Commentary: Taking a torch to this joke of a CFP season

[selmaborntidefan]

I actually have far more of a problem with "TCU doesn't drop despite losing" than I do "TCU gets selected." I mean, you can go with "everyone else has two losses" and drop them to four. When it comes to TCU and Ohio State, neither won their conference and both had one loss - and Ohio State lost to a clearly better team than TCU did.

And guess what?

If TCU had gotten selected and gotten blown out in the first round, the thing would have died there and continued our "it's all about the 'third' team not getting hosed."

 

[DrJJoyner]

I actually have far more of a problem with "TCU doesn't drop despite losing" than I do "TCU gets selected." I mean, you can go with "everyone else has two losses" and drop them to four. When it comes to TCU and Ohio State, neither won their conference and both had one loss - and Ohio State lost to a clearly better team than TCU did.

It's just been the tradition in the CFB era: The champ is #1, the team they beat in the finals is #2, and the two semifinal losers are 3-4 in their original seed order. That way, they're not penalized for making the Playoff.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

It's just been the tradition in the CFB era: The champ is #1, the team they beat in the finals is #2, and the two semifinal losers are 3-4 in their original seed order. That way, they're not penalized for making the Playoff.

I just demonstrated yesterday that isn’t true.

Kirby Smart ranks Bama #6 in final coaches poll..

So the two bad losses around it doesn't count? Just ignore those? Not as much as you think. Loss # 1 got them to #3. Then they won, making them #2. Then, #2 loses to #1, no big deal, they were the last two standing. It's not that big a deal. Season is over. Relax.

www.tidefans.com

 

[DrJJoyner]

I just demonstrated yesterday that isn’t true.

I must admit that, as an Alabama fan, I don't tend to pay a lot of attention to how teams 3 and below are ranked in the final poll---we either won the natty that year or we didn't. You're right that playoff teams have fallen out of the top 4 in multiple instances. I can't find an instance in the Playoff era where the Finals loser didn't finish #2. It's true, though, that TCU lost in a more embarrassing fashion than any of those teams---except arguably 2018 Alabama, which also finished #2.

 

[The Ols]

I must admit that, as an Alabama fan, I don't tend to pay a lot of attention to how teams 3 and below are ranked in the final poll---we either won the natty that year or we didn't. You're right that playoff teams have fallen out of the top 4 in multiple instances. I can't find an instance in the Playoff era where the Finals loser didn't finish #2. It's true, though, that TCU lost in a more embarrassing fashion than any of those teams---except arguably 2018 Alabama, which also finished #2.

Street cred level dropped...

 

[twofbyc]

Sorry, I still don't accept the conclusion that we were objectively and irrefutably one of the four best. It was a down year for the SEC, and we beat no one with a pulse.

We lost to the only two teams that physically could compete with us. Last plays, sure. Nonetheless, those games were as revelatory as they were embarrassing. They showed our significant flaws, which never went away.

So…I have to ask: do you think TCU WAS one of the four best?

 

[twofbyc]

I do not necessarily agree. For one, Alabama didn't get a chance. For two, Mizzou and Kentucky both played Georgia close even if they really never had a real chance to win. Yeah, Georgia played down those games.

But on that note, way too much is being written into Georgia being this near invincible force because of a 58 point win in the "championship" game. The problem is that was no championship game. That was not 1995 Nebraska destroying Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Or 2004 USC destroying Oklahoma in the BCS championship. That was Georgia destroying a glorified group of 5 team.

Georgia was very beatable; just the least beatable of all the teams this year.

Georgia had to score 14 points in the fourth quarter to beat Mizzou by four; yeah, they did have a chance.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Georgia had to score 14 points in the fourth quarter to beat Mizzou by four; yeah, they did have a chance.

That's true.

 

[twofbyc]

It seems to me that the problem is that IMPERFECT humans are demanding an IMPOSSIBLY PERFECT solution to an IMPERFECT game that - in this case - is played with a ball that bounces differently than any other sport and in bizarre ways. Almost every objection being lodged against TCU can be lodged against a number of teams if you just look close enough or follow enough sports. All we can ever get is a BEST POSSIBLE solution. In a way - and I want to be careful here - it's like the old comment about democracy isn't perfect but it's better than any of the alternatives.

And we need to drop this "they said four best teams" - because that is NOT what it says (as I covered yesterday). There's plenty of problem with the inconsistency of the media and the inconsistency of the voters. There's plenty from the fans, too.

Precisely.

The sentence DOES, in FACT, start off by saying “the four best teams…”.
Or else…they start the sentence “We take the pool of most deserving teams…”. That’s not how the statement was spoken/written, they got it wrong, and TCU was neither deserving because of their schedule (no Tennessee or LSU in sight) or their record because they could not even win their conference ( one as weak as the ACC); if they had beaten KSU twice, then the justification is legit. They didn’t and the NCG showed that to the world; worst beating in the NCG in the playoff era. By a team that beat Missouri by four points.
I agree with Jess, I’ll never change my mind, and I personally think the CFP was looking for an excuse to exclude Bama. Again, no way this 2-loss TCU is better and deserves to be ranked at #2, ahead of 2-loss Bama; unless the CFP is unwilling to admit they screwed up.
Imagine that.

 

[CrimsonEyeshade]

So…I have to ask: do you think TCU WAS one of the four best?

That, in my opinion, is not exactly the point ... There is no fool-proof, completely objective way of picking the four best teams. An imperfect committee made its imperfect choices. TCU got in. We did not. The key question: Why should we have?

We did not have a signature win all year. We lost two games -- more than anyone else ahead of us. What distinguished us this year from the four semi-finalists? Our reputation? Our coach? Our recruiting rankings? Certainly not our play on the field.

If we had somehow been selected we could/would have given any team a real test. But based on how we played -- and played all year -- the committee had every right to reasonably conclude that we did not deserve it.

I say that still believing we could have beaten TCU bloody had we played. Again, that's not the point. The criteria that would have led to our selection does not exist.

 

[DrJJoyner]

I personally think the CFP was looking for an excuse to exclude Bama.

This is the same CFP that ranked 2-loss Bama ahead of a 2-loss Tennessee team that beat us head-to-head, despite us arguably having worse losses. Granted, getting beat down by South Carolina didn't help their cause.

, no way this 2-loss TCU is better and deserves to be ranked at #2, ahead of 2-loss Bama; unless the CFP is unwilling to admit they screwed up.

The CFP doesn't re-rank the teams after the Finals, the AP and Coaches polls do. It has been the practice that the CFP winner is #1 in both polls and the loser #2, going back to the first iteration in 2014. Oddly, that practice doesn't necessarily hold for the two semifinal losers, who occasionally fall out of the top 4.