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The only ranking suspense: is Ohio State above TCU in the Playoff four?

Lando, I don't know whether TCU is "better" than Penn State...or "better" than Alabama...and neither do you.

What I know is that TCU much better meets the selection criteria for this year's playoff than does Alabama.
I don't know what you think is the criteria because you're not using it
And, yes, you know Alabama is better and you believe Penn State would beat them.
The playoff is designed to determine "the best 4 teams"
 

One of the stated reasons was the Buckeyes, 12-1, had won the Big Ten championship game and thus was able to present a so-called “13th data point” to TCU’s 12 total games. The Big 12, which had just 10 members, was prohibited by NCAA rules at the time from staging a league title game (12 members were needed).

Ohio State won--TCU did not
 
How I think I think: "I find the facts and then take my position"

How I actually think: "I actually take my position, then sort out facts to suit my original position, accentuating those that back my position, and discarding those that do not"
 
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Gotta love the Bama love. They are an average team this year if you watched them play. They lost 2 games and could have been 3 or 4. They were fortunate the Texas QB got injured in that game. Any team in the top 12 could beat them this year including TCU. No two loss team ever got in and no way this year. They have zero chance.
 
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Let me take a moment to remind all of you that “eye test” is also not on the list of criteria.

I’d also like to point out there is little reason Alabama is higher than PSU. PSU has more power 5 wins. And losses teams with a far better combined record. Alabama has one win over a ranked team…Texas. So…eye test continues to play.
Bama would have lost to Texas without the SEC refs bailing them out of a safety near the end plus some other very questionable calls. That shouldn't even count as a win.
 
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Gotta love the Bama love. They are an average team this year if you watched them play. They lost 2 games and could have been 3 or 4. They were fortunate the Texas QB got injured in that game. Any team in the top 12 could beat them this year including TCU. No two loss team ever got in and no way this year. They have zero chance.
Did you think Penn State should have been in over Washington or Ohio State when we had 2 losses?
 
Oh this brings up a valid point, something I’ve thought about in the past - offering a weekly release of CFP rankings is absurd and helps to make things more controversial than they need to be. There’s a reason it’s not done in any other sport (can you image a weekly “who’s in?” report for the hoops tourney?). Probably less of a big deal going forward with 12 teams, but they should just stop it with that release.
 
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The rule is that if you are #3 before the conference playoffs and you lose your conference game, you don't drop to #4 or lower?
That isn't what I said at all. You said unless the rules are whatever the committee decides to get who they want. And to that I said that yes, that is and always has been the case. The criteria changes every year. Some years certain criteria is more important and the next year that criteria is not valued. Why? It's who they want and they will justify the rankings to make it so.
 
With losses to ND and South Carolina because they ran the table in the weakest conference? Maybe if Dabo played Klubnik all year they'd be in
At least giving Clemson a massive boost for “winning their conference” would be consistent with past decisions. And that’s a data point in Clemson’s favor that makes them unique among 2 loss teams.
 
IMHO, TCU must fall in the rankings. They lost in OT only because Kansas State blew winning in regulation. One loss or not, they deserve to fall out of the top 4. OSU and Alabama should jump them.

See.....this is the fallacy of how fair the playoff system is. With the ill fated expansion to 12 teams, you are only extending the arguements for numbers 13 and 14 not making the playoffs. Also, there will still be arguements about who are the top 4 getting byes in the first round. don't like 12 teams at all.
 
At least giving Clemson a massive boost for “winning their conference” would be consistent with past decisions. And that’s a data point in Clemson’s favor that makes them unique among 2 loss teams.
When we won our conference did it give us a major boost?
Clemson was 9 for a reason--they shouldn't even jump us with that win.
 
Did you think Penn State should have been in over Washington or Ohio State when we had 2 losses?
I think there’s a justifiable argument but once the committee has gone hardcore consistently that record/number of losses are extremely important and has never put in an at large team with a worse record than other available Power 5 teams, they’ve now painted themselves into a corner. TCU needs to make it to be consistent with their past decisions.
 
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When we won our conference did it give us a major boost?
Clemson was 9 for a reason--they shouldn't even jump us with that win.
Actually we did jump in the rankings by beating Wisconsin (including jumping a Michigan team that beat us) so yes. Just not enough to pass another team with a better record who also won their conference championship.
 
The worst thing about the 12 team playoff is it takes the 6 conference winners so we're looking at

Auto bids
Georgia (SEC)
Michigan (Big Ten)
Clemson (ACC)
Utah (Pac XII)
Kansas State (Big XII)
Tulane (AAC)

At large
Ohio State (Pac XII)
TCU (Big XII)
Alabama (SEC)
USC (Pac XII)
Tennessee (SEC)
Penn State (Big Ten)

Somehow we barely get in

Probably would be (since the bye go to conference champs smh)
12 Tulane at 5 Ohio State winner plays 4 Utah (lol)
11 Kansas State at 6 TCU winner play 3 Clemson
10 Penn State at 7 Alabama winner plays 2 Michigan
9 Tennessee at 8 USC winner plays 1 Georgia

Ideally we'd be 11 lol
Georgia and Michigan have the most difficult path
 
I think there’s a justifiable argument but once the committee has gone hardcore consistently that record/number of losses are extremely important and has never put in an at large team with a worse record than other available Power 5 teams, they’ve now painted themselves into a corner. TCU needs to make it to be consistent with their past decisions.
Shouldn't they learn from past mistakes and correct them?
 
Actually we did jump in the rankings by beating Wisconsin (including jumping a Michigan team that beat us) so yes. Just not enough to pass another team with a better record who also won their conference championship.
Did we jump 5 spots?
 
Did you think Penn State should have been in over Washington or Ohio State when we had 2 losses?
Big difference. Penn state beat Ohio state on the field and was conference champion. They still didn’t get in as two losses you are out in the eyes of the committee. Bama didn’t even make the conference championship game losing to a team with 4 losses. Plus Bama has two losses. They are an average team this year.
 
IMHO, TCU must fall in the rankings. They lost in OT only because Kansas State blew winning in regulation. One loss or not, they deserve to fall out of the top 4. OSU and Alabama should jump them.

See.....this is the fallacy of how fair the playoff system is. With the ill fated expansion to 12 teams, you are only extending the arguements for numbers 13 and 14 not making the playoffs. Also, there will still be arguements about who are the top 4 getting byes in the first round. don't like 12 teams at all.
The best argument for expanding is the following probabilities of the best team actually being:

Outside the top 2 teams - 30%
Outside the top 4 teams - 5%
Outside the top 12 teams - dx% (vanishingly small)
 
Shouldn't they learn from past mistakes and correct them?
No. They should have standards and consistently apply them. Otherwise it makes it into a farce where the committee has no rhyme or reason.

If they feel a decision is in error then they would need to explicitly state that, apologize to the affected teams and state they will be using “x criteria” going forward to correct it. Not just change things behind the scenes.
 
Mississippi State is also ranked--so 2
Power 5 wins aren't a factor at all--it's weird you'd even say that
We have zero ranked wins and our best win is 8-5 Purdue by 4 who Michigan destroyed in a game that was irrelevant to them
Bama has 2 losses in the final second of road games against ranked teams
We lost by double digits including once at home
Bama is clearly better than us
The question is--what criteria puts TCU ahead of Bama or us for that matter.
My point really isn’t who should be where, mostly that the only other team in conversation is Bama.

Tennessee did beat them and has the same record. Regardless of what else happens, my opinion is that is better than other criteria. Still just my opinion.

Saban’s contention about who would be favored is to me….so what. If favored is criteria then we shouldn’t even play.
 
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Big difference. Penn state beat Ohio state on the field and was conference champion. They still didn’t get in as two losses you are out in the eyes of the committee. Bama didn’t even make the conference championship game losing to a team with 4 losses. Plus Bama has two losses. They are an average team this year.
There is no difference. Ohio State had a far better resume than TCU for starters. And we weren't compared to Ohio State. We were compared to Washington
 
No. They should have standards and consistently apply them. Otherwise it makes it into a farce where the committee has no rhyme or reason.

If they feel a decision is in error then they would need to explicitly state that, apologize to the affected teams and state they will be using “x criteria” going forward to correct it. Not just change things behind the scenes.
Then we disagree. Lessons should be learned and adjustments made
 
So Georgia and Michigan are 1 and 2. Next comes TCU and Ohio State. Or will it be the other way around. That's the only question left to be settled. Any Alabama talk is idiotic. They're out.

Meanwhile, we finish 10-2, top-10 ranking, and Rose Bowl bid. Not bad. Not bad at all.
If 1 is playing 4, OSU will be No 4. They will not put OSU and Mich playing again so quickly.
 
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My point really isn’t who should be where, mostly that the only other team in conversation is Bama.

Tennessee did beat them and has the same record. Regardless of what else happens, my opinion is that is better than other criteria. Still just my opinion.

Saban’s contention about who would be favored is to me….so what. If favored is criteria then we shouldn’t even play.
If Hooker was healthy I'd be saying Tennessee but he's not
Saban is right though. The goal is the best 4 not most deserving.
 
My point really isn’t who should be where, mostly that the only other team in conversation is Bama.

Tennessee did beat them and has the same record. Regardless of what else happens, my opinion is that is better than other criteria. Still just my opinion.

Saban’s contention about who would be favored is to me….so what. If favored is criteria then we shouldn’t even play.
Yep. There’s no justification for including Bama this year that isn’t massively inconsistent from years past and unfair. TCU is the only choice that can be reasonably justified.
 
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IMHO, TCU must fall in the rankings. They lost in OT only because Kansas State blew winning in regulation. One loss or not, they deserve to fall out of the top 4. OSU and Alabama should jump them.

See.....this is the fallacy of how fair the playoff system is. With the ill fated expansion to 12 teams, you are only extending the arguements for numbers 13 and 14 not making the playoffs. Also, there will still be arguements about who are the top 4 getting byes in the first round. don't like 12 teams at all.
The big 12 needs dismantled giving half to the PAC12 and half to the ACC. 4 major conferences. Each conference championship game is round 1 of an 8 team playoff. Round 2 is the conference champs ranked 1 through 4. Then the national championship. Every team must play their way in. Screw ND unless they join a conference and play by the same rules as everyone else.
 
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The big 12 needs dismantled giving half to the PAC12 and half to the ACC. 4 major conferences. Each conference championship game is round 1 of an 8 team playoff. Round 2 is the conference champs ranked 1 through 4. Then the national championship. Every team must play their way in. Screw ND unless they join a conference and play by the same rules as everyone else.
Then you still have 2 conferences far superior to the other 2. It doesn't work.
 
Then we disagree. Lessons should be learned and adjustments made
Yeah, I’m one of those weird people who thinks some shady behind the scenes group making massive decisions affecting a sport should be open and consistent as opposed to just changing criteria on a whim to justify the outcome they want. 🙄
 
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Yeah, I’m one of those weird people who thinks some shady behind the scenes group making massive decisions affecting a sport should be open and consistent as opposed to just changing criteria on a whim to justify the outcome they want. 🙄
I actually think you two are agreeing.

You're saying make changes only to fix obvious errors and do it with real transparency.

He's saying basically the same thing....I think.
 
For beating UNC? I seriously don't know if you're joking here. Clemson shouldn't jump us let alone 5 teams
I absolutely do not think Clemson will or should move much in the rankings, let alone up to top 4. But if the committee did move them to the playoff and argued they were heavily weighing their CCG win compared to other 2 loss teams who didn’t even make it to their conference championships, it would be at least have a historical justification where they have given CCG winners a boost in the past over idle or losing teams.
 
Yeah, I’m one of those weird people who thinks some shady behind the scenes group making massive decisions affecting a sport should be open and consistent as opposed to just changing criteria on a whim to justify the outcome they want. 🙄
You want to repeat the past rather than fix it
 
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