2014 NCAA Football Thread

[Kramerica Industries]

There might still be the same complaints, but those complaints become much smaller beans if you're a two-loss team bickering amongst other two-loss teams. To me, an eight-team field is the perfect size. Five conference champions and three wild cards. With the Big East no longer existing in college football, we don't have to deal with pitifully bad conference champions anymore.

[CLEstones]

#1 Alabama

#2 Oregon

#3 Florida State

#4 Baylor

-----

#5 Ohio State

#6 TCU

I just can't say a team who is co-champs in the same division and owns the head to head should be ranked behind the team they beat.

It's also hard to say that Ohio State, with their #3 QB, shouldn't be in. Sure they have a bad loss, but their 3 signature wins #11 Michigan Stsate, #25 Minnesotta, and now #13 Wisconsin have all been either on the road or on a neutral site. That says something about the TEAM.

[dfwabel]

#1 Alabama

#2 Oregon

#3 Florida State

#4 Baylor

-----

#5 Ohio State

#6 TCU

I just can't say a team who is co-champs in the same division and owns the head to head should be ranked behind the team they beat.

It's also hard to say that Ohio State, with their #3 QB, shouldn't be in. Sure they have a bad loss, but their 3 signature wins #11 Michigan Stsate, #25 Minnesotta, and now #13 Wisconsin have all been either on the road or on a neutral site. That says something about the TEAM.

FSU isn't buying Rose Bowl seats.

[infrared41]

There might still be the same complaints, but those complaints become much smaller beans if you're a two-loss team bickering amongst other two-loss teams. To me, an eight-team field is the perfect size. Five conference champions and three wild cards. With the Big East no longer existing in college football, we don't have to deal with pitifully bad conference champions anymore.

And the biggest fear opponents of a playoff had becomes reality - the regular season is rendered all but meaningless. Under your system, as long as FSU still beat Clemson, they could have lost 2 ACC games and it wouldn't have mattered. Ohio State could have lost to Michigan and it wouldn't have mattered because they had the head to head over Michigan State. And so on... That's why 4 teams is ideal.

And I'm the guy who annually proposed a playoff that was very similar to your idea.

[See Red]

If it comes down to TCU, Ohio State, and Baylor, I'd choose Baylor.

Baylor would be a conference champion, beat TCU head-to-head, swept their non-conference games (the games they have control of when it comes to scheduling), and didn't lose to a 6-6 team.

But they did lose to a 7-5 team by 14 points.

TCU only beat them by 1 point.

The FSU game wasn't as close as the score, IMHO. This was easily one of the best games FSU has played this year. If they just could've capitalized in GT territory more often instead of settling for 3 field goals then it wouldn't have gotten close at the end. FSU deserves a spot in the Playoff though. And I'd drop TCU out for Ohio State.

And if Florida had capitalized more often in FSU territory instead of settling for FGs, they would have lost by two touchdowns last week. It doesn't really work like that.

The problem for FSU is that this was their most impressive victory and, by and large, it wasn't that impressive compared to what some of the teams they're up against put together this week.

[CLEstones]

This was going to happen no matter how many teams were in the playoff. If it's 8 teams then teams 9 and 10 are going to complain. 16 teams and we're having the same debate about teams 17-20 and so on. For years, I was opposed to any type of playoff. And I was wrong. This has been the most exciting and intriguing college football season I've ever watched - and at my age, I've watched a few. This thing is awesome. It's perfect at 4 teams. Hopefully, the powers that be won't let this season scare them into expanding the field. And that's coming from someone whose team is going to be on the outside looking in.

I completely and emphatically disagree once you exceed 8 teams. Outside of MAYBE Michigan State's defense and Georgia Tech's gimmick offense, I don't see any teams being able to really contend with the top 8 teams. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Baylor, Ohio State, TCU, Mississippi State, Michigan State/Arizona.

8 gives you all five conference champs and 3 at large. No discussion from 9 or 10.

[Burmy]

To me, "almost doesn't count" is as much true for near-losses as it is for near-wins...if FSU, being the FBS' only unbeaten in a Power 5 conference, finds themselves out of the playoffs, then the new CFP system is as much of a joke as the BCS was, but for a different reason.

Over-under on when it'll be expanded to eight teams is at 4 years right now...

[rams80]

...and just think... If this was the BCS, we'd only be bitching about Alabama, Oregon, and Florida State... 3 teams for 2 spots.

Instead, it's Florida State, TCU, Ohio State and Baylor... 4 teams for the 2 spots after the top 2 spots.

Yes, the playoff fixed everything.

They playoff screwed up by introducing rankings. And only having 4 teams with 5 power conferences.

[CLEstones]

#1 Alabama

#2 Oregon

#3 Florida State

#4 Baylor

-----

#5 Ohio State

#6 TCU

FSU isn't buying Rose Bowl seats.

Just saying who I think the Top 4 teams are. Not taking any sort of bowl game contracts, distance to stadium, TV revenue, etc. simply who the Top 4 are... In order.

[HedleyLamarr]

#1 Alabama

#2 Oregon

#3 Florida State

#4 Baylor

-----

#5 Ohio State

#6 TCU

I just can't say a team who is co-champs in the same division and owns the head to head should be ranked behind the team they beat.

It's also hard to say that Ohio State, with their #3 QB, shouldn't be in. Sure they have a bad loss, but their 3 signature wins #11 Michigan Stsate, #25 Minnesotta, and now #13 Wisconsin have all been either on the road or on a neutral site. That says something about the TEAM.

Wisconsin is gonna sink like a rock. They may end up unranked, which will diminish the value of OSU's win.

[CLEstones]

...and just think... If this was the BCS, we'd only be bitching about Alabama, Oregon, and Florida State... 3 teams for 2 spots.Instead, it's Florida State, TCU, Ohio State and Baylor... 4 teams for the 2 spots after the top 2 spots.Yes, the playoff fixed everything.

They playoff screwed up by introducing rankings. And only having 4 teams with 5 power conferences.

It should have been first 4 in and first 4 out. No rankings.

[Billy B]

It's definitely going to be fun to see what the committee does tomorrow. Oregon and Alabama are obviously in and they'll almost certainly be #1 and #2. I don't think Florida State has to worry at all about getting in, but they still might come in at #4. Then it all comes down to TCU, Baylor, and tOSU. Baylor beat TCU head-to-head, but has a worse loss. I think what will kill Baylor's chances is that the Big XII decided that their "One true champion" isn't really true and are going to call TCU and Baylor co-champs. Ohio State has been really hot as of late, but I think they have the worst loss out of these three teams. The fact that the B1G is possibly the worst it's even been doesn't exactly help their case. If I'm picking the four best teams then TCU gets the nod.

I agree with everyone that the tournament needs to, and eventually will, expand to eight teams. Having a four team tournament with five major conferences is just stupid.

Also, I'm going to be pretty pissed if Illinois doesn't get a bowl bid. I can handle giving Tim Beckman another year since he's showing progress in the win column and got to a bowl in year three. It's going to be rough if we don't make a bowl for the recruiting boost and extra practices, however marginal those bonuses are. The worst part is that Penn State, who we beat, have a better conference record than, and originally had a bowl ban this year will likely get a bid before Illinois.

[Xist2inspire]

I'd rather them expand to 8, so at least all conference champions will likely get in. 4 is just too little, and only serves to create even more "whose conference is better" arguments, as we've already seen this season with Florida & Ohio State. At least expand the field so that conference champions are in, period, and have 3 spots left for the other teams to fight it out. Seeding can do whatever it wants, but a conference champion should get a shot to play for the ultimate prize, and not be left out simply because there isn't room.

Also, I think there's a higher chance of the gap between #8 and the rest consistently being greater than the gap between #4, #5, & #6 season after season.

[Kramerica Industries]

There might still be the same complaints, but those complaints become much smaller beans if you're a two-loss team bickering amongst other two-loss teams. To me, an eight-team field is the perfect size. Five conference champions and three wild cards. With the Big East no longer existing in college football, we don't have to deal with pitifully bad conference champions anymore.

And the biggest fear opponents of a playoff had becomes reality - the regular season is rendered all but meaningless. Under your system, as long as FSU still beat Clemson, they could have lost 2 ACC games and it wouldn't have mattered. Ohio State could have lost to Michigan and it wouldn't have mattered because they had the head to head over Michigan State. And so on... That's why 4 teams is ideal.

And I'm the guy who annually proposed a playoff that was very similar to your idea.

No doubt. I won't disagree that there is certainly excitement, and tonight may have been one of the most important regular season college football nights we've had in quite some time. At least, when the night started, we were staring down three playoff-deciding games, and certainly the excitement was palpable for that. It also has us dissecting the hell out of all of this.

That said, wasn't a big fear amongst BCS proponents that adding a playoff might dilute the meaning of the regular season? Yeah, 2014 has pretty much shot that theory to death with a four-team playoff field. I think, ultimately, we as CFB fans will always find something dramatic to attach narratives and importance to. I'm certainly not a proponent of Mike Mayock's 16-team playoff field idea; that's overkill. I think 12 would be overkill. I do think that this year's four-team field was meant to be something of an experiment to see how this college football playoff system will work, and I do think that an expansion of the field is inevitable. At what point down the road, I'm not sure, but it seems impossible for me to think the four-team field is meant to be a fixed and permanent solution. I would hope that, if and when expansion does occur, it is stretched to six or eight, and eight is the limit. Ultimately, to me, it still is going to come down to some combination of computers, stats, and eye test stuff that has people trying to determine which one of the three of Ohio State, Baylor, and TCU deserves to go, even though I would have just as much of a chance of picking the proper team if I just picked one of their names out of a hat. We just saw the Buckeyes thoroughly crush the #11 ranked team in the country, a team with a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate on their team and on a superb run of form (and I've watched Wisconsin's last several games in closer depth and I've loved what I've seen; this was truly impressive). We're going to deny that team? Probably, and that's incredible to me.

Really, blame Florida State for the added convolution. Eight close games and eight wins. Wankers.

[Still MIGHTY]

Honestly, though, I think if this season has shown us anything it's that six teams might be the limit to where you expand the playoffs, if we're going straight off rankings. Whoever finishes 7-8-9-10 wouldn't have too much of an argument to being able to actually win the thing.

If we are to go to eight, it can't be based straight off the rankings. If it's eight, it has to be tied into conference championships then the at-larges can be left to the rankings. I like the idea of Power 5 champs, Group of 5 champ, then two at-larges. So for example, this year we'd have Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Ohio State, and Baylor as the Power 5 champs. Group of 5 champ is Boise State. Two at-larges are TCU for sure, then either Michigan State or Mississippi State. I think that would work out great, actually.

[See Red]

#1 Alabama

#2 Oregon

#3 Florida State

#4 Baylor

-----

#5 Ohio State

#6 TCU

I just can't say a team who is co-champs in the same division and owns the head to head should be ranked behind the team they beat.

It's also hard to say that Ohio State, with their #3 QB, shouldn't be in. Sure they have a bad loss, but their 3 signature wins #11 Michigan Stsate, #25 Minnesotta, and now #13 Wisconsin have all been either on the road or on a neutral site. That says something about the TEAM.

Wisconsin is gonna sink like a rock. They may end up unranked, which will diminish the value of OSU's win.

I think that's less the case with humans voting as opposed to computers running numbers, though.

[DS729]

This was going to happen no matter how many teams were in the playoff. If it's 8 teams then teams 9 and 10 are going to complain. 16 teams and we're having the same debate about teams 17-20 and so on. For years, I was opposed to any type of playoff. And I was wrong. This has been the most exciting and intriguing college football season I've ever watched - and at my age, I've watched a few. This thing is awesome. It's perfect at 4 teams. Hopefully, the powers that be won't let this season scare them into expanding the field. And that's coming from someone whose team is going to be on the outside looking in.

I completely and emphatically disagree once you exceed 8 teams. Outside of MAYBE Michigan State's defense and Georgia Tech's gimmick offense, I don't see any teams being able to really contend with the top 8 teams. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State, Baylor, Ohio State, TCU, Mississippi State, Michigan State/Arizona.

8 gives you all five conference champs and 3 at large. No discussion from 9 or 10.

Oh, that debate will stay happen. It always happens, it happens in the NCAA Tournament, it's happening now. The only way to make everyone happy, is to include everybody.

[dfwabel]

If there are 8 teams, will there be as much interest as there is with just 4 playoff slots?

[Billy B]

If there are 8 teams, will there be as much interest as there is with just 4 playoff slots?

I think there without a doubt will be enough interest. You're going to have to make the quarterfinals on-campus games hosted by the higher seeds, but the TV ratings will certainly be there.

[Burmy]

So, looks like it's gonna be:

1. Bama

2. Oregon

3. Noles

4. "THE" Ohio State University