2014 NCAA Football Thread

[See Red]

Would they have been better off just keeping the BCS style of rankings instead of having the committee (and selecting four from that, I mean)? I feel like a lot of the problem here is that the committee doesn't seem like they've been all that clear about what is most important to them.

[PSUcelticsWON95]

I think 4 teams is good for this year since it's really exciting. I'd like to see a 6 or 8 team playoff though.

[FiddySicks]

Just because college football always ends terribly, this is what I expect the committee to do.

1. Alabama

2. Florida State

3. Ohio State

4. Oregon

Oregon vs Alabama is a high scoring nail biter with Bama pulling it out at the end while Mariota looks depressed on the sidelines.

Ohio State vs Florida State in arguably one of the biggest derp fests we've ever seen, with OSU pulling it out on a game winning Field Goal.

Bama destroys Ohio State in the National Championship and everybody is griping that the semi final between Bama and Ohio State should've been the national championship.

This is probably me chicken littleing/dbadefensing it, but I honestly don't see this going any other way because college football seems to always/mostly have the least appealing finish possible.

[OnWis97]

I like the four-team tournament, but this ranking committee has been a giant disaster.

Week 14:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. FSU
4. MSU
5. TCU
6. OSU

Week 15:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. TCU
4. FSU
5. OSU
6. Baylor

So, had Mississippi State won at Ole Miss, I have to believe that Florida State would have been out of this week's top 4 or that Mississippi State would have been bumped after a high-quality road win. Of course I don't believe that; I believe that TCU would have been #5 again. Putting out these rankings and shuffling them around based on who knows what has made the whole thing seem arbitrary. Given that, any of the above six teams could get in. In theory, it's pretty hard to suggest any of the current top 4 did anything to deserve to get bumped. The closest team was FSU, but they are the only undefeated team; they are not getting bumped. So it would seem the committee has painted itself into a corner if it really wants to suggest that Ohio State played its way in tonight; they either have to bump undefeated Florida State or suggest that not only did Ohio State do enough to get ahead of TCU, but so did Florida State by virtue of its 2-point win over Georgia Tech.

Given that, I do not see the top four changing. The committee set it up last week to pit Alabama vs. FSU in the Sugar and TCU vs. Oregon in the Rose in part for traveling purposes (a cynic might suggest). That seems to have messed with the integrity of this entire thing. I can deal with TV ratings and the traveling-prowess of fan bases impacting matchups in bowl games that really amount to exhibitions, but when it directly impacts the integrity of a 1-4 seeded tournament meant to decide a champion "on the field", it's broken and corrupt.

Should it be an eight or 16-team tournament? Maybe. But four, eight, or 16, they have to do something to fix the integrity of this thing because it's a mess. They either need a BCS-like scoring system or some understanding that the rankings 1) do not have anything to do with fan traveling and 2) probably are released until the final.

[rams80]

They're going to have Alabama and Florida State play in the Sugar Bowl. The seedings will be adjusted to allow for that.

[AnythingChicago]

For me, it'd be:

1. Alabama (toughest schedule, most impressive down the stretch)

2. Oregon (rebounded from a home loss to the Wildcats by obliterating each of its remaining opponents)

3. Baylor (defeated TCU, only loss was on the road to a hot West Virginia team)

4. Florida State (undefeated, win games no matter how ugly the Seminoles can play at times)

------

5. TCU (only loss came to Baylor, but made too many mistakes and hardly escaped West Virginia and Kansas)

6. Ohio State (despite being an absolute juggernaut, a sore thumb of a loss to Virginia Tech and a pretty weak out-of-conference schedule [and possibly the loss of J.T. Barrett?] doom the Buckeyes)

[See Red]

I like the four-team tournament, but this ranking committee has been a giant disaster.

Week 14:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. FSU
4. MSU
5. TCU
6. OSU

Week 15:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. TCU
4. FSU
5. OSU
6. Baylor

So, had Mississippi State won at Ole Miss, I have to believe that Florida State would have been out of this week's top 4 or that Mississippi State would have been bumped after a high-quality road win. Of course I don't believe that; I believe that TCU would have been #5 again. Putting out these rankings and shuffling them around based on who knows what has made the whole thing seem arbitrary. Given that, any of the above six teams could get in. In theory, it's pretty hard to suggest any of the current top 4 did anything to deserve to get bumped. The closest team was FSU, but they are the only undefeated team; they are not getting bumped. So it would seem the committee has painted itself into a corner if it really wants to suggest that Ohio State played its way in tonight; they either have to bump undefeated Florida State or suggest that not only did Ohio State do enough to get ahead of TCU, but so did Florida State by virtue of its 2-point win over Georgia Tech.

The more I think about it, the less confident I am in this line of thought. Dropping Florida State out would be pretty consistent with what they've done on a weekly basis. I mean, they're already sitting at #4 despite being the only undefeated team. As I've said, though, the committee hasn't really made it clear what is important to them. If they want what they consider to be the four best teams, it's not a stretch to say Florida State isn't one of them. Should they get bumped? Probably not. Will they? Who knows...

[dfwabel]

They're going to have Alabama and Florida State play in the Sugar Bowl. The seedings will be adjusted to allow for that.[/quotes]

Exactly. FSU cannot sell tickets to both L.A. and Dallas

[Billy B]

They're going to have Alabama and Florida State play in the Sugar Bowl. The seedings will be adjusted to allow for that.[/quotes]

Exactly. FSU cannot sell tickets to both L.A. and Dallas

Then you get your traditional Rose Bowl Game when tOSU jumps up in the rankings.

[DaRadniz29]

I think this is where it is going to hurt TCU not having a true conference championship game. When I see co-champions, I always look for something to make someone a true champion, and it's Baylor's H2H win. One of the primary reasons for the CFB Playoffs was to "settle it on the field" and I would think that includes regular season matchups.

At the same time, TCU looks like the better team over Baylor, while Ohio State had a bad home loss to VT early in the season, but have looked like an almost unbeatable team since.

Taking in just this weekend as sort of an impromptu tie-breaker:

Alabama - Whooped Missouri

Oregon - Throttled Arizona

TCU - Whooped a "Cupcake" team

Florida State - Battled win vs top 15 team.

Ohio State - Whooped top 15 team.

Baylor - Beat top 10 team by 11.

We'll say Alabama and Oregon are in. Seminoles are in*. So one spot, three teams.

*Florida State slid down with a 5 point win against an unranked Florida team. Do they stay in the top 4 with a 2 point win to claim the ACC Championship and an undefeated season? One would think so.

Though, there is nothing that says undefeated team is the best and has to be included, but even as a Gators fan if FSU is left out, the system is truly broken and a huge negative mark on the committee.

TCU, Ohio State, Baylor.

TCU whooped team they were expected to beat and beat handily. Baylor beat at top 10 team by 11, and Ohio State whooped a top 15 team by 59. Not to mention TCU and Baylor are, )not including Baylor H2H win) "co-champions", while Ohio State with their 3rd string QB beat the #2 team in Total Defense by a margin of +59. The Big XII might be considered a stronger conference that the BIG Ten, but I'm just not sure how an outright Conference Champion is left out of the 4-team playoff when the two teams you're up against didn't play a true Conference Championship Game.

Personally, the only option I see is to either put TCU AND Baylor in or leave them BOTH out. Well, with Alabama, Oregon and Florida State winning, I don't see how you leave any of those Conference Champions out, so the next step how ever logical or not, is to leave them out. So who's the next is the next best Conference Champion? Ohio State.

Don't be surprised if teams are seeded a bit odd for travel and regional preference, etc. Also Florida State could stay at #4 or move to #2 or #3 or even #1 as the only undefeated.

My top 4, adjusting for regional preference and travel:

1. Oregon

2. Alabama

3. Florida State

4. Ohio State

If just outright best-looking teams:

1. Alabama

2. Oregon

3. Florida State

4. Ohio State

While we could add two or four more teams, I think the CFB Playoff might look at adding a Point System to help differentiate Non-Conference teams. Not sure what kind of point system, but something will likely need to be adjusted.

In any case, good luck committee...

[mkg74]

Alabama

Oregon

FSU

TCU

TCU's body of work is superior to Baylor. Baylor didn't exactly kick Kansas St to the curb like the Horned Frogs did, i felt Baylor would of had to destroy KSU like 50-9 or something like that to leapfrog TCU. Didn't happen and a few breaks here or there the Wildcats may have beaten Baylor. I don't care about 61-58(a combination of horrible ref calls/self destruction), TCU would clobber them 9 out of 10 times.

the real battle royal will be Ohio St or FSU. I grudgingly pick FSU.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if FSU is left out. Only 1 real quality win. Lucky duckers them!

[dfwabel]

They're going to have Alabama and Florida State play in the Sugar Bowl. The seedings will be adjusted to allow for that.[/quotes]

Exactly. FSU cannot sell tickets to both L.A. and Dallas

Then you get your traditional Rose Bowl Game when tOSU jumps up in the rankings.

Since this current week had Alabama #1 and FSU#4, the committee made that move to sell tix. The Rose was of less impact.

The Sugar is the primetime game

[Unocal]

Alabama IMHO is not #1. They are disgustingly overrated because the media has given them free passes for every game they lose other than the Kick Six.

I mean, if LSU doesn't kick out of bounds....

Seriously, I don't think Bama destroys everyone. This is not exactly 2001 Miami or 1999 Florida State here.

Bama is NOT as good as people make them out to be.

The way everyone's talking, if it's FSU/Bama, why play the game?

Seriously, they're 2002 Miami- former champion that is treated like they've already won the championship without actually winning a damn thing this year.

[Still MIGHTY]

Stop watching sports.

[dfwabel]

The Committee will still want

Alabama/Florida St.

Oregon/Ohio State

to sell tickets

[DaRadniz29]

Alabama IMHO is not #1. They are disgustingly overrated because the media has given them free passes for every game they lose other than the Kick Six.

I mean, if LSU doesn't kick out of bounds....

Seriously, I don't think Bama destroys everyone. This is not exactly 2001 Miami or 1999 Florida State here.

Bama is NOT as good as people make them out to be.

The way everyone's talking, if it's FSU/Bama, why play the game?

Seriously, they're 2002 Miami- former champion that is treated like they've already won the championship without actually winning a damn thing this year.

Seedings are really just semantics at this point, the matchups between the committee's top 4 teams could and most likely will be seeded just be somewhat like the NCAA Basketball Tournament with venue, TV ratings, ticket sales and regional travel playing important roles.

While it's possible that Florida State jumps to #3, while Alabama is at #1 and Oregon #2 which would leave a matchup of Oregon vs Florida State, this would be in the Rose Bowl and let's say Ohio State slides into #4 to take on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. Now the committee has done two things to detract viewers/fans: made Florida State and fans travel Pasadena. Second, while less important, they've created a situation where the Rose Bowl doesn't get it's Big Ten/Pac-12 matchup. The second of the two is the least important because the Rose Bowl knew going in they were not likely to get a Big Ten/Pac-12 matchup. However if it is Ohio State as one of the top 4 and the Rose Bowl can convince the committee to get the traditional matchup, they will.

Remember the committee starts over each week, so just because Alabama is #1 this week, doesn't mean they won't slide a spot or other teams won't jump them. I won't say the previous week's ranking are not used, but they seem to be, from what I've heard, less important that people think.

[dfwabel]

Again, tell me the last Bob Stoops "major" win.

[DarkJourney]

We get:

Alabama vs. Florida State in the Sugar

Ohio State vs. Oregon in the Rose

Big 12 gets left out with Baylor/TCU cancelling each other out.

[tj4eck]

My guess for all the bowls and playoff (assuming Georgia Southern didn't get waivered in):

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

Championship Bowl - Semifinal winners -

Sugar Bowl - Semifinal 1 vs. Semifinal 4..................Alabama vs. Florida St.

Rose Bowl - Semifinal 2 vs. Semifinal 3...................Oregon vs. Ohio St.

SELECTION COMMITTEE BOWL GAMES (One from Minor 5)

Cotton Bowl - At-Large vs. At-Large.......................Missouri vs. Baylor

Orange Bowl - ACC #2 vs. SEC/Big Ten/Notre Dame...........Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi St.

Fiesta Bowl - At-Large vs. At-Large.......................Arizona vs. TCU

Peach Bowl - At-Large vs. At-Large........................Boise St. vs. Michigan St.

OTHER BOWL GAMES

GoDaddy.com Bowl - MAC #1 vs. Sun Belt #1.................Northern Illinois vs. UL-Lafayette

Birmingham Bowl - American #4 vs. SEC #11.................Memphis vs. Arkansas

Cactus Bowl - Big 12 #6 vs. Pac-12 #5.....................Oklahoma St. vs. Stanford

Alamo Bowl - Big 12 #5 vs. Pac-12 #4......................Texas vs. USC

TaxSlayer Bowl - ACC/Big Ten #5 vs. SEC #4................Minnesota vs. Ole Miss

Armed Forces Bowl - American #3 vs. Army/AtLarge..........ECU vs. NC State

Outback Bowl - Big Ten #9 vs. SEC #7......................Rutgers vs. LSU

Capital One Bowl - ACC/Big Ten #7 vs. SEC #5..............Maryland vs. Georgia

San Francisco Bowl - Big Ten #6 vs. Pac-12 #3.............Iowa vs. UCLA

Belk Bowl - ACC #10 vs. SEC #9............................Boston College vs. Florida

Music City Bowl - ACC #5/Big Ten vs. SEC #6...............Duke vs. Auburn

Texas Bowl - Big 12 #2 vs. SEC #8.........................Kansas St. vs. Texas A&M

Russell Athletic Bowl - ACC #3 vs. Big 12 #3..............Clemson vs. Oklahoma

Liberty Bowl - Big 12 #4 vs. SEC #10......................West Virginia vs. South Carolina

Holiday Bowl - Big Ten #3 vs. Pac-12 #2...................Wisconsin vs. Arizona St.

Pinstripe Bowl - ACC #4 vs. Big Ten #4....................Louisville vs. Nebraska

Independence Bowl - SEC/AtLarge vs. ACC #9................Tennessee vs. Virginia Tech

Sun Bowl - ACC #6 vs. Pac-12 #6...........................Notre Dame vs. Washington

Military Bowl - ACC #7 vs. American #2....................Miami (FL) vs. Cincinnati

Bitcoin Bowl - ACC #11 vs. American #5....................Pitt vs. Houston

Quick Lane Bowl - ACC #8 vs. Big Ten #10..................North Carolina vs. Illinois

Heart of Dallas Bowl - Big Ten #8/Big 12 vs. C-USA #2.....Penn St. vs. Louisiana Tech

Hawaii Bowl - Mountain West #3 vs. C-USA #5...............San Diego St. vs. Middle Tennessee

Bahamas Bowl - C-USA #4 vs. MAC #4........................Western Kentucky vs. Western Michigan

Poinsettia Bowl - Mountain West #1 vs. Navy...............Colorado St. vs. Navy

Boca Raton Bowl - C-USA #1 vs. MAC #5.....................Marshall vs. Central Michigan

Miami Beach Bowl - American #1 vs. BYU....................UCF vs. BYU

Camellia Bowl - MAC #2 vs. Sun Belt #3....................Toledo vs. South Alabama

Idaho Potato Bowl - MAC #3 vs. Mountain West #5...........Bowling Green vs. Nevada

Royal Purple Bowl - Mountain West #2 vs. Pac-12 #7........Utah St. vs. Utah

New Mexico Bowl - Mountain West #4 vs. C-USA #3...........Fresno St. vs. Rice

New Orleans Bowl - Sun Belt #2 vs. Mountain West #6.......Arkansas St. vs. Air Force

[Thad]

Alabama IMHO is not #1. They are disgustingly overrated because the media has given them free passes for every game they lose other than the Kick Six.I mean, if LSU doesn't kick out of bounds....Seriously, I don't think Bama destroys everyone. This is not exactly 2001 Miami or 1999 Florida State here.Bama is NOT as good as people make them out to be.The way everyone's talking, if it's FSU/Bama, why play the game?Seriously, they're 2002 Miami- former champion that is treated like they've already won the championship without actually winning a damn thing this year.

What if Kansas had not choked down the stretch against TCU?

What if Texas Tech had converted their two-point conversion?

What if an ACC team could finish a game?

You can play that game with everyone this year...

I haven't heard anyone give Alabama a free pass for Ole Miss.

This thing is rigged for Alabama v. FSU in the Sugar and Oregon v. Whoever in the Rose. I don't like this committee business. It's all made for TV garbage - everything from the rankings to how they are going to schedule the games. I don't understand the need for weekly rankings for anything other than creating faux-debate since nothing matters until today's rankings. I don't like how they rank teams to send messages (like they seemed to do early on). Ranking the complete top-25 is a joke, as it doesn't really matter. Finally, the fact that you have to be in the room to vote is a joke -- that's why God invented conference calls. It makes sense to all be together, but to exclude a person because they can't get to Dallas is ridiculous.

My ideal system would have some sort of computer ranking that's part of the formula and the committee would have to justify any movement from that. Rankings would come out every three weeks or so - just to have our TV interest. You'd only release the top four (/six in my system)+ the highest ranked non-major. No need to tell Georgia they are #20. Any interviews afterward can defend the committee's choices.