CFP Discussion

[Root4GT]

I’m not sure the exact point at which souther football caught up to and surpassed the north, but I think northern fans were moving on long before that, and much of it had to do with divorcing the sport from any serious connection to academics. That is certainly why the Ivy League decided to get out of major college football.

In 1973, when Bear Bryant was trying to earn respect for the south, football superiority was still up for grabs. He only lost to Notre Dame by one point, a bitter loss for regional pride at the time, and that as a kid almost made me cry, but a sign things were changing. Alabama finally won in 1987 after four tries. Notre Dame’s fortunes will always be limited in our new reality due to scruples about academics.

But, again, southern football, in particular, seems to be clinging to a tradition that other parts of the country don’t share. When I lived in the northeast I never saw anyone invested in personal validation by beating some team from some other region, at least not the fans I knew. That is as southern as grits and hush puppies.

Much of that has to do with the "North" having Pro teams in multiple sports going way back into the early 1900s. Pro sports didn't arrive in the "South" until the late 1960s. College sports were the only sports the South had and they still cling to College Football as if it is life and death. The South is the only region of the Country where that is true.

 

[Root4GT]

Bowl-eligible is 6-6. Print the shirts!

Alabama - 0-1 vs Power 5 teams this year! Chickens to play 2. FSU - 2-0 vs the SEC. UGA - only P5 OOC game was GT. Chicken to play a real OOC schedule.

 

[Techster]

I'm just here to watch it all burn...

He (or she) ends with a pretty solid point:

Before you say they didn't want to see FSU get beat badly in the playoffs, 70% of games in the CFP era have been decided by at least 3 scores. Just food for thought...

 

[laoh]

Always follow the money.

 

[MWBATL]

Cool. Hope it's a good one.

Travis playing = FSU in.

Travis hurt = FSU out.

Why is it hard to understand this???

Because it goes from fact based to purely opinion based. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?

 

[GoldZ]

Alabama - 0-1 vs Power 5 teams this year! Chickens to play 2. FSU - 2-0 vs the SEC. UGA - only P5 OOC game was GT. Chicken to play a real OOC schedule.

In addition to that, they played THREE high schools!

 

[GoldZ]

Because it goes from fact based to purely opinion based. Why is it so hard for you to understand that?

Ok, take a look and listen carefully at the Gameday replay the Saturday BEFORE Travis got hurt, and if you have the guts, come back and explain it to us. We will wait.

 

[MWBATL]

Ok, take a look and listen carefully at the Gameday replay the Saturday BEFORE Travis got hurt, and if you have the guts, come back and explain it to us. We will wait.

Are you referring to ESPN Gameday? The same ESPN that made these decisions and funds college football ? Tha same ESPN that has TONS of money riding on the SEC is best idea? Please explain why their OPINION overcomes 13-0? I’ll wait for your answer…

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Much of that has to do with the "North" having Pro teams in multiple sports going way back into the early 1900s. Pro sports didn't arrive in the "South" until the late 1960s. College sports were the only sports the South had and they still cling to College Football as if it is life and death. The South is the only region of the Country where that is true.

True that. Tech only had to compete with the Atlanta Crackers for “sports eyes” back in the day. Starting in 1966 Atlanta started adding another pro sports team every few years. Seemed like each addition made it harder for Tech to get sidewalk fans. To this day college teams in the boonies seem to attract the most college sports dollars and cult fan following.

 

[stech81]

Stanford is one of the richest AAs in football

and they have a pretty good recruiting class so far this year.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

During the halftime of the basketball game tonight (the feed was SEC network) the discussion was uga’s pending football game with FSU.

If you didn’t see it, it was a nice subtle preemptive piece of propaganda. All the talking head talk boiled down to this. “Will be hard for coaches to get teams up for this game but if uga is motivated they will win because they are far superior to FSU and FSU doesn’t stand a chance against them. But that’s assuming all else is equal and Georgia is motivated to play.”

Just wow.

 

[kg01]

Just wow.

Typical.

The propaganda is thick with that network. During our game they were lamenting the blatant snub from the playoff. Oh you thought it was FSU? Nope, per them UGA is the big snub. I guess they wanted what 3 1-loss teams in ahead of fsu? Wtf?

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Typical.

The propaganda is thick with that network. During our game they were lamenting the blatant snub from the playoff. Oh you thought it was FSU? Nope, per them UGA is the big snub. I guess they wanted what 3 1-loss teams in ahead of fsu? Wtf?

All of which is why it really pushes my buttons when I read SEC propaganda from posters on this site. I can hear how great the SEC is from dozens of sources but this is the only place I can get deprogrammed from all the brainwashing.

 

[Techster]

From the horses mouth:




**Before I went back to not giving a d#mn about FSU, I said it should be 1. Michigan, 2. Washington, 3. FSU. The real fight was between Texas and 'Bama for #4, and shouldn't be about FSU. Well...

 

[GoldZ]

Are you referring to ESPN Gameday? The same ESPN that made these decisions and funds college football ? Tha same ESPN that has TONS of money riding on the SEC is best idea? Please explain why their OPINION overcomes 13-0? I’ll wait for your answer…

Are you referring to ESPN Gameday? The same ESPN that made these decisions and funds college football ? Tha same ESPN that has TONS of money riding on the SEC is best idea? Please explain why their OPINION overcomes 13-0? I’ll wait for your answer…

Yes the same. I was pointing out that the fix was in earlier than Travis getting hurt. Actually I think I misread your post to mean you supported the committee and if so, sorry.

 

[stinger78]

Yes the same. I was pointing out that the fix was in earlier than Travis getting hurt. Actually I think I misread your post to mean you supported the committee and if so, sorry.

Yes, I think you two are saying the same thing.

The metric above explains it well. Alabama jumped Texas on the SOR metric and they felt they could not put Bama in w/o putting Texas in, with an identical record and having beaten Bama straight up at Bama. The meant that the Almighty SECheat would be missing from the CFP. Couldn't let that happen so the injury excuse was made up to provide a rationalization for the decision.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Yes, I think you two are saying the same thing.

The metric above explains it well. Alabama jumped Texas on the SOR metric and they felt they could not put Bama in w/o putting Texas in, with an identical record and having beaten Bama straight up at Bama. The meant that the Almighty SECheat would be missing from the CFP. Couldn't let that happen so the injury excuse was made up to provide a rationalization for the decision.

People will look back on this in the future and marvel at how convoluted the playoff selection was. And wonder how in the world choosing a champion in a sport got turned over to an arbitrary committee process.

 

[stinger78]

People will look back on this in the future and marvel at how convoluted the playoff selection was. And wonder how in the world choosing a champion in a sport got turned over to an arbitrary committee process.

It’s a slam dunk. You have 3 P5 champs who are undefeated, and you have 2 P5 champs who are once defeated, and the good thing is one of those beat the other straight up. It’s the easiest possible choice except for the fly in the ointment: that leaves the SECheat out.

 

[CEB]

People will look back on this in the future and marvel at how convoluted the playoff selection was. And wonder how in the world choosing a champion in a sport got turned over to an arbitrary committee process.

Aside from a brief historical blip known as the BCS, this has always been the process. Even in the BCS, it was a factor.

I hope the playoff is able to provide transparency and “fairness” but I’m not overly optimistic. Backroom handshakes seem to be engrained in the process.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

It’s a slam dunk. You have 3 P5 champs who are undefeated, and you have 2 P5 champs who are once defeated, and the good thing is one of those beat the other straight up. It’s the easiest possible choice except for the fly in the ointment: that leaves the SECheat out.

Obviously, and obviously obvious, that was absolutely obviously not going to happen.

I think back to prior to the selection process when I entertained briefly the idea that the SEC would get left out. Logic dictated that they would be but leaving them out has never been done. So then I wondered who the sacrificial goat would be. Naively I thought it might be Alabama, in spite of the outrage that would cause, because Georgia “deserved a shot” based on their past two national championship runs. Quickly decided the easier course would be to eliminate Texas since the committee sometimes arbitrarily discounts early season wins.

For some reason it never dawned on me that an undefeated major conference champion would get left out. I guess because they’ve never done that before. I was shocked when it turned out to be FSU.

There is a very dark cloud over the playoffs this year. The playoffs missed an opportunity for a great story line and lots of non FSU fans tend to watch them when on the national stage.

No matter how the playoffs turn out this controversy will not go away for a long time.