Who cares what Finebaum thinks or says. He’s a SEC and Alabama arse licker. Warts, of course, but it’s a first yr. Nevertheless, no one should receive a bye and the champion has to win games.
Finebaum ALREADY BITCHING... 😂
- Thread starter Delcolion915
- Start date
Here is their week 16 rankings.
- Oregon
- GA
- TX
- PSU
- ND
- tOSU
- Tenn
- Indy
- Boise
- SMU
- AL
- ASU
ND would play ASU, tOSU would play AL, TN would play SMU. Indy would play Boise.
But if the criteria was published ahead of time, using less opinion, it wouldn't be as controversial. ESPN isn't the one that needs to be used.
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That set up is WAY better
And much more fair to Oregon
Honestly, the best thing we did all year was lose to Oregon while being competitive.
Look at the top 16 cfp rankings now. It would mean Bama, Miami. South Carolina and Ole Miss are in. You start to eliminate those complaints of a team didn't deserve to get in and others on the outside are better. You get 3 SEC teams in who are not the best SEC teams but still pretty good teams who can play competitive games. My guess is you would get something like that every year. You avoid an SMU or Indiana getting in and not Alabama by including them both. Does anyone think Alabama or Ole Miss will win it all? They probably don't but both beat Georgia and people think Georgia could especially if they still had Beck. So there is that potential. Also Georgia has two losses and narrowly avoided a third loss to Ga Tech and is #2 with people thinking they could win it all. So my point is that the SEC has potential to do damage and pop up and knock teams off in this playoff. And you have to be more confident of Alabama or Ole Miss winning it all than SMU or Indiana.
The other thing to look at is not necessarily if the #15 team or #16 team can win it all but can they make a first round game competitive to draw ratings and future advertising dollars?
Let's look at it this year. If we just took the top 16 cfp ranked teams and did a playoff bracket similar to March Madness bracket this is what you would have.
#16 Clemson @ #1 Oregon decent game but not great. Certainly better than what we saw though with SMU, Indiana and Tenn getting blown out.
#15 South Carolina @ #2 Georgia decent game.
#14 Ole Miss @ #3 Texas decent game
#13 Miami @ #4 Penn State decent game
#12 Arizona State @ #5 ND this could be a blowout for ND
#11 Alabama @ #6 Ohio State possibly a blowout since they blew out Tenn but could also be a good game
#10 SMU @ #7 Tenn decent game but maybe SMU melts down like they did versus us
#9 Boise State @ #8 Indiana good game
If you like college football then this is great. More teams and the complaining is going to quiet down. Will there be some blowouts? Yes but there will be at least three or four pretty exciting games. Three or four out of eight is not bad. Also, is anyone really going to complain that #17 BYU, #18 Iowa State (who was blown out in the B12 ccg) or #19 Missouri belonged more than #16 Clemson or #15 South Carolina or #8 Indiana or #10 SMU?
The first round is still probably 6 or 7 blowouts but that's what the first round of most playoffs are
Yeah no way to avoid that. Only way to maybe help would be to go to all neutral fields and incorporate more of the bowls. But I don't like that idea. The home field atmosphere is what makes CFB great and you need to reward the top 8 seeds.
I disagree. #16 isn't winning anything and deserves nothing.
Winning has to matter at some level so including the conference champs is a good thing.
Agree about including conference champs but not so sure teams like Boise and ASU (being conference champs) should get a 1st round bye over obviously better teams like Texas, PSU, and OSU. But no matter what kind of Playoff setup they come up with, it won't be perfect.
I really do like the expanded 12-team Playoff - much better than the old 4-team Playoff. It gives teams with an obvious head-scratching loss another chance. Just have to wonder how many of the smaller bowl games disappear now with all eyes on the Playoffs
Are you sure? Upsets do happen in college football. Any 1-16 match-up will likely be a non competitive game. 3 of the 4 games this weekend were non competitive, including the 8-9 match-up. But that doesn't mean every year it will be this way.
The playoffs in every sport (at all levels) include teams who likely don't have a realistic chance. 65 teams make the BBall tournament. 33 wrestlers at each of the 10 weights. All the regional and super regional teams in Baseball. Etc.
At some point, if they're going to decrease the playoff teams we might as well go back to the old bowl system and having a bunch of journalists name the champ.
Don't disagree about conference champs getting top 4 seeds. There is probably a better way, but nothing will be perfect. There will likely be a bias against champs not in the B2G and SEC...1st world problems though
Respectfully, I'm not understanding your point.
What I meant is that #16 is not winning a championship (nor is #12). There could certainly be an upset, but they are winning 4 games.
I'd much rather have conference champs prioritized over a 3-loss team that was 4th in their conference.
That literally doesn’t solve anything though. You are merely moving the line where the teams complaining about not being in are now the 15/16/17/18 teams instead of 11/12/13 ones. Who cares?
I mean Illinois had at much justification for being in the CFP as the three loss SEC teams. What about Iowa St? Are you penalizing them for losing a CCG? Etc.
Every team that was left out this year had significant flaws. No one has any real complain about being excluded given their performance in the season. 12 teams is a solid number to ensure that all actual deserving teams get in because typically it would only be at most 8 or 9 teams that are legit contenders (some years it’s closer to only 4 or 5 teams). So 12 allows for some buffer of borderline teams that really aren’t good enough but can be given a shot. That’s actually pretty good.
I mean, if it goes to 16 or whatever at some point that’s fine. It just doesn’t solve anything or prevent any complaining. It just gives a greater number of undeserving teams a “shot”.
The things is that you are wanting people to invest a considerable amount of time and money to support and attend a game that will largely be noncompetitive.
For perspective, I read on the interwebs that the average cost for an SMU fan/booster to attend the playoff game at Beaver Stadium was $3700 per person.
In the NCAA basketball tournament, the 16 vs 1 games are largely noncompetitive. What saves the tournament is the multitude of games that are on simultaneously early in the tourney.
If the 16-1 ends up being competitive, you can tune it in. If not, tune in to one that you find more suitable.
I am wondering how the 2 NCAA playoff games that were on opposite of NFL games fared ratings wise.
Also, it's crazy to me how many desirable games are on premium channels while the programming of over the air channels show niche sports broadcasts that when I grew up would never be even considered to be broadcast on the major over the air networks.
All 4 stadiums were packed this weekend. So the fans came. Aside from the weather this weekend, what is the difference between SMU and any of the weaker OOC foes.
I'll be honest and say I didn't take attendance cost into consideration in my post, especially for the visiting teams.
And I believe the high price tag is a huge issue, and likely prices out a lot of people from attending. Based on everything i read prior to the game, it seems the hotels jacked their rates through the roof for the weekend. So I would guess, that was the majority of the expense. Can the school get a contract with local hotels to cap their rates? I know some businesses do this for their employees who regularly travel. I really don't have any other solutions.
Some of the broadcasting for sports now are just crazy to me as well. I don't get it at all. I would have thought ESPN would have wanted all of the playoff games this weekend. Instead they sold 2 of them off to TNT. I guess everyone wants a piece of the pie.
The problem with doing this is that the person making the reservation is capable of reselling it for a profit. Think of the face value for Taylor Swift Tix vs aftermarket prices for the same tix.
If I had to guess, TNT offered more money to Disney/ABC than they would have been capable of earning if they chose to keep the broadcast rights.
The day that our White Out game against Washington was broadcast on Peacock, NBC broadcast some rando women's volleyball game in its place.
If it's not the Lady Lions involved in the contest, I have no interest. But that programming gets the privilege of being broadcast on a major network in prime time.
PSU's crowd was the most impressive IMO. PSU is a remote destination that's not easy to get to in the winter. Notre Dame is somewhat remote but they had two Indiana teams playing. Columbus is a big city where fans don't have to travel from such far distances.
Would they? Alabama did field one on Nov 23 and got drummed 24-3…. That loss left a massive stain at the end of the year that could not be SHOUT’ed out. Cannot imagine why they complain when they were actually playing their worst ball of the year. Milroe literally evaporated from the Heisman discussion.
I expect a second round of home games in the next iteration. More likely to fill the stands than a series of away games.
Yes. It already is a 16 team format, just the bottom 4 is missing. Even if they don’t go 16 the bye teams should have a home game. As all should.
Well….maybe not OSU since a nice chunk of season ticket holders didn’t request and let those tickets get into the market and into the hands of the Volunteer Navy. Lol.
I will continue to struggle to accept any system where every team playing in FBS does not have a chance at a title. We have accepted it in other sports but won't in Football. It is easy to go to 16 teams and every FBS conference gets their champion into the playoff. You throw in a few at-large bids and have a committee seed the field and play. It would be just like basketball. It might even elevate "lesser" conferences. Maybe you get a Gonzaga story in football.
Right now, everybody has a complaint and to a certain point they are valid. Just like basketball teams will be left out of the playoff that might be better than champions who make it, but I am ok with that approach. I want the person playing for Troy or Ohio to know if we win all our games, we will be national champions.
I also know it will never happen because B1G and SEC are only going to exert more control over FBS and the money related to it.
Right now, everybody has a complaint and to a certain point they are valid. Just like basketball teams will be left out of the playoff that might be better than champions who make it, but I am ok with that approach. I want the person playing for Troy or Ohio to know if we win all our games, we will be national champions.
I also know it will never happen because B1G and SEC are only going to exert more control over FBS and the money related to it.
As it stands right now, the 5 highest rated conference champs are guaranteed to be in. That includes the MAC, Sunbelt, AAC, etc.
That means, in past years, there would have been a directional Michigan school in the playoff with a chance to win a Natty. It would seem crazy to put in all the G5 champs who would get their doors blown off.
Football, a collision sport played once a week, is far different from basketball, which can easily play 3-4 games in a week.
It doesn't solve the issue. This is a playoff. If you are truly calling it a playoff all teams have to have a chance. Look at the NFL. The best teams in the NFC South are 8-7 right now. Someone is getting in and having a bye. Green Bay is currently 10-4 and the 6th seed. So, they will play on the road versus either Atlanta or LA Rams. Same with Washington at 10-5. It isn't necessarily fair but that is the system.
It happens every year sometimes the 14 teams that make the playoffs aren't the best 14. Sometimes they are but everyone has the same chance.
Yes, basketball is different from football, but it can still happen. Vanderbilt and Oklahoma beat Alabama. Why do people talk about Boise? it isn't because they are in the SEC or B1G. It is because they went out and beat P5 teams in bowl games they didn't deserve to be in.
If you are really going to call it a playoff everybody in that division needs a path.
He is STILL bitching non stop on his show today. This ass-wipe wasn't saying JACK for two weeks until his teams lost this week.
I think that a team like Boise State can win a playoff game, which we may find out on New Year's Eve. But they would have a really tough time winning three games against top 10 opponents. Either way, I'm glad that we get to find out.
That is exactly the point. All the fun first weekend games of the NCAA basketball tournament are fun to watch because you see upsets. You do see them the second weekend, but they are much rarer. Long term they realistically probably don't have the horses to win it all but they should have the chance.
I think I saw yesterday he was asked if the winner of OSU vs Oregon was the favorite to win the Natty. He said no and started talking about Georgia. Other than their opener against Clemson, Georgia has looked pretty pedestrian most of the season. And with a backup QB.
Depends on the setup, but having the same teams host more than one game is IMHO a setup for poor attendance. I’m not sure if that’s what you mean, but if you add more home games in later December or January, school will be totally out of session so you kill the student attendance and a lot of schools (PSU being a great example) will struggle to have fans go up multiple extra weekends. It’s one to add a special single game when you have a few weeks to make arrangements but more difficult to do another one soon after. That’s a lot of money and effort to ask of a fan base especially if they aren’t located local to the school.
Not to mention you get more chances for bad weather later in the winter.
The biggest thing I’d expect is going to 16 teams and having 8 first round home games at different schools. I think that could work potentially though I don’t think there’s much need for it.
They don't win in basketball either but no one wants to go back to a 48 team tournament because 16 seeds can't win the NC.
I'm telling you a Bama or Ole Miss could do damage in the playoff. You don't want to include them because they have too many losses. I agree and that is fine. Wins and losses need to matter. I am saying that if you expand to 16 then those 12-16 teams are probably 3 loss SEC teams or 3 loss B10 teams. I think it is a good thing because those teams are pretty good and I like more teams getting a shot even though I can't stand Bama. To me the solution is to include the supposed "undeserving" teams like Indiana and SMU but also include these 3 loss teams. Settle it on the field.
A 16 team format is just like in March Madness taking the top 4 seeds from each region and thatis your only bracket.
It's okay if we don't agree. It all depends on what you're trying to solve for. Are you trying to create a playoff of teams that belong, or are you trying to create a spectacle?
I'm a proponent of a champion of champions concept and I've said it many times on this boards, but just as I wouldn't suggest including bids for FCS teams, I'm not a proponent fo auto-bids for the "mid-majors."
When there was a P5, I was in favor of a 6 team playoff.
5 highest ranked conference champs.
6th team is either:
-ND if ranked in Top 8 (or something like that)
-6th ranked conf champs if ranked in top ~14?
-Highest ranked conference runner-up if neither of the above.
In my mind, it's up to the conferences to determine their champion. If their system is incapable of determining who the best team is, that's their problem.
In the end, I'm not a proponent of the spectacle. Spectacle playoffs reduce the importance of the regular season. If you want expanded playoffs, the regular season should be shortened.
As others have said 16 teams doesn't expand. They are essentially playing a 16 team bracket they are just giving 4 byes. Round 1 is just 8 on campus games instead of 4 them your rounds two is the same 4 games.
My thing is if you're are in the same classification you have to have a path. I fully acknowledge that B1G and SEC will never let that happen because they want it all.
What about Illinois then? Three losses, Oregon, Penn State, and Minny at the end of the game. Would they then have a complaint?
No because my point is the complaining is coming from the fact that these blue bloods or good programs that beat some good teams are not getting in and an Indiana or SMU are. People think Bama or Ole Miss are clearly better than SMU or Indiana and I think they are right at least based off their horrific first round playoff performances. No one is going to say Indiana or an SMU could certainly lose to Illinois or is not as good even with a lousy first rd play off performance. That's my opinion. Same with BYU and Mizzou. No real quality wins from those teams like Illinois. The more teams you add then this problem starts to dissipate but it still is there to some degree. You go to 24 and teams 25-27 will complain.
I think 12 sets it up though where you can have weak one loss teams from weak conferences or in Indiana's case playing a very weak schedule get in over teams with more losses (3) but better wins and a harder schedule. I think a good solve is to expand a bit more to 16 and get both of those types of teams in.
Eliminate CCG. Don't need them. The reg season conference champs from quality conferences like B10 and SEC should naturally fall to the top. Why give auto bids? What if a conf champ from a weak ACC or B12 has 2 losses? Maybe 3? No auto bids for anyone. A Boise or team from non power 4 can get in with a 16 team format just not ridiculously over seeded at #3. In a 6 team playoff you could have better non conf champs. Penn State is better than SMU and they were the ACC reg season champ. Not all conferences are the same.
Just do it like basketball does. Pick the top 16, no byes, first 8 games at home fields then move to the quarters with bowls and so on.
Basketball has automatic bids for conference champions for all conferences in Division 1.
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