against Pitt at the end of the game. The rest of the season plays out as it did. Do we get into the 4 team playoff? Or would the powers that be have found another bs reason to keep us out. I personally feel they would have heaped tons of crap on the 39 pt. loss to UM and kept us out....JMO...what do others think?
So Hamilton makes the catch...
- Thread starter bkmtnittany1
- Start date
Of course we get into the 4 team playoff if we beat Pitt. It's not even debatable.
Yes, we would get in but they would try HARD to find a damn reason not to allow us in.
Me thinks Clumpson would be out and Ohio St. would be in.
Agree..the committee's decision would then have come down to tOSU or UW. Wanna bet Delany would have lobbied for tOSU?
Add a wrinkle. MSU converts the 2 point conversion against OSU and OSU now has 2 losses.
We are in OSU is out. No questions asked.
We are in OSU is out. No questions asked.
Absolutely no way of knowing what happens if we beat Pitt....strengthens case vs. OSU but Washington still only had 1 loss in a much closer game than what we had vs. Michigan.
I actually put a lot of stock in what the early losses did to gel this team and influence their work ethic to get better each week. Do we get that same type of effort or determination or chip on their shoulder if there's no one doubting them each week? Who knows. There has been a level of satisfaction with this season because of what they overcame early on. ....and I wouldn't really trade that for Hamilton's hands on that one play.
Fact of the matter is this program is years ahead of schedule and showing no signs of slowing down. It sucks to miss out on playoff but we can get just as much, if not more, out of a good showing at the Rose Bowl.
I am probably in the minority but I still don't think we get in in this scenario. If there is ever a debate on whether or not we get in, that means we are out. The powers that be and all people and organizations that influence those powers flat out hate us. As cynical as that sounds I firmly believe it. The only way we ever get into a playoff is to go 13 -0 and even then people will look at reasons to leave us out.
I can't agree...no way they take a two-loss tOSU over a two-loss PSU when we beat them head to head and won the B1G. The fact we had two-losses gave the committee cover to pick one-loss teams over us. We can disagree, but it is sound logic. The only issue becomes SOS. I also think they wanted W to get a team in from the west coast.
As a one loss winner of the Big 10 who BEAT OSU, there is no way they'd be left out then. Not even a debate. OSU would probably still be in though and Washington not.
It was probably as close as close could be even with two losses. As much as people can't admit it, there are arguments for all 5 teams. I'm not saying they are great arguments, but its not 100% clear cut. Sure we are playing really well right now, but the body of work says we still lost to Pitt and got smoked by Michigan. Early as it was, it still happened.
The "no one likes us" conspiracy BS all the time is pathetic.
It was probably as close as close could be even with two losses. As much as people can't admit it, there are arguments for all 5 teams. I'm not saying they are great arguments, but its not 100% clear cut. Sure we are playing really well right now, but the body of work says we still lost to Pitt and got smoked by Michigan. Early as it was, it still happened.
The "no one likes us" conspiracy BS all the time is pathetic.
I don't want to seem snarky here, but this is absolutely 100% right. Of course we get in.
But he didn't make the catch and we're playing USC in the Rose Bowl. Actually, maybe it's just my mindset, but maybe the team needed to lose to Pitt to become the team they are now. I'm thrilled where the team is now and where they're going.
Its a great point. Kind of like the movie "Sliding Doors". In that movie, a gal squeezes into a subway car just in time. In one track, she makes it, meets the man of her dreams, and marries. On the other, she misses it and her life takes a completely different turn.
The team showed great character and was really distraught. It may have been motivation....it may have been the understanding that they can come back. Regardless, as fans, we need to see the glass as half full. You don't get too many seasons like this.
If we have one loss and OSU has one loss and we beat OSU and won the Big Ten, PSU is in. Not even close.
Much easier for PSU to sell the story that we had a lot of injuries that game.
LdN
That still drives me nuts. If Dantonio just runs the same play on which they easily scored the touchdown on the previous play, they convert. But he thinks that they should pass. That one confused me.
Maybe I'm just cynical, but I don't think PSU gets in even with a win over Pitt.
It will be tough for anyone to convince me the committee did not come up with the four teams it wanted in the playoff, then came up with the rules to make it work after all the games had been played.
The case would be made that a one-loss PSU had a very one-sided loss to Michigan, which would put it below all the other one-loss teams (Clemson, OSU, Washington). That would be the tie-breaker. They would wash away the win over OSU by saying PSU was "lucky" (committee opinion, not mine) to beat OSU and OSU beat the team that crushed PSU. (They would overlook the luck in that one.)
PSU was not getting in if there was ANY way to keep 'em out. One last unofficial sanction from the good old boys.
FWIW, I also believe the committee only bumped PSU ahead of Michigan because it had absolutely no bearing on the bowl assignments. If placing Michigan 5th and PSU 6th would have moved Michigan into the Rose Bowl, you can bet your bottom dollar that is exactly what would have happened.
It will be tough for anyone to convince me the committee did not come up with the four teams it wanted in the playoff, then came up with the rules to make it work after all the games had been played.
The case would be made that a one-loss PSU had a very one-sided loss to Michigan, which would put it below all the other one-loss teams (Clemson, OSU, Washington). That would be the tie-breaker. They would wash away the win over OSU by saying PSU was "lucky" (committee opinion, not mine) to beat OSU and OSU beat the team that crushed PSU. (They would overlook the luck in that one.)
PSU was not getting in if there was ANY way to keep 'em out. One last unofficial sanction from the good old boys.
FWIW, I also believe the committee only bumped PSU ahead of Michigan because it had absolutely no bearing on the bowl assignments. If placing Michigan 5th and PSU 6th would have moved Michigan into the Rose Bowl, you can bet your bottom dollar that is exactly what would have happened.
To answer the original question yes Penn State would've gotten in with a win over Pitt all things the same. You would've had a 12-1 Penn State team on a 9 game win streak with a conference championship and a head to head win over a team with an 11-1 record. In addition you'd also have an additional win over a top 25 Pitt team ... though Pitt would've then been 7-5 instead of 8-4 and probably be out of the top 25 anyway.
Btw someone brought up if OSU lost to MSU we'd be in. Gotta remember one thing ... we needed OSU to keep winning as well. If OSU loses that game to MSU it knocks down our resume as well since our biggest talking point was beating a Top 2 OSU team. If 3-7 Michigan State did it as well ... wouldn't exactly have helped our cause.
Btw someone brought up if OSU lost to MSU we'd be in. Gotta remember one thing ... we needed OSU to keep winning as well. If OSU loses that game to MSU it knocks down our resume as well since our biggest talking point was beating a Top 2 OSU team. If 3-7 Michigan State did it as well ... wouldn't exactly have helped our cause.
I don't understand the way our defense started out against Pitt, Purdue, Michigan State, and Wisconsin. It seems to me that we knew in advance that those were running teams and that we should have sold out to stop the run and make them beat us with the pass. In each game we seemed to start out soft, then made halftime adjustments to get more aggressive against the run.
Is it the coaching? Or does it takes the players time to get comfortable with the strength and speed of the opponents? It's just strange how effective these teams were in the first half and how quickly it changed. One thing is obvious. Once we got a 2+ score lead against Purdue, MSU, & Wisconsin it was much easier to defend their passing game.
I understand where you are coming from and can agree with you to a degree if it were any team but PSU. The committee has already said that their goal is to put in the 4 best teams in the playoff. They come to that conclusion on their own, they have a general criteria that they already tip toe around to get who they want. I understand why they left us out this year with the 2 losses, I don't agree with it but I understand. They hand pick whoever they want to get in. If there is ever an opportunity to leave us out they will. That being said I hope we run the table next year and get in without question and they have no choice but to take PSU.
Yep...I hear you. But their decision to leave a one-loss, B1G championship team out of the four would be indefensible. They'd look like bafoons on the national stage and the selection process in a tatters.
You're saying that the only way Penn State would get in is if Ohio State did too? If the roles were reversed and Ohio State had 2 losses, they would be lower than PSU's #5 and Penn State would still be #5 or worse? Why would that be?
Of course we do -- as the #2 seed. The debate is then between Washington and Ohio State for the #4 seed. We probably beat Clemson and play Alabama for the national championship.
I recall Trace consoling Hamilton after that non-catch. That's when I actually thought this team could be special. Not the dropped catch, but the leadership. The relationships as they say. The fact that Hamilton cared enough to break down about it and Trace saw him first as a brother --- when he could have been frustrated about it --- said a lot. That's why football is special and why great teams build bonds that last a lifetime.
Instead of that, consider the wrinkle that Iowa misses their FG to beat UM. Then you have a 3 way tie for the B1G East and the winner would have been decided by a random draw. That would have been insane.
Asked and answered many times here. In that case OSU would have played Wisconsin in Indianapolis. We would have lost the first tiebreaker (overall record) in a 3-way tie.
100% we make playoffs.
But do we really need to blame Hamilton for losing that game? Doesn't sit right with me for you to imply we would have made playoffs if he'd caught the ball.
But do we really need to blame Hamilton for losing that game? Doesn't sit right with me for you to imply we would have made playoffs if he'd caught the ball.
+1. It was a team loss. We need to let it go. More particularly, we need to deal with it the same way the team has, like winners.
Rrrriiigghhhtttt. A "random" draw in which PSU had no ping pong balls
YES, Hamilton makes the catch. He is then tripped up at the Pitt 20 yard line by the db who was gaining, as DaeSean was getting under the ball. Maybe we score with the first down inside the Pitt 20, maybe be don't.
This is a hypothetical in which 1. we beat Pitt and 2. UM beat Iowa. In that scenario OSU, UM, PSU all finish with 1 loss, 8-1 in conference and they beat each other head to head. In this instance a draw would have determined the East division. We were really only 2 plays away from this happening: catching the pass in the Pitt game and Iowa missing a FG.
A
