Topic: Watching the college playoff

[muherd34]

No. They need to abolish the bowls and expand the playoffs to at least 16 teams and possibly 24 like FCS.

It will take a few years but more teams having a real shot will start to create more parity. The blue bloods are still benefitting from years of being the only ones.

This post right here.  You can already see parity developing.

[Johnnyherd]

The mid major 12 got a first round bye, how fair is that?  Arizona State a team that Texas State nearly beat and TS put up more offense on the road than AS.  Also lost to mighty Cincinnati.

[Johnnyherd]

Double post sorry

[GreenDaddy]

FYI: The games yesterday had one game on ABC and the other game on ESPN+.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43065735/college-football-2024-fcs-semifinal-montana-state-north-dakota-state-south-dakota-south-dakota-state

The Championship game will be ESPN on January 6 at 7:00PM
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2024-12-21/2024-25-fcs-football-championship-selection-show-info-bracket-dates

I watched both semi final games on ABC yesterday, I think. Unless I am going crazy.

[MUther]

SMU has proven effective when they have the opportunity spend unlimited oil money. They are made for NIL.

As far as teams rotating, yes, but it?s a pool of the same 20 teams that rotate. The teams winning championships now are the same ones that have been winning them for the last 60 years.  Only 22 teams have won a national championship in the last 60 years and the number is only that high due to years with split championships. In the last 80 years it?s only 25 teams.

If Alabama would have made it instead of SMU the 12 teams in the playoff would have held 22 of the last 40 titles and that?s with Boise, Indiana, Arizona State and SMU having zero.

This is why I would like a G5 playoff. The complete dominance of 10 teams plus the occasional up year for second tier SEC or Big 10 schools means no one else will ever win.  Nobody outside of the current Big 10, SEC or ACC (plus Notre Dame) has won a national title in 34 years and hasn?t won an outright title since BYU in 1984.

Not disagreeing with common sense, but it was still opinion that chose the champion contenders for most of those 60 years and often a worthy contender was on the sidelines watching the others.  Now they have to earn it and eventually we'll see teams knocked out that should have won the whole thing.  All of the games should be neutral, though, at the bigger bowl venues.  I like 129's 24 teams at bowls.  This would include ALL conference champs, imo, so everyone has a meaningful season.  Lesser bowls can still host exhibition games if they want, like now.

[elginherd]

So if the two best teams are in the same division of the same conference, one should be left out even when it?s obvious to everyone?

If they didn't win the division, then it's not obvious to everyone.

[herdinphilly]

Reinforces my opinion that we need to break from the P4 and have our own playoff.  The talent difference between the top 6 teams and the next 6 is just glaring. The top of the second tier of the P4 can?t even compete with the bottom of the first tier.

This just confirms the P2. Alabama should have been in over SMU or Clemson. SMU and Indiana just lucked into easy conference schedules, missing other top teams.

And how does that opinion change if Boise beats Penn State? For me, as long as they're a seat at the table, keep things as they are. There's a million things wrong with college football, but this one isn't even on my radar.

[Johnnyherd]

The idea that we can discern everything we need to know to make changes after the 1st round of the 1st year of the playoffs is not really realistic.  However I do understand the healthy debate

[chris88]

I watched a podcast that argued (quite effectively) the playoff selection worked as it should. The blowouts in first round don't matter one bit. Bama didn't deserve to get in by what they produced on field not on paper roster.

Big point he made was in the semifinal round of 4 team playoffs over the years, the average margin of victory was about 17 points. While the first round this year it was 17.3 points and that is with 4 teams playing on home fields.  The home fields are great as it is a reward for being better in regular season, just like pro sports. The byes are a reward as well.  Now you can argue that all conference champions are not alike but it's no different in the pro's where some teams with better records as a wild card still have to go on road to play divisional champs with worse records/lesser talent. Boise and Az St got byes because their conf champs were rated higher than ACC Champ (Clemson) and the outsized conf can only have 1 champ

These superconferences are exposing some of their inherent weaknesses in that their schedules are somewhat watered down and, as stated, can still only have one champion. The next round is all on neutral fields so it's not like the teams that won at home last week now have to go to play on road vs teams that got byes. Imagine if the teams that got in were still in their original conf. before the shifting last year. Oregon would have been a bye as PAC12 champ., Texas as B12 champ, Georgia from SEC, and most likely OSU from B10. Then the 1st rd home teams likely be ND, PSU, Tenn, Boise with Clemson, Indiana, and two from SMU/Az St/Bama/Ole Miss taking the last two road spots. So if SEC wants to complain they should look in mirror. They created their own situation.

[banker]

And how does that opinion change if Boise beats Penn State? For me, as long as they're a seat at the table, keep things as they are. There's a million things wrong with college football, but this one isn't even on my radar.

Doesn?t change it at all. G5 teams, Boise as an example, has beaten a top 10 type team in a BCS bowl before. The issue is that they aren?t going to beat #6 Penn State, #2 UGA and #1 Oregon in consecutive weeks. They don?t have the depth of athletes to make that happen.

[elginherd]

I like how Lane Kiffin tweeted how unqualified Tennessee was in being included in the playoffs after their embarrassing performance against OSU, just like he did for Indiana...wait that didn't happen, did it?

"SEC, SEC, SEC", LMAO.

[bbcard1]

To me, college football starts and ends with Marshall University. We have had two teams that I think could have possibly survived a round of the college football playoffs...1999, which I think could have been a real surprise to the rest of the nation...and 2014, which I think could have been competitive. And we have been much more successful the average program of our level.