CFP Selection Show Thread

#2      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
Let's cut through the propaganda here:

When the Playoff was created, the understanding was that a team like Cincinnati would get the fourth spot.

The committee has been very clever from Day 1 about protecting it's own legitimacy as its primary objective. Taking Ohio State to avoid making the Baylor/TCU decision that first year was brilliant politics. But the fact that this whole thing is nakedly a cartel of the Power Five conferences has always been lurking in the background and DROPPING Cincinnati in last week's rankings to keep them out of the discussion was the "mask off" moment.
 
#3      
Let's cut through the propaganda here:

When the Playoff was created, the understanding was that a team like Cincinnati would get the fourth spot.

The committee has been very clever from Day 1 about protecting it's own legitimacy as its primary objective. Taking Ohio State to avoid making the Baylor/TCU decision that first year was brilliant politics. But the fact that this whole thing is nakedly a cartel of the Power Five conferences has always been lurking in the background and DROPPING Cincinnati in last week's rankings to keep them out of the discussion was the "mask off" moment.

I think the mask off moment came many years ago, although I can't think of exactly when that may have been at this time
 
#4      
Here are the College Football Playoff match-ups:

-Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One: (1) Alabama (11-0) vs. (4) Notre Dame (10-1)
-Allstate Sugar Bowl: (2) Clemson (10-1) vs. (3) Ohio State (6-0)

Texas A&M finishes at #5 and Oklahoma finishes at #6.

Rose Bowl Game has been moved to Arlington, TX due to covid issues in southern California.
 
#6      
Here are the College Football Playoff match-ups:

-Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One: (1) Alabama (11-0) vs. (4) Notre Dame (10-1)
-Allstate Sugar Bowl: (2) Clemson (10-1) vs. (3) Ohio State (6-0)

Texas A&M finishes at #5 and Oklahoma finishes at #6.

Rose Bowl Game has been moved to Arlington, TX due to covid issues in southern California.
Barf.
I'd argue that the CFP has made college football less interesting. The playoffs are basically a revolving door of Ohio St, Clemson, Alabama and Oklahoma or a second SEC team
 
#9      

SuperMetroid

Evanston
Here are the College Football Playoff match-ups:

-Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One: (1) Alabama (11-0) vs. (4) Notre Dame (10-1)
-Allstate Sugar Bowl: (2) Clemson (10-1) vs. (3) Ohio State (6-0)

Texas A&M finishes at #5 and Oklahoma finishes at #6.

Rose Bowl Game has been moved to Arlington, TX due to covid issues in southern California.
Tired Back To School GIF by Originals
 
#10      
Here are the New Year's Six match-ups:

-Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: (6) Oklahoma (8-2) vs. (7) Florida (8-3)
-Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl: (8) Cincinnati (9-0) vs. (9) Georgia (7-2)
-Playstation Fiesta Bowl: (25) Oregon (4-2) vs. (10) Iowa State (8-3)
-Capital One Orange Bowl: (5) Texas A&M (8-1) vs. (13) North Carolina (8-3)
 
#12      
So "Dabo the Great" has said that it matters that teams have played a whole season citing things like the physical and mental toll that it has taken on these kids for 21 weeks. He follows that up by ranking the OSU 11th in the final coaches poll. I'm wondering does he think they don't deserve to be there because they haven't played enough contests to be judged, or is he more worried that their players are fresher and there fore have a physical and mental advantage over the kids who have been entrenched in the season longer?
 
#13      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
So "Dabo the Great" has said that it matters that teams have played a whole season citing things like the physical and mental toll that it has taken on these kids for 21 weeks. He follows that up by ranking the OSU 11th in the final coaches poll. I'm wondering does he think they don't deserve to be there because they haven't played enough contests to be judged, or is he more worried that their players are fresher and there fore have a physical and mental advantage over the kids who have been entrenched in the season longer?
Lol, the Assistant Sports Information Director that fills out Dabo's ballot is soooooooo fired.
 
#16      
A couple of points...

The college football playoff is run by conferences, for the benefit of.....conferences and their members (including ND). And the most power wielded at the table is from the Power 5. The outcomes will always be tilted in their favor because it's their ball. Yes, the Group of 5 conferences have a seat at the table, but it's the proverbial "kid's table". The outcome of playoff selection Sunday is not at all surprising, when you know how it's constructed and assembled.

Is it fair and equitable? Absolutely not. But college football is inherently unequal. It's always been that way. There's no standardization at all. The CFP was intended to create a mini playoff to truly crown a champion, and to make a S*** ton of money for the P5 conferences. It's totally succeeded at that. Can it be tweaked and changed? Sure. Will it eventually go to 8 teams? Probably. Will there need to be some re-working of scheduling to get that done? Yes. Will a shift to an 8 team playoff come at the expense of some other part of the season? Probably.

This year's committee consists of 13 members and includes two Group of 5 AD's. Would have been so interesting to have been a fly on the wall during discussions about Cincy and their resume compared to other teams.

The UCF's, Boise's, Cincys, and Coastal Carolinas are getting more recognition under this system that they could have ever dreamed of getting. Good for them, they deserve it. When the playoffs expand to 8, one of them will get in just about every year, I would expect. Eventually they'll get a seat at the adult table.

As for Cincy specifically, they can only play the games they schedule. Their original schedule had them playing at Nebraska, which would have been a good game, but also would have been their only P5 opponent. 2020 being what it is though, that game never happened and their best win turned out to be a late field goal, at home, over #24 Tulsa. I can't get too worked up about Cincy not making it when all is said and done.

Pass the pumpkin pie, the first bowl game has kicked off.
 
#17      
You know who is going to be in next years playoff?
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Ohio State
4 Oklahoma
It’s pretty bad when you can predict next years playoff and feel pretty confident that you have at least 3 of the teams correct. College football has a problem!!
 
#18      
Clemson and Alabama built something. It's up to everybody else to knock them off.

15 years ago, Clemson was a mid pack ACC team with little prominence on the national stage. Alabama was much the same. But they found two great coaches, in 2008 and 2007, respectively. Seeds planted 13 years ago continue to bear huge fruit these days. Saban won a couple national championships at Alabama before the playoffs, and Clemson, although slower to emerge, has now won two championships as well. They don't have to apologize for anything, and until somebody knocks them off, they'll often be in the playoffs.

In the 80's, it was Miami. In the 90's it was Nebraska, Florida and FSU, in the 2000's it was USC and Florida. College football always ebbs and flows. It'll be somebody different 5-10 years from now.
 
#19      

ChiefGritty

Chicago, IL
You know who is going to be in next years playoff?
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Ohio State
4 Oklahoma
It’s pretty bad when you can predict next years playoff and feel pretty confident that you have at least 3 of the teams correct. College football has a problem!!
Yup. The sport is slowly being destroyed, sadly.
 
#20      

Deleted member 746648

D
Guest
Clemson and Alabama built something. It's up to everybody else to knock them off.

15 years ago, Clemson was a mid pack ACC team with little prominence on the national stage. Alabama was much the same. But they found two great coaches, in 2008 and 2007, respectively. Seeds planted 13 years ago continue to bear huge fruit these days. Saban won a couple national championships at Alabama before the playoffs, and Clemson, although slower to emerge, has now won two championships as well. They don't have to apologize for anything, and until somebody knocks them off, they'll often be in the playoffs.

In the 80's, it was Miami. In the 90's it was Nebraska, Florida and FSU, in the 2000's it was USC and Florida. College football always ebbs and flows. It'll be somebody different 5-10 years from now.
I don't have a problem with the same teams making it every year. My problem is with other teams not having a chance to knock them off.

Nobody complains that duke, kansas, michigan St, and Gonzaga have all made 20+ consecutive ncaa tournaments. Those teams have earned their spot every year. I've also never heard anyone complain that those schools generally blow out some obscure team every year in the first round.

Every conference champion deserves a shot at a national title imo even if it means alabama destroying ball st 63-0 in the first round of the CFP every year. It gives me more football to watch, new matchups and more opportunities for chaos.
 
#21      
This whole thing is a sham. I knew it was a sham once Ohio State got in the CFP in 2016 over Penn State. Penn State BEAT Ohio State that year AND won the Big Ten Title. They had 2 losses, one of which was to Michigan who was a top 10 team at that point and a 3 point loss to PITT. This thing is rigged and it makes the whole thing unwatchable. It's basically O$U, Alabama, Clemson and a 2nd SEC team, Notre Dame or Oklahoma every year. Snooze fest.
 
#22      
MSU beat OSU in '17 and got in. It can be done, just gotta knock 'em off. Rest of the Big 10 has to recruit better and play better.
 
#23      

sacraig

The desert
You know who is going to be in next years playoff?
1 Alabama
2 Clemson
3 Ohio State
4 Oklahoma
It’s pretty bad when you can predict next years playoff and feel pretty confident that you have at least 3 of the teams correct. College football has a problem!!

It pretty much always needed to be an 8 team affair, in my opinion. Take the champions of each league in the Power 5 and then three at-large bids for teams like Cincinnati or a second SEC team. Follow with 3 weeks of great football.
 
#25      
Interesting exercise, charting recruiting during the playoff era. Here are the Rivals recruiting rankings, for signing classes of 2011 through 2017, which I thought would map well to playoff rosters for the 2014-2020 seasons. Alabama is by far the top recruiting program here, and no surprise then that they have 6 appearances and 2 titles and perhaps a 3rd.

What is surprising is how underperforming FSU and USC are. FSU appeared in the first playoff, but after that they've not even sniffed a shot and they've been uncompetitive against Clemson. USC, out of the relatively weak Pac 12, and relatively loaded w/ talent, hasn't come close to a playoff either. I found these two surprising.

At the other end, Clemson ranks only 10th in recruiting, which surprised me. Yet they have 6 appearances, 2 titles and perhaps a 3rd. Conclusion here is that they do a heck of a job developing talent, and they don't have much competition in the ACC.

ND has been in two playoffs, one in a conference, one not, so it's a little hard to get a conclusive read on them. Oklahoma is the top Big 12 team, but again that's a weak conference, relatively speaking. ND and Oklahoma have not faired well in the playoffs, outside of OU's double OT game against Georgia.

3 teams not on this list have made the playoffs....Oregon (2014), Washington (2015) and MSU (2015).

My outlook....Saban will retire at some point and that will create a huge shift in recruiting and power. When that happens, I'm not exactly sure, but I'd guess sometime over the next 5 years. Dabo likely sticks around, but Clemson is nowhere near on par w/ Alabama according to these rankings. One team to watch is in fact Texas A&M. Jimbo Fisher had great recruiting at FSU and made the playoffs. Their recruiting is on the rise as he settles in, and they could fill the void when Saban moves on. One other team where the natives could be getting restless, is down in Athens. Kirby Smart has had some recruiting hauls of late, but it hasn't translated to the field yet. On paper, his late 2-3 classes should give him enough fire power to compete w/ Alabama. Will be interesting to watch.

Closer to home, in the Big 10....there nobody close to OSU in terms of getting good players. Until that changes, most years it's going to be dominated by OSU.

None of the data includes transfer portal activity. Obviously that's becoming a bigger and bigger part of roster development, so will be interesting to see how that augments recruiting.
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