SEC armor - hypothetical results

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GophersInIowa said:
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Author is not wrong. I mean there is still complaining every year about the teams that get left out but not in any extreme way because any team that is on the bubble is unlikely to be a factor anyway (though NC State kind of flipped that on its head last year).

Tennessee getting blown out by Ohio State hurts the SEC case for getting more teams in.....but of course won't stop them from complaining.

Ohio State fans chanting SEC was awesome. Also loved how Pat McAfee was bashing the SEC during the alternate broadcast on ESPN2 as well.
 

I'm starting to like Pat McAfee...

If you don't know, he went to school in West Virginia and refers to himself as a northerner. I don't agree with all his takes in this 14 minute video including the one that Tennessee couldn't handle the cold (they are only a few hours south of the OSU stadium by car), but I do like that he has a strong enough brand of his own that he does not feel the need to toe the ESPN company line!

 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I'm starting to like Pat McAfee...

If you don't know, he went to school in West Virginia and refers to himself as a northerner. I don't agree with all his takes in this 14 minute video including the one that Tennessee couldn't handle the cold (they are only a few hours south of the OSU stadium by car), but I do like that he has a strong enough brand of his own that he does not feel the need to toe the ESPN company line!

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For comparison, average November temperature is 8 degrees higher in Knoxville (average high is 61). They definitely aren't used to playing football in cold weather. OSU is colder and also plays in places that are even colder on a regular basis.
 

My God, I am loving all of this... ESPN and the SEC having a brutal moment in the relentless social media gristmill is delightful.

And then this thought occurred to me, and it made me even happier:

Wisconsin travels to Tuscaloosa next September.

Gee... I wonder if Alabama will be fixin' to put a real whoopin' on some BIG TEN YANKEE asses... just to prove a point.

Stock up on popcorn; it should be wonderful.
 
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Word said:
For comparison, average November temperature is 8 degrees higher in Knoxville (average high is 61). They definitely aren't used to playing football in cold weather. OSU is colder and also plays in places that are even colder on a regular basis.
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All I know is: Nick Saban looked like he was freezing his ass off. He did not look happy to be there.
 




Word said:
For comparison, average November temperature is 8 degrees higher in Knoxville (average high is 61). They definitely aren't used to playing football in cold weather. OSU is colder and also plays in places that are even colder on a regular basis.
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That’s not a very good excuse to get blown out in my opinion. It shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out what adjustments might need to be made for playing in the cold.
 

btowngopher said:
That’s not a very good excuse to get blown out in my opinion. It shouldn’t be that difficult to figure out what adjustments might need to be made for playing in the cold.
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Nope not an excuse. Just proves they are soft.
 



I don’t have a complaint with the teams selected nor that there are 5 auto bids going to conference champs. I do think they should tweak the seeding.

Boise has no business getting a bye. The CFP screwed themselves by ranking them too high going into the final week.

Oregon shouldn’t get “rewarded” as the top seed by playing Ohio State while PSU plays SMU in the first round then Boise in the second. That’s ridiculous.
 


mggoph said:
Yeah, I always thought Herbie was pretty impartial, especially announcing OSU games. This latest sellout episode from both of them is sad.
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Have OSU friends who think Herbie bends so far backward to avoid sounding partial that they call him “Judas.” Haven’t asked the friends yet what they think now that Herbie’s kid is going to Michigan.
 

cemba99 said:
Have OSU friends who think Herbie bends so far backward to avoid sounding partial that they call him “Judas.” Haven’t asked the friends yet what they think now that Herbie’s kid is going to Michigan.
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That sounds like the local Twin Cities sports reporters and talking heads. They want to be anything but a ‘homer.’
 



RememberMurray said:
I agree.

I loved watching Tennessee get blown out. I'm going to be rooting hard for Arizona State to beat Texas. For one of the few times in my life, I'll be pulling for Notre Dame to beat Georgia.

Over time, I've more than had my fill with the SEC/ESPN bullshit.

Whever I'm feeling down, I still replay the Gophers beating Auburn in the Outback Bowl.
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December 31, 2004; Gopher 20 Alabama 16.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I don’t have a complaint with the teams selected nor that there are 5 auto bids going to conference champs. I do think they should tweak the seeding.

Boise has no business getting a bye. The CFP screwed themselves by ranking them too high going into the final week.

Oregon shouldn’t get “rewarded” as the top seed by playing Ohio State while PSU plays SMU in the first round then Boise in the second. That’s ridiculous.
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Agreed. The real issue isn't who got into the playoff.....it's the way that the bracket is set up. Getting OSU in the second round is a raw deal for Oregon. On the other hand.....OSU being ranked #8 was strictly due to the baffling loss to Michigan. Might just be an aberration.

But there are better ways to do this.....such as reseeding after the first round. No reason why Boise and ASU couldn't be awarded a first round bye due to winning their conferences......but then be ranked 7th/8th and be playing Oregon/Georgia in the second round.
 



Word said:
Kind of insane that they fired him.
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When Chryst was fired and Wisconsin announced a clean break from the 'old ways' (Alvarez model) in favor of a more 'modern' approach (Luke Fickell) I wondered if the Badgers might have set themselves up for a future that resembled Nebraska after the firing of Bo Pelini.

Time will tell, but the 'modern' version of Badger football looks a little shaky at the moment.
 

RememberMurray said:
When Chryst was fired and Wisconsin announced a clean break from the 'old ways' (Alvarez model) in favor of a more 'modern' approach (Luke Fickell) I wondered if the Badgers might have set themselves up for a future that resembled Nebraska after the firing of Bo Pelini.

Time will tell, but the 'modern' version of Badger football looks a little shaky at the moment.
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I am liking the results. Feel like they need to see how this plays out and give it another decade.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I don’t have a complaint with the teams selected nor that there are 5 auto bids going to conference champs. I do think they should tweak the seeding.

Boise has no business getting a bye. The CFP screwed themselves by ranking them too high going into the final week.

Oregon shouldn’t get “rewarded” as the top seed by playing Ohio State while PSU plays SMU in the first round then Boise in the second. That’s ridiculous.
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Yeah....top 4 teams should get byes, regardless of if that means you end up with 2 or more teams from the same conference getting those byes.

All for the auto bids but those auto bids don't have to come with a guaranteed bye week for the conference champs or top G5 team. Boise State and Arizona State deserved to be in the playoff but neither team should have received a first round bye.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah....top 4 teams should get byes, regardless of if that means you end up with 2 or more teams from the same conference getting those byes.

All for the auto bids but those auto bids don't have to come with a guaranteed bye week for the conference champs or top G5 team. Boise State and Arizona State deserved to be in the playoff but neither team should have received a first round bye.
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I prefer giving the top four spots to different conferences. One of the inherent problems in setting a playoff field for college football is the small amount of data points to compare the strength of teams across conferences. If the CFP thinks the top two teams came from the same conference, it also might be the case that that conference really isn't as good as the CFP thinks they are. So I see a situation where an overrated conference (SEC) ends up with the top two seeds, two teams get byes into the quarterfinals and get to play the weakest two quarterfinalists to advance to the semis. Then, confirmation bias sets in ("see, two SEC teams made the semis, I knew they were good.") If a conference is going to get multiple teams to the quarterfinals, I like the thought that at least one of them should have to win to get there.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yeah....top 4 teams should get byes, regardless of if that means you end up with 2 or more teams from the same conference getting those byes.

All for the auto bids but those auto bids don't have to come with a guaranteed bye week for the conference champs or top G5 team. Boise State and Arizona State deserved to be in the playoff but neither team should have received a first round bye.
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The current CFP seeding format was developed in large part because Notre Dame doesn't play in a conference thus aren't subject to a 13th Regular Game. The rest of the conferences didn't want to reward ND further with a Bye. The Irish were good with that, knowing T8 they would get to host in South Bend.

Also the Top 4 format was conceived prior to the PAC 12 imploding. Without a them it greatly increased the odds of not just 1, but 2 Conf Champs being non-worthy of a 3 or 4 Seed/Bye.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I prefer giving the top four spots to different conferences. One of the inherent problems in setting a playoff field for college football is the small amount of data points to compare the strength of teams across conferences. If the CFP thinks the top two teams came from the same conference, it also might be the case that that conference really isn't as good as the CFP thinks they are. So I see a situation where an overrated conference (SEC) ends up with the top two seeds, two teams get byes into the quarterfinals and get to play the weakest two quarterfinalists to advance to the semis. Then, confirmation bias sets in ("see, two SEC teams made the semis, I knew they were good.") If a conference is going to get multiple teams to the quarterfinals, I like the thought that at least one of them should have to win to get there.
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agreed with this entirely. lots of people "think" that osu and oregon may be the best two teams this year but there's just not many data points to draw that conclusion from in making the argument. everybody who was crowing after Indy lost that it was then clear the SEC was the superior conference got real quiet after Tenn got obliterated in Columbus. And the prior CFP results support that we are really bad at evaluating conference strength (specific team strength is easier, but still filled with fallacies when you're comparing say the #2 in the B10 versus the #1 in any other conference).
 

upnorthkid said:
agreed with this entirely. lots of people "think" that osu and oregon may be the best two teams this year but there's just not many data points to draw that conclusion from in making the argument. everybody who was crowing after Indy lost that it was then clear the SEC was the superior conference got real quiet after Tenn got obliterated in Columbus. And the prior CFP results support that we are really bad at evaluating conference strength (specific team strength is easier, but still filled with fallacies when you're comparing say the #2 in the B10 versus the #1 in any other conference).
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I'm really torn with how you come up with the top four that get the byes. How about something like this.

Top three conference champions get a bye and highest rated non-conference champ if the top four ranked teams aren't all from different conferences. This eliminates some human error by guaranteeing at least three conference champs get byes, but also minimizes giving too many undeserving teams from weaker conferences byes (both Boise St and AZ State this year).

Here is how it would have looked this year:

1 Oregon (conf champ - CFP rank #1)
2 Georgia (conf champ - CFP rank #2)
3 Texas (highest ranked non-conf champ - CFP rank #3)
4 Boise St (conf champ - CFP rank #9)

Most teams below fall just one spot in seed from their CFP ranking because AZ State falls from 4 seed to 11 seed. This is better than falling two spots in seeding as they did this year:

5 Penn State (CFP rank #4)
6 Notre Dame (CFP rank #5)
7 Ohio St (CFP rank #6)
8 Tennessee (CFP rank #7)
9 Indiana (CFP rank #8)
10 SMU (CFP rank #10)
11 AZ State (conf champ - CFP rank #12)
12 Clemson (conf champ - CFP rank #16)

Quarterfinal Matchups:
1 Oregon vs. 8 Tennessee/9 Indiana
2 Georgia vs. 7 Ohio St/10 SMU
3 Texas vs. 6 Notre Dame/11 AZ State
4 Boise St vs. 5 Penn State/12 Clemson

Instead of four first round matchups that are mismatches, we likely only get three with Tennessee playing Indiana. Based on the results from this past weekend, that might have been a more evenly matched game. Oregon gets rewarded with a much more manageable quarterfinal game. We still likely end up with a Boise St vs. Penn State game in the quarterfinals, but with Boise State as the more justifiable fourth seed instead of their current three seed.

Oddly enough and with Beck being lost by Georgia to injury, this scenario would likely end up with three B1G teams in the semi-finals along with the winner of the Texas/Notre Dame game.
 
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Schnauzer said:
“I don’t want to hear about… wins”

Herbstreit and McDonough selling out to ESPN to this degree saddens me because I have enjoyed them doing college football for many years.

As long as this only ever stays as just talk, I can live with it. But if a 1 loss B1G team ever fails to make the playoff so a 3 loss SEC team can get in, I’ll implode.
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Herbie mad Ohio State didn't offer his kid or even care that he committed to Michigan
 

SeaBee_Gopher said:
I'm really torn with how you come up with the top four that get the byes. How about something like this:

1) Top three conference champions get a bye and highest rated non-conference champ if the top four ranked teams aren't all from different conferences.
2) Require all P4 leagues to play 8 conference games, 2 P4 non-con and 2 cupcakes. This would give us many more cross-over data points and make ranking teams easier.
3) If two of the top four are from the same conference and;
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think it's just easier if you "reseed" the remaining teams. gets too convoluted with the conf champs argument as now you're just getting into a 3v4 discussion which this year is the difference between a 1st round bye and a road game. the scheduling thing would be a nightmare in requiring 2 p4 noncon games and will never happen unless conferences think there's money in setting up a "challenge" format like a B10-SEC challenge where you're pairing teams off. Issue now is none of the haves want to pick up OOC losses as you can drop 2 games and still make the playoff as it sits now.
 

upnorthkid said:
think it's just easier if you "reseed" the remaining teams. gets too convoluted with the conf champs argument as now you're just getting into a 3v4 discussion which this year is the difference between a 1st round bye and a road game. the scheduling thing would be a nightmare in requiring 2 p4 noncon games and will never happen unless conferences think there's money in setting up a "challenge" format like a B10-SEC challenge where you're pairing teams off. Issue now is none of the haves want to pick up OOC losses as you can drop 2 games and still make the playoff as it sits now.
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I edited and removed the required 2 p4 noncon games because I agree that is too difficult to even make happen. Sorry, I didn't even know you could see that. I must have posted on accident before I was ready.
 

The committee is going to have to look back at how they treated Alabama this year. They are going to have to weigh real losses against Vanderbilt, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Michigan with hypothetical wins over Indiana and probably the rest of the B1G. In the end I’m assuming the Alabama folk still believe the hypothetical wins tip the scale?
 


Speaking of SEC armor.....where did this laughable concept of Nick Saban becoming the "commissioner" of college football come from? It wasn't James Franklin first, was it? Last thing college football needs is an SEC donkey with clear bias in an authoritarian position.
 

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