the day of the conference championships and produced its bracket after said games were played, a la the way college basketball does it. But this weekly ranking crap only sets itself up to be pilloried.

What must happen in order to fix this insanity, is that Notre Dame must join a conference, the G5 must be jettisoned, and then the power 4 conferences must split into divisions and stage a playoff for their own conference championship and have the 4 winners advance to the national final 4. Thus, eliminate this moronic committee. Since the power 4 conferences are all at least 16 teams, they need to be divided into 4 divisions. So you would have a 4 team playoff for each conference championship, then those winners advance.

There is some unfairness to that system, in that winning the SEC is far tougher than winning the Big 12 would be. But it would be much more fair than what we are doing now.

This makes way too much sense so I don't see this happening. I like it though!

 

[BamaBoySince89]

This makes way too much sense so I don't see this happening. I like it though!

You’re right. It’s not inclusive enough

 

[denver]

The point that is missed, and this is the fault of the stupid committee, Notre Dame should have never been ahead of Alabama (or Miami).

"But this is just a setup so Alabama can make the playoffs if they lose to Georgia." OF COURSE IT IS! The committee has been "setting up" its rankings since its inception back in 2014! This is why a committee giving weekly ranking is the stupidest concept ever conceived for determining the championship of college football. This makes the old bowl system look genius in comparison. It would not be so bad if we played out the season and then the committee met the day of the conference championships and produced its bracket after said games were played, a la the way college basketball does it. But this weekly ranking crap only sets itself up to be pilloried.

What must happen in order to fix this insanity, is that Notre Dame must join a conference, the G5 must be jettisoned, and then the power 4 conferences must split into divisions and stage a playoff for their own conference championship and have the 4 winners advance to the national final 4. Thus, eliminate this moronic committee. Since the power 4 conferences are all at least 16 teams, they need to be divided into 4 divisions. So you would have a 4 team playoff for each conference championship, then those winners advance.

There is some unfairness to that system, in that winning the SEC is far tougher than winning the Big 12 would be. But it would be much more fair than what we are doing now.

Or treat ND with the G5 group...they have to go undefeated or close to it to get in if they want to stay independent...the best ranking they can get is #11 or #12...

 

[selmaborntidefan]

The point that is missed, and this is the fault of the stupid committee, Notre Dame should have never been ahead of Alabama (or Miami).

There is some unfairness to that system, in that winning the SEC is far tougher than winning the Big 12 would be. But it would be much more fair than what we are doing now.

The SEC is 16 teams.
Split into four four-team pods.
Year one: you play the 3 in your pod, all four in another, and a "rivalry game" for an 8-team SEC
Year two: you play the same 8 teams except you switch the venue so it's home and home
Year three: you play the other two pods you haven't played.
Year four: same as year three with the venue change.
The pods can be geographic to save money.

That way NOBODY CAN COMPLAIN.
You protect rivalry games but you only have them twice and then a two-year break.
But you're as likely to get a power as not with the pod idea.

You now have four pod winners.
Play a semi-final round with seeding.
Play the SEC championship game.

The SEC champion has now played ten conference games and you can schedule two more for 12.

==========================================

The Big Ten can drop the two teams with the lowest revenue to become 16 and do the same.

The ACC can drop one and they're 16 as well.

The Big 12 is already at sixteen teams.

There's 26 teams in the American Conference and Mountain West. Let them add Notre Dame, the two teams the Big Ten throws overboard, the team the ACC throws overboard and you're at 30.

That's 94 teams and you can pick the two money draws to make it total 96.

At this point, you can turn those two conferences into pods as well and Notre Dame will LOVE having to play the Boise States and New Mexicos of the world.

===============================================

You now have SIX conferences.

Let them play it all out and you wind up with six conference champions.

The SEC and B1G champion get a bye, the other four play the first round games on campus (with a minimum seating capacity requirement), and you play a six-team playoff.

YES - it has some problems, most notably the years you wind up with a 2011 SEC situation but that doesn't happen every single year. And cue the "but the SEC" apologists who say that even in years the SEC isn't that great.

But at least it would:
- get rid of committees
- use an in conference playoff and determine a conference champion
- settle the champion ON THE FIELD

You would have three playoff games in each conference (that's 18).

You would then have four more to determine the championship game.

You'd have 23 games overall that were do-or-die post-season and the REGULAR SEASON would count for so much more PLUS you would ENCOURAGE games like Ohio State vs Texas because winning the conference championship would only be controlled by conference games.



But hey, what do I know?