Posted on 11/29/2017 10:09:38 PM PST by blam
Alabama has been the most dominant team in college football for a decade and have lost just once this year, but if the College Football Playoff teams were chosen today, the Crimson Tide would not be one of the final four.
Alabama's resume is certainly flawed. They lack impressive wins over top-ten teams. They lost to Auburn rather handedly and, more importantly, late in the season. There is also more parity at the top this season with a bunch of one-loss teams that feel pretty interchangeable.
But Bama's biggest problem is that the game with the biggest impact on their season was a game they had no control over — Georgia losing to Auburn.
That loss turned out to be a bigger blow to Alabama than their own, and the reason shows just how quirky college football has become.
Few people would argue that college football's old system is better than the current incarnation. But the old system was actually more straight-forward. You just rooted for your favorite team to win and for everybody else to lose. But that has changed. Now, a team's biggest enemies are now its friends, except in special circumstances, and one of those hit Bama this season.
Remember the old shirts that read, "My favorite teams are [insert your favorite team] and whoever is playing [insert favorite team's biggest rival]"? That axiom no longer applies in college football. Now you root for your team and you root for your team's rivals, except, when they play your team. The reason is simple: You want that hated rival to have a good record when your team beats them so that it looks better on your team's resume.
OK? OK.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
We may need #13 ((Tua Tagovailoa) at quarterback, at least he can pass.
Jalen Hurts has lost two games and everybody is calling for the guy that threw a pick six against Tennessee
The team isn’t that good this year But nobody except Wisconsin is undefeated I’m okay with Alabama getting left out, and you won’t find a bigger Tide fan than me They knew the stakes. They didn’t show up at Auburn. Oklahoma or Clemson would destroy them.
I agree. Offense is too predictable without a quality passer.
2 Hawaiian QBs in the SEC. Changin’ times.
You beat Alabama by making Hurts pass.
Tua is peculiar because he is right-handed. His dad, from when Tua was a small boy, trained him to be a left-handed football player/quarterback. I don't know how that will work out, long term.
BTY, Tua's parents moved from Hawaii to Alabama to be near their son.
The SEC is so omnipotent you have to have a 16 or more team playoff designed through bowls
You play SEC you are going to play half your schedule against rated at some point teams and few come out undefeated and that drives them down the rankings
This is an old problem
And it would give wth teams like UCF a chance to see if they can really compete
And some conferences get shut out of any chance by just having four teams playoff
If you had it today it’s be ACC SEC Big 10 and Big 12
Last week woulda had two acc teams
If you’re gonna do it do it right
A huge playoff squares teams with 2-3 losses in a badass conference with who knows really teams like Wisconsin or Gods team who always and I mean always is overrated by the sports writers
When the NFL dies in two years college football won’t matter. The major colleges are the NFL minor leagues without the NFL there will be no college ball.
I don’t understand why everyone is blaming Jalen.
Our O line has been horribly inconsistent all year and was downright terrible last Saturday. But no one ever criticizes them, just Jalen.
Also, Coach Daboll coached a horrific game. We possess the best stable of running backs in the country but Daboll forgets they even exist. He puts everything on Jalen’s shoulders, even though our O line can’t pass block if their lives depended on it.
On Bama’s first possession in the Second half, we ran the ball down Auburn’s throat and scored a TD. If we had continued to do that, we would have won. But Daboll insists on going away from what is working. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if Coach Daboll and Coach Key found other jobs.
Tua wouldn’t have faired any better. In fact, he would have lost yardage and thrown some pick sixes. He wasn’t ready for that type of atmosphere.
Tom Brady would have trouble behind our O line.
So, you’re ok with Ohio State getting in? Ohio State, who has lost TWO games? Ohio State, who were DESTROYED by a mediocre Iowa team? I don’t think so.
I would have no argument with Miami or Georgia jumping us but I would definitely be enraged if Ohio State went in over us. Which is exactly what will happen, because the Buckeyes are media darlings and their AD is on the committee.
I’m also sick of people whining about poor little Clemson losing to Syracuse because their QB was injured. I watched that game and Clemson was struggling mightily before their QB went down. They may have lost that game with their regular QB in.
What about the ungodly amount of injuries Bama has suffered this year? The committee gave Clemson a free pass after Syracuse but Bama doesn’t get one.
BTW, Oklahoma would not destroy a healthy Bama team. Their defense is abysmal. Truthfully, I would rather see Bama lose in the playoffs than to play in some meaningless bowl game like the Orange or Peach Bowl. Bama would show up unmotivated and lose.
To: Crimson Tide Girl
I enjoyed your little essay on Alabama and the Final Four.
One disagreement - the polls have ALWAYS weighted a late season loss more heavily than an early season loss, which is a policy I agree with.
Let’s switch to politics...
If you still live in Alabama, I would also enjoy reading your opinion about Judge Moore and the upcoming Senate election.
I did ask that question during the game...that was working, why did you quit?
His mom is in the Bama parent Facebook page, and so am I. Seems like a nice family.
It was absolutely maddening.
Well, if you believe that late season losses are more important than Miami should be out after their embarrassing loss to Pitt, correct?
As for politics: Yes, I’m still here in Alabama. I’ll be proudly voting for Judge Moore and so will most of my friends and family.
I like his chances, despite the fact that we are being inundated with TV ads for Doug Jones. Ads full of Shameless, blatant lies.
Many people I have spoken with are very angry about the Establishment’s interference with our election and their slander of Judge Moore. I know a few people, who were originally not Moore supporters, who are planning on voting for him to stick it to the Establishment.
The only thing that worries me voter fraud, although ID is required to vote.
I am very optimistic that Moore will emerge victorious.
“When the NFL dies in two years college football won’t matter.”
This is absolutely a true statement. Although I would emphasize that 90-percent of NCAA players never go onto NFL careers. And out of the 250-odd players that do get signed up after their NCAA career each year....probably fewer than fifty of them are still around in five years.
My guess is that the NFL will have a strike episode within the next two years, over forced pay-cuts. The strike will lead to a lost season, and a lot of players in severe economic conditions because of the mess.
Somewhere around 2022, I’ll predict that the league shuts down four teams, and by 2026, it’ll be fewer than twelve teams left in the NFL.
Re: “Well, if you believe that late season losses are more important than Miami should be out after their embarrassing loss to Pitt, correct?”
Miami and Georgia are both ranked behind Alabama.
The only reason Miami or Georgia have a chance to reach the Final Four is because they both play a team in the Top Four this Saturday.
If Oklahoma loses, Alabama will go to the Final Four for certain.
If Wisconsin loses, there is a 50-50 chance that Alabama will go to the Final Four.
Thanks for your observations on the Moore Senate race.
I would vote for Moore if I lived in Alabama.
I think that is unlikely.
The NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates a minimum Salary Cap for each year in the contract.
I think the Contract runs through the 2020 season.
Re: “Shutting down teams”
I agree.
I think the number of the teams will be reduced to 16, for the simple reason that there is not enough pro football talent to keep people watching games for the whole season.
Example - at the end of the 2017 regular season, we will be lucky if there are still 10 starting QBs who are playing at a consistently high level.
Tua is peculiar because he is right-handed. His dad, from when Tua was a small boy, trained him to be a left-handed football player/quarterback. I don’t know how that will work out, long term.
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Phil Mickelson, pro golfer going to HOF, is right handed and plays left handed. His right-handed dad taught him to swing the clubs and Phil faced his dad and learned to swing that way.
Don’t worry. Alabama won’t be left out of the Alabama Invitational, which is held this year on January first. And if Ohio State wins against Wisconsin, yes they should be in even with the loss against Iowa. I say that as a proud Buckeye fan.
“We may need #13 ((Tua Tagovailoa) at quarterback, at least he can pass”
Bama best show him some love soon. Chip Kelly over at UCLA is looking for transfers to get that program up and running sooner rather than later and Tua was on the UCLA short list out of High School.
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