Glad Washington Won, BIG DRAMA about to happen for CFP

[UofU Fanatic]

Otherwise PAC could be left out. Lots of drama about to go down if FSU and Michigan both win lol

[UofU Fanatic]

Drama if FSU wins. Do they bump them down due to a QB injury and move either Texas or Bama or Georgia in that 4th spot?

Drama still if FSU loses, same issue for Texas, Bama, Georgia.

Lolol I’d love to see no SEC teams in playoff this year

[Jake]

Not happening, Alabama is in no matter what, they won’t keep a 1 loss SEC champ out.

[Brettski]

Exactly

[Utesbyfive]

Predictions on who gets screwed: UW, UT, or FSU?

[The Miami Ute]

Texas will get screwed. No undefeated P5 champ will be left out of the CFP in favor of a team with a loss. Only reason I’m saying Texas is because the SEC is like the Mafia and the Longhorns do have a loss to a 10-2 Oklahoma team. For me, it’s looking like this:
1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. FSU
4. Alabama

[ryynoo]

I’m worried now that Georgia and Alabama will get in.

[RedUte14]

Texas beat Alabama let’s remember that.

[The Miami Ute]

Yeah, but Alabama’s loss happened very early in the season and they just beat the best team in the nation. Plus Texas lost to a good but not great Oklahoma team.

[DataUte]

But was UGA the best team in the nation? If we use Massey’s compiled ratings, 4 just beat 2. 6 beat 4 earlier in the season but lost to 10 mid-season. So when you lost matters more than if you lost or not to a team directly head to head?

[The Miami Ute]

Hard to argue they weren’t. Two time defending national champion on a 29 game winning streak.

[DataUte]

Fair. Just saying they just lost, so no longer the best team in the nation. Might be 5 in CFP final rankings now. Doubt they will be top 4. Man, can’t exclude 13-0 ACC champ FSU (even though they will get stomped – defense good but no offense now), but committee can’t win choosing between Alabama, Texas, Georgia for 4th spot. But just from the season, seems like SEC, B1G, and PAC champs should be in just based on winning those ‘best’ conferences this year.

[The Miami Ute]

I think the final is going to be Michigan versus Washington. That being said, if FSU can get Rademacher ready for their hypothetical semifinal game versus Washington, they can win that game. FSU’s defense will keep them in the game no matter what.

[Utah]

No drama. The committee has always said that they take injuries into account. FSU hasn’t looked good at all since their QB went down.

#1 – Michigan.
#2 – Washington.
#3 – Texas
#4 – Alabama.

It’s not that dramatic. Michigan should be #1. They have beaten a lot of really good teams. UW has beaten a lot of really good teams as well. They went on the road to Michigan St. Alabama went on the road to: USF. And they actually nutted up and played a good team (at home) OOC and lost (this is why Alabama doesn’t play games like these).

Georgia should be out because they lost to Alabama. Simple. UW beat a top 10 team, is undefeated. They should be in. Ohio St should be out because they lost to Michigan. Texas should be in, because they beat Alabama.

The only slightly controversial team is Florida State. Yeah, they are undefeated, but they lost their most important player.

So, who do you drop out? Alabama or FSU? Well, who wins that game? Alabama. Who had the tougher schedule? Alabama. Who looks better right now? Alabama.

If it were up to me, I’d leave Alabama out for FSU and Texas beat Alabama so Texas gets in before Alabama does.

But that would require leaving the SEC out of it, and they won’t, so FSU will be left out.

[Utah]

Had Oregon won…then I could see the PAC-12 being left out for: Michigan, FSU, Alabama, Texas. But Oregon didn’t, Washington did, and the choice is easy.

Michigan vs Washington in the Rose Bowl.
Alabama vs Texas in the other bowl.

Should be fun.

[UofU Fanatic]

They have never left out an undefeated P5 champion. I think they will have:
1 Michigan (I think Washington could be deserving of 1 spot with a high rank win against Oregon twice and their schedule compared to Michigan but I doubt they will)
2 Washington
3 Texas (the head to head has to matter. They make excuses saying it was earlier in season and Texas has an uglier loss to 10-2 Oklahoma but I think head to head AT Bama place means the most)
4 FSU, undefeated but get jumped by Texas due to QB injury.

I would absolutely love SEC to be left out. Never happened, but it isn’t a rule that they have to be in it

[2008 National Champ]

I don’t disagree with your 4. The problem is that it makes too much sense.

A committee of people who have proven over the last decade that stated criteria are only important when they want it to be is probably not going to move Texas up 5 spots while leaving out a formerly higher ranked team which beat their previous #1.

[DataUte]

Texas was 7, Alabama 8. UGA will likely drop from 1 to 5 (or 6) – never has a 1 going into champ week not been included (but has to this time). Oregon drops from 5 to below Ohio St. It really comes down to leaving out FSU (only reason could be injury to Travis), Alabama (just not room since Texas beat them), Texas (have to include SEC champ Alabama AND undefeated champ FSU).

I think the easiest to leave out is FSU, but it still would be awful – you drop from 4 to 5 after winning CCG? I think the best 4 are UM, UW, UT, Alabama. Head to head HAS to matter, but there are 7 legit teams that could easily be slotted into the 4 team playoff. Next year is 12. We’ll, 11 with G5 low 20s ranked team given a chance.

[2008 National Champ]

You’re absolutely right on the rankings. Not sure how I mixed Alabama and Texas up.

[The Miami Ute]

I have to think that the committee will take the safe, politically correct route of selecting all of the undefeated P5 conference champions and Alabama. No amount of mental gymnastics would allow them to reconcile leaving out an undefeated FSU. Plus FSU is s blue blood national brand, not some Johnny come lately like, say a Cincinnati, so they have some pull as well.

I leave out Texas for the simple reason that their win versus Alabama occurred very early in the year and Alabama really hasn’t looked great many times this season, like most recently versus Auburn. Alabama gets in for the simple fact that the SEC has enormous influence in college football and because they beat what’s been the best team in the land for the last three years, that is until last night.

[Charlie]

It is all a sad mess, so ESPN has 4 hours to explain these four spots and 8 other spots rounding out the NY6 spots. They need to get help from the BB selection process that at least has some criteria. Missing is more clear consideration for SOS like Quad 1 (etc) wins. This would reward football teams that play more P5 opponents. It would also reduce the value of wins over poor teams from good conferences and reward wins over very good mid majors. It is sad we can still see teams schedule a path into the playoffs. It will be interesting to see how the selection committee explains their selection but it will not be done with logic that has been understood through the season.

[DataUte]

Selection week logic is almost always different than the weekly logic they use for rankings. Now it actually matters. I don’t like when they change rankings trying to guess or setup up what ifs as they go. Just clean the slate each week and rank who they think is best and downwards. Of course, the last week adds a 13th game, almost always against a highly ranked opponent, making it somewhat of a quarterfinal. Of course, we had 5 quarterfinals for 4 semifinal spots… all deserving this year unlike years past where 2-3 were clear and the 4th had flaws debatable with a few other teams.

[2008 National Champ]

It’s such an easy solve. I’m pretty sure they can find 4 stadiums available on 12-16. Put the 3 undefeateds, 4 one losses and Liberty in and run it. Winners meet on 12-30. Championship on Jan 8 since they like to do it on a Monday.

If ESPN bitches about making extra money, sell the games to Fox for the first round. The idiocy of selling the post-season to Chamber of Commerce’s in southern US cities is what led to this and the ivory tower people who are willing to sell their souls for a couple of beads haven’t been able to smart themselves out of it.