CFP Discussion

[Northeast Stinger]

I agree with you. Someone I do believe s is behind all this be it ESPN or someone else. It's not that I like FSU hell after they run their mouth at the start of year, I wanted to see them lose every game this year. Most of us get sick of the build up by ESPN how great the SEC is every year no matter if they win or lose. It does seem funny that the 4 teams are 2 that will be in the SEC and the other 2 are teams that will be in the Big10 next year.

So so so tired of the SEC hype every frickin year.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Did anyone notice the "$EC on E$PN coming in 2024" commercials during the ACC championship?

All while the game announcers are running down the championship for having bad offenses.

 

[CEB]

That's actually a great question, why do we care?

I’ll put it even more succinctly. This is just another data point in a prevailing narrative that likely continues unchecked. The notion of a 12-team playoff to increase competition will quickly give way to the notion that the lesser conferences are now “protected” by having a spot for their champ, so the big boys can focus on big boy football.
Similar to the NCAA tournament’s “one bid leagues,” the ACC is being relegated to a second tier (likely alongside the B12).
I would expect the annual playoff make-up to include:
1 ACC (champ)
1 B12 (champ)
1 G5 champ
8-9 BiG / SEC programs (allowing occasionally for ND).

12 team playoff won’t fix much in my mind…. And if we have a glorious 11-2 season falling just short of a conference championship, don’t expect to participate. That’s why I’m ticked off about FSU.

ETA - this was much more succinct in my head.

 

[Augusta_Jacket]

Cool. Hope it's a good one.

Travis playing = FSU in.

Travis hurt = FSU out.

Why is it hard to understand this???

I mean, it's not like teams have won championships in the CFP era with their backup QBs, so this must be a legit argument...

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I'm thinking FSU beats Ugag, but just to note that if they don't, many will say it proves they didn't belong.
That would prove nothing IMO because FSU earned its way in and shouldn't have to justify it. They belong in the "playoff" now.

Yeah, the problem is whoever wins will prove nothing because either team can claim they weren’t motivated having been cheated out of the playoffs.

 

[SOWEGA Jacket]

We are seeing a clash of agendas and eras. The younger fans never lived thru the total corruption of the beauty pageant decades. Most older fans accepted decades ago that the entire D1 sport is corrupt. This FSU decision is just proving the past isn‘t quite dead.

But, I can smile knowing what is coming. And it is coming not because of the right reasons - fairness, but it’s coming because the money is rapidly killing off the old version of corruption. Sure, money is creating issues such as NIL but overall the search for money will bring D1 football into an expanded playoff real soon - way beyond 12.

The first Rose Bowl was played in 1902. The first BCS #1 vs. #2 was played in 1998. The first 4 team playoff started in 2014. The 12 team playoff will start in 2024. So, it took 96 years to infiltrate the bowl mafia. Then it took 16 years to wound it. Then it took 10 years to kill it. I give it 6-8 years (2030-2032) until the playoffs expand to 24 or 32. The games will prove themselves and the money will be too great for them not to exist.

Look right now at the next 4 weekends - Dec 9, Dec 16, Dec 23, Dec 30. All are dead sports weekends bringing in ZERO dollars. No one is watching the NBA right now. The NFL is limping towards their playoff. College basketball is an afterthought until March. The sports calendar is dead for a month and the TV people know it. I can’t wait until we have a true 6 week tourney. Upsets, injuries, on campus games where everyone has a chance to win it on the field instead of a committee room.

 

[bobongo]

Yeah, the problem is whoever wins will prove nothing because either team can claim they weren’t motivated having been cheated out of the playoffs.

No doubt if Ugag loses, that's all we'll hear about here in Athens. I never bought any of that excuse.
Motivational factors are often present in bowl games but if a team's not motivated to win, that sounds like a personal problem. Either get motivated or stay home.

 

[dmurdock]

Don't forget to cancel any ESPN subscriptions, I cancelled mine yesterday. They will not see another cent from me ever again.

I had a Disney trio package of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Subscription was cancelled within an hour after Alabama was shown as the #4 team in the CFP.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

No doubt if Ugag loses, that's all we'll hear about here in Athens. I never bought any of that excuse.
Motivational factors are often present in bowl games but if a team's not motivated to win, that sounds like a personal problem. Either get motivated or stay home.

Agree but it’s always a thing every year. Even Alabama in years past had some embarrassing losses due to “motivation.” Wasn’t one of them Utah State or somebody like that? I would have to look it up.

 

[Techster]

Agree but it’s always a thing every year. Even Alabama in years past had some embarrassing losses due to “motivation.” Wasn’t one of them Utah State or somebody like that? I would have to look it up.

Utah with Alex Smith (first round QB pick) and Urban Meyer was the coach.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Utah with Alex Smith (first round QB pick) and Urban Meyer was the coach.

Yep, that’s right. Shocked the odds makers who at the time thought Alabama would destroy them. They reacted the same way when Clemson blew out Alabama in the championship game. Paul Finebaum had predicted an Alabama blowout. Took a few days to recover but slowly the “Alabama was not motivated” narrative took over and the honor of the SEC was preserved.

I fully expect FSU to win but whoever wins the precedent established by the SEC should be honored, that the losing team was not motivated.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

In my alternative College playoff:

Number one ranked Washington fought fourth seed FSU in a low scoring game that finally ended with Washington kicking the winning field goal after recovering an FSU fumble inside the 20.

Michigan physically hammered Texas for almost four quarters, allowing Texas just 88 yards of rushing, but Texas scores twice on late passes to win by 10 points.

The big showdown between Washington and Texas is one for the story books almost rivaling the Texas vs USC championship decades ago. Washington wins in a shootout after the lead changes seven times.

As for the actual playoffs this year, I may not even watch.

 

[jojatk]

Okay...I'm a bit slow, but it just dawned on me what's really going on.

ESPN's advertisers did not want another UGA-TCU blowout game with fans turning the game off by halftime when it was already 38-7 (final 65-7).

FSU was a risk because its starting QB is out, and they could not be allowed to play because of potentially bad ratings.

Advertisers pressured ESPN. ESPN (and the SEC itself) pressured the committee members.

And here's a take from TuscaloosaNews.com which acknowledges that FSU and Texas - not Bama - should have been selected.

Yes this is completely what happened. The perception, and one that's probably correct, is that Michigan, Bama, Texas, and Washington would create MUCH larger viewing audiences than any scenario where FSU replaces one of those.

 

[Root4GT]

We are seeing a clash of agendas and eras. The younger fans never lived thru the total corruption of the beauty pageant decades. Most older fans accepted decades ago that the entire D1 sport is corrupt. This FSU decision is just proving the past isn‘t quite dead.

But, I can smile knowing what is coming. And it is coming not because of the right reasons - fairness, but it’s coming because the money is rapidly killing off the old version of corruption. Sure, money is creating issues such as NIL but overall the search for money will bring D1 football into an expanded playoff real soon - way beyond 12.

The first Rose Bowl was played in 1902. The first BCS #1 vs. #2 was played in 1998. The first 4 team playoff started in 2014. The 12 team playoff will start in 2024. So, it took 96 years to infiltrate the bowl mafia. Then it took 16 years to wound it. Then it took 10 years to kill it. I give it 6-8 years (2030-2032) until the playoffs expand to 24 or 32. The games will prove themselves and the money will be too great for them not to exist.

Look right now at the next 4 weekends - Dec 9, Dec 16, Dec 23, Dec 30. All are dead sports weekends bringing in ZERO dollars. No one is watching the NBA right now. The NFL is limping towards their playoff. College basketball is an afterthought until March. The sports calendar is dead for a month and the TV people know it. I can’t wait until we have a true 6 week tourney. Upsets, injuries, on campus games where everyone has a chance to win it on the field instead of a committee room.

Good thoughts except any NFL game still gets more viewers than nearly every college football game by a large margin. The NFL now owns Saturday as well.

 

[stech81]

Saban : ok here is what you need to say to get us in over FSU

 

[LongforDodd]

That chart shows that Bowling Green is slightly better than Boston College… interesting. ....

And that Penn State is the #5 team?

 

[TooTall]

We are seeing a clash of agendas and eras. The younger fans never lived thru the total corruption of the beauty pageant decades. Most older fans accepted decades ago that the entire D1 sport is corrupt. This FSU decision is just proving the past isn‘t quite dead.

But, I can smile knowing what is coming. And it is coming not because of the right reasons - fairness, but it’s coming because the money is rapidly killing off the old version of corruption. Sure, money is creating issues such as NIL but overall the search for money will bring D1 football into an expanded playoff real soon - way beyond 12.

The first Rose Bowl was played in 1902. The first BCS #1 vs. #2 was played in 1998. The first 4 team playoff started in 2014. The 12 team playoff will start in 2024. So, it took 96 years to infiltrate the bowl mafia. Then it took 16 years to wound it. Then it took 10 years to kill it. I give it 6-8 years (2030-2032) until the playoffs expand to 24 or 32. The games will prove themselves and the money will be too great for them not to exist.

Look right now at the next 4 weekends - Dec 9, Dec 16, Dec 23, Dec 30. All are dead sports weekends bringing in ZERO dollars. No one is watching the NBA right now. The NFL is limping towards their playoff. College basketball is an afterthought until March. The sports calendar is dead for a month and the TV people know it. I can’t wait until we have a true 6 week tourney. Upsets, injuries, on campus games where everyone has a chance to win it on the field instead of a committee room.

So your saying that our 2014 team would have won the natty because who can prepare in a week to take on that offense? Is it too late to get t-shirts made?

 

[stinger78]

the fix next year will be which top 4 teams get byes and teams 5 thru 8 which get home games in the first round. The conversion will change from which teams get in to how to arrange the bracket to make sure the RIGHT TEAMS have the advantages.

This is exactly my issue. When B1G champ OSU was left out in 2017, who benefited? Non-division winner Alabama and the SEC (with two of four entries, seeded in opposite brackets no less). When undefeated conference champ FSU is left out in 2023, who benefited? Alabama and the SEC. I’m tired of the SEC bias.

In the new 12-team setup give all conference champs an auto bid and then build an unbiased computer algorithm to select at-large teams. Take it out of the hands of the humans who are bought and sold to the highest bidder. Then let the computer algorithm seed them. No more this team “would do this or that,” and no more “this team is really better.”

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Good thoughts except any NFL game still gets more viewers than nearly every college football game by a large margin. The NFL now owns Saturday as well.

Having lived and spent time as an adult in the large population centers of the north I’ve always been struck by how football fans up there either watch their local high school teams (often Saturday day games) and/or watch pro ball.

Decades before my time, and starting before my parents’ time, college football was a big deal in the north. Big games were held in cities like Chicago and New York, the best teams were considered to be from the north, and epic stories by some of America’s best writers were written about games like Army vs Notre Dame. Princeton still retains the most national championships.

I’ve often wondered if the North just caught on more quickly to the emerging hypocrisy of college football. Growing up in the South it was a point of pride when we finally started to win games regularly against the northern schools. Anyone who doesn’t recognize the natural inferiority complex in many southerners going back to the civil war has skipped reading a lot of history. Even Bear Bryant saw Alabama’s first matchup with Notre Dame as a chance to strike a blow for southern legitimacy. Some of that attitude evolved into today’s SEC chauvinism.

Ironically, as the south was gaining respect on the football field, the north, as a whole, was caring less and less. Colleges are bragged on as academic institutions. Football is loved primarily as a family thing where and if you played in high school, or it is equated with athletic excellence at the pro level where measurements are far more objective and less political.

I’m wondering about my own love of college football, which has diminished greatly over the years, and wondering how much of it is nostalgia for times long gone. Did my northern brethren learn this sooner? All I know is there is something in the average dawg fan that involves personal validation by transference that seems delusional and out of sync with the actual reality of much of college football, something I just can’t relate to at all anymore. Those who generally avoid being exploited by capitalistic interests in every other area of their lives will have a hard time with the current carnival and snake oil show.

 

[stinger78]

Yeah, the problem is whoever wins will prove nothing because either team can claim they weren’t motivated having been cheated out of the playoffs.

But in FSU’s case it completes an undefeated season which gives them a claim to the now, again MNC.