Posted on 12/03/2017 5:25:37 PM PST by blam
The College Football Playoff committee has spoken and Alabama is in over Ohio State as the fourth team and will play Clemson in the Sugar Bowl semifinal.
Bama-vs.-Ohio State was debated heavily following the conference championship games on Saturday. Ohio State had a conference championship and more impressive wins. But they also had something Alabama did not have, a second loss, an ugly 33-point debacle against Iowa.
The decision was also controversial because it means this year's playoff will have no teams from the Big Ten and the Pac-12. Instead, it will have two teams from the SEC, including one team that did not reach their conference championship game.
Listening to playoff committee chairman Kirby Hocutt, it sounds like the Buckeyes' loss to Iowa may have sealed their fate even before the conference championship games.
"We compared [Alabama's resume] to a 2-loss Ohio State team, obviously that one loss at home to No. 2-ranked Oklahoma," Hocutt said on ESPN. "But more damaging was the 31-point loss to unranked Iowa."
Conference championships are supposed to be a bit of a tiebreaker if the teams are considered otherwise equal. In this case, the committee did not view the teams as equals.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Nah. The Iron Bowl.
In Alabama, that game is as important as the national championship.
With no Major Unbeatens, every team essentially got a freebie. So a two-loss team this year would be equivalent to a one-loss team most years.
I would say it's even bigger.
8 team playoffs between major conference champions, and matchups drawn from a hat, not decided by the Wizards of College Football. And hold all the other bowls that the runners-up want to sponsor.
Here’s the skinny: there are two 5 wins-7 losses teams going to bowls now.
Bowl eligible teams: 75/80
Conference Count Teams
ACC 11
Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
American 7 Houston, Memphis, Navy, Temple, Tulsa, UCF, USF
Big 12 6
Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU West Virginia
Big Ten 10
Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
C-USA 6
Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Southern Miss, UT San Antonio, Western Kentucky
Independents 1 BYU
MAC 6
Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Miami (OH), Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
Mountain West 6 Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming
Pac-12 6 Colorado, Stanford, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State
SEC 11 Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
Sun Belt 5
Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Idaho, Troy, UL Lafayette
They will all have plenty of viewers; OTOH, maintaining the `SEC Bowl’ may not, since we-the mouse in my pocketses and I—have had it with the all-knowing Selection Committee. It’s the old BCS in a new wine skin;
it’s comprehensive college football championship series reform.
It’s not as if we’re going to be watching the NFL. Do it before we give up on the NFL’s `Pee Wee’ league and their all powerful wizard gas bags: Those Who Know, deciding for us the NCAA football champion.
Calculated risk.
Sabin knew he had a great chance of getting into the playoffs without playing an extra game. He got to skip another game where the chance of injury out weighed the return.
You don’t have to win the conference if you get the playoff berth.
Sorry. If the playoff is half SEC, then the system is messed up.
Which will be a small fraction of the TV sets that will not be tuned to it in the rest of the country. Hate to break it to you, but nobody outside of Georgia or your opponent’s state is going to stay up till midnight on a work night to watch your team. You may not care, but the networks do.
So if you are a college football fan, it’s in your best interest to have a nationwide interest in the game, not just a regional interest. If not, the money will dry up and that will be detrimental to your school.
Yep, I see him transferring to Miami to be with Richt.
Beware, though. Parking at Jerry World is a bitch.
I promise that is going to be addressed by the Committee.
Alabama is way over rated.
They never play a game in a stadium up North.
They have a Junior High Cup Cake Schedule.
They refuse to reciprocate on game locations.
Anybody could do what they do.
More important but you know that. I’m not sure who people think should be in that #4 spot. The 2 teams considered were both good but I didn’t have a vote. The voters thought Bama had an edge.
Alabama is, year after year, one of the best draws in college football.
2017 College football TV ratings
Alabama vs. Auburn outdrew OSU vs. Michigan by 30%. Page down for previous weeks.
I might have put UCF in the playoffs on principle. LOL.
Do you follow football?
Baylor was 1-11 this year? They are not going bowling.
Big XII has 7 teams in bowls this year. Add ISU and TTech to your list after you remove Baylor.
Simple fact is that SEC athletes are better. Watchng the big 10 championship, all the white guys on the field was a stark difference.
Lol, who should they play, Iowa?
They also need to find a way to force the better teams to only schedule “real” games. No more powder puff games against weak opponents to make them look good. I feel sorry for the poor guys on the sacrificial lamb teams that get the crap knocked out of them for 60 minutes so their college can rake in big bucks.
Nebraska (4-8) should not be on the list.
Baylor may have been 1-11 but Matt Rhule deserves some consideration for Big 12 Coach of the Year. I expected them to be the worst team in Division I and they were very competitive, they’ll be back before too long.
and how many teams north of the Ohio river cross the river and come south to play SEC teams in their back yard. Seem like I remember back in the late 60s Woody Hayes brought Ohio State (before THE was added) down to Knoxville to play Tennessee. Don’t remember the score but Tennessee whopped ‘em and sent them back to Ohio. I think Woody blew up the bridge so he would not make that mistake again.
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