Running CFB playoff thread

[Neutral Corner]

A place for discussion and debate of the rankings and the adjustments over the next three games. In the meantime, Pat Forde nails this, including the effects of my pet peeve, the Preseason Top 25 and its ongoing effect on ranking teams based on what they have done this season.


First College Football Playoff Rankings Still Favor Blueblood Programs

 

[maumann]

HA! The newest story in that roundup is a BYU-Utah preview, and I mistook the word "Moneyline" for "Mormon Line."

 

[Michael_ Gee]

The playoff, like all of big-time college football now, is a made=for-TV product. The familiar faces, that is, the programs that are always on TC, are naturally going to get the breaks over the newbies.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

TC?

 

[swingline]

Theodore Calvin?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I don't watch as much TC as I used to.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Go Navy!

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

The Channel.

Throwback to early 1980s marketing.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

This week's rankings are pretty much proof that they are making up the "criteria" as they go along with the end result to get in all the teams that they want in the playoff.

 

[dixiehack]

I feel like we are all being asked to play along with the polite fiction of Indiana as a rock-solid team when their first real test will be at Ohio State. Figure a four-touchdown loss there, a bounce back win against Purdue, and then teams 9-12 all praying they get sent to Bloomington for the first round.

 

[Della9250]

I feel like we are all being asked to play along with the polite fiction of Indiana as a rock-solid team.

I think they are. At the very least outside of last week, they did what those teams do -- beat the crap out of everyone on their schedule. theres no fluke play / bad call / bunch of close games where you can say well they could be 7-3.

I wish at the least they had penn state or notre dame this year because i think indiana might be better than both

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

Dumb question, but why is Army not being discussed? Undefeated, blowing out opponents and has a similar resume to Indiana. The schedule leaves a lot to be desired, but they’re dojng what they have to do. Now, I’m going to pray to the football gods that they beat ND.

 

[DanOregon]

This week's rankings are pretty much proof that they are making up the "criteria" as they go along with the end result to get in all the teams that they want in the playoff.

I'm pretty sure they set it up in a way where they don't have to make decisions at the end. You see teams slotted in a way that guarantees they'll be out unless they run the table. The "gifts" in the rankings are Ole Miss and Bama (who should both win out, and are both unlikely to make the SEC championship game). SEC championship looks like it will be Texas-AM winner v. Georgia-Tenn. winner and losers of those games out.

 

[Cosmo]

Dumb question, but why is Army not being discussed? Undefeated, blowing out opponents and has a similar resume to Indiana. The schedule leaves a lot to be desired, but they’re dojng what they have to do. Now, I’m going to pray to the football gods that they beat ND.

They're a lot like Liberty last year. They're going to need some big things to break their way. They'll need to finish undefeated and have Boise State lose to grab that G5 spot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Washington State is probably being treated like its an independent. I don't think the Pac-2 fits in the G5 bucket.

Liberty doesn't get that G5 bid to the NY6 bowl last year if the AAC champ doesn't have two losses.

 

[dixiehack]

Yes, Wazzu is functionally squivalent to an independent for these purposes.

The SEC tiebreakers are severely convoluted now, to the point a Vandy math professor might not be able to explain them. But the short version is if more than two teams are tied for second, head-to-head is not considered unless one team swept everyone else involved.

Based on those who allegedly understand this formula, Alabama actually has an inside track for second by winning out. And that’s actually considered a booby prize because whatever 2-loss team goes to Atlanta will be favored to pick up a third loss that wouldn’t have otherwise been possible and the Citrus Bowl exile that comes with it.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Dumb question, but why is Army not being discussed? Undefeated, blowing out opponents and has a similar resume to Indiana. The schedule leaves a lot to be desired, but they’re dojng what they have to do. Now, I’m going to pray to the football gods that they beat ND.

Can't discuss Army until it beats Notre Dame.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

I feel like we are all being asked to play along with the polite fiction of Indiana as a rock-solid team when their first real test will be at Ohio State. Figure a four-touchdown loss there, a bounce back win against Purdue, and then teams 9-12 all praying they get sent to Bloomington for the first round.

The funnier idea is people (generally from the SEC area mind you) thinking that 11-1 Indiana won't get in. Sure the conference with the most TV market power in the conference is going to have an 11-1 team left out. Not in a million $$ years.

The B1G actually got this overstuffed burrito of a conference right. They have four team of interest, each of them play at least one of the others while only one (Ohio State) plays two of them. Whereas the SEC decided to go all in on a street fight and the committee will have to explain why the baseline changed from two losses to three losses when either Tennessee or Georgia loses this weekend.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

I think they are. At the very least outside of last week, they did what those teams do -- beat the crap out of everyone on their schedule. theres no fluke play / bad call / bunch of close games where you can say well they could be 7-3.

I wish at the least they had penn state or notre dame this year because i think indiana might be better than both

I do as well. I think they are extremely well coached, a focused senior-laden team. I give them a definite puncher's chance against Ohio State as long as Rust Belt Kiffin is coaching there.

 

[dixiehack]

Cignetti has put on a master class in getting the absolute most from the talent on hand. I always thought he was the most underrated branch of the Saban coaching tree.

If he had made the jump to a name brand conference even two years earlier with similar results, I absolutely could have seen him being anointed as the next pope of Tuscaloosa. But I’m not even sure he truly wanted to leave James Madison until NIL and free transfers combined to make it nearly impossible to sustain any kind of dynasty at the G5 level.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Is there really a point to having these ratings out every week other than TV ratings and #content?