College Football 2016

Now that I rethink, it’s because either Wisconsin or Penn St will win the B1G, and if that winner doesn’t go to the playoff, they automatically go to the Rose and then the Orange gets first choice. Nuts. Clemson will have to lose in the ACC Championship and the B1G Champ make the playoff for Michigan to make the Rose. Nuts.

Same reason I keep thinking the Rose Bowl will be either Colorado or Washington, not USC.

If UW wins, then it’s probably USC in the Rose Bowl.

Why?

Current rankings only had USC 3 spots behind Colorado. A loss, particularly a big one, would send Colorado down.

And the Pac-12 bowls are not restricted to selecting teams based on the order of finish. They are allowed to jump schools as long as there’s only a 1-win difference between them. Utah discovered that to their detriment last year, as they finished 3rd in conference but ended up in the 6th place bowl.

A CU loss would send them to 2 conference losses, same as USC. And USC owns the head-to-head. And it’s hard to imagine the Rose Bowl passing up USC. Matched up with a premier Big 10 opponent, and that’s arguably one of the top non-CFP bowl games this year.

I think UW with another quality win is in as a 1-loss team over a 2-loss BIG/Big-12 champ. Reason being - despite the poor non-conference schedule, that will still be 10 games (with 9 wins) against Power-5 schools. Which would have the the Rose picking it’s Pac-12 school. They could easily choose CU instead, but I kind of think that for a 1st appearance in the Rose Bowl, it should be as Pac-12 Champ. Same for Utah and Arizona (who still hasn’t made it) - but that’s just personal preference.

I would hope (may not happen though) that if Washington beats Colorado they will be the 4th team in the playoffs. So I guess that puts either Colorado or USC in the Rose Bowl.

Yes, the only realistic way UW is in the Rose Bowl is if they beat Colorado but are left out of the CFP.

If UW is in the CFP, it will likely mean USC in the Rose for all the aforementioned reasons. Colorado could potentially get the Cotton Bowl invite (a NY6 game) or the Alamo Bowl, which is the 2nd place P12 bowl.

I don’t think the committee takes a Big 10 champ Wisconsin over OSU. I think they would be conflicted if Penn State won the Big 10, but I think in that scenario they have to take Penn State over OSU due to the conference title and head to head result, which Wisconsin does not have over OSU.

Great article http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2677700-cheat-or-go-home-inside-the-dysfunctional-hell-of-becoming-a-cfb-coach?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral

I love college football but dear lord do I loathe the underside.

Well, I agree with you that that is probably how it would play out. But I was just saying how I would “like” it to turn out.

Just finished watching Western Michigan finish off a 13-0 regular season by winning the MAC championship game against Ohio. Close game, with a number of mistakes on both sides, but entertaining. Congrats to the Broncos! Glad to see my Kalamazoo neighbors down US-131 making good.

I was at the game. It was a blast though Ohio’s excellent defense made things a bit tense in the 2nd half. WMU overcame a number of mistakes to notch the win. I was in the front row at the 5 yard line. Fortunately it was the end zone where Western did most of their scoring and I got a close up personal view of Corey Davis’s 70 yd TD. I figured Western was going to the Cotton Bowl regardless of what Navy did but it looks like Navy is being taken out of the equation anyway as they are getting thumped by Temple. Its 24-3 at the half.

So we have the conference championships done.

Bama is #1. The previous rankings were OSU 2, Clemson 3 and Washington 4.

Clemson won, Washington won. Both are conference champs. I have to think both of them move up. I hope so anyway. So that leaves the 4 spot. Is it going to be OSU or Penn State? Based on the committee in the past two years I think Penn State should be 4. That said, I think the whole thing is a sham and the committee is a front for what will make ESPN the most money. So I expect OSU to get in. Whatever happens, we need to have an 8 team playoff.

I don’t expect the top 4 to change. The CFP wants an OSU-Bama rematch, but would be content with Clemson-Bama. I don’t see 2-loss Penn State jumping 1-loss Washington especially with how Washington handled Colorado.

Washington had a nonconference strength of schedule that ranks No. 127 out of 128, with wins over Rutgers, Idaho and FCS Portland State – teams that have combined for a 12-22 record.

Penn State’s 2 losses were to #5 Michigan and #25 Pitt, an instate rival, on the road, who also beat Clemson. Penn State won the BIG Ten, considered the best conference top to bottom, this season. Penn State won their division, the same division that has both Michigan and OSU. And Penn State has the best marquis win beating OSU.

I doubt that PSU will get in over OSU because, to be honest, financially they want an Alabama/OSU final but there is absolutely a case to be made for PSU over Washington.
I doubt that the top 4 will change but I wouldn’t be surprised either to see PSU get in.

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Ohio State
  4. Washington
  5. Penn State
  6. Michigan

I figured that the committee wouldn’t have the balls to put Penn State in. They just destroyed any real credibility they had regarding the importance of conference championships, head to head performance and difficulty of pre conference scheduling. Everything they claimed mattered, in the end did not. They need to quit pretending that this is a college sport and just admit that its all about the benjamins. Of course if they do that, then they admit that college athletes are little more than slave labor.

Disclosure: I have no horse in this race, my team Western Michigan, played a perfect season and never had a shot because it things are a self perpetuating elitist set up in college football. Unlike college basketball, where smaller schools can actually recruit top level players, football restricts the resources and national coverage to the top programs through an antiquated bowl/pseudo playoff system. They really need to loosen things up and expand the playoffs to give teams outside of the power 5 a realistic shot because until they do, they have such a major recruiting disadvantage that they simply can not compete. The best athletes will only go to schools that have a legitimate shot, and that list is very small these days.

The one positive from this, if you can call it that, is that the final rankings are the perfect argument for an 8-team playoff. Not just Penn State, but Michigan failed by about 1-inch on a 4th down in double overtime on their rival’s home field.

Uh Ohio St. is the first ever to make it not winning a conference championship. That makes 11 of 12 in the first 3 years being one but they have thrown out any importance? Overreact much?

They used the conference championship argument to drop TCU from #3 down to #6 and out of the playoffs, in spite of TCU posting a 50 point victory in the final game of the season. They claimed that pre conference scheduling would be a very important metric and yet because PSU risked a tougher schedule and lost an early game to a good Pitt team, they were punished while Washington had the 2nd easiest schedule in football and was rewarded for it.
This is not about OSU or PSU. Im not a fan of either. This is about the committee changing the rules arbitrarily, to set up the games they feel are more bankable. Your argument supports my complaint, by the way. They have consistently given major weight to winning your conference championship and head to head results and punished worthy teams for not doing so in the past, yet this year they throw that out the window for OSU. OSU didn’t even win their division, let alone their conference and even lost head to head to the conference champ. The 11 of 12 thing makes it even more egregious to be honest. So am I overreacting? No, not really. I’m merely calling it out for what it is. Out of curiosity are you an OSU fan?

This.

There are four major bowls. Instead of flipping the playoff games between them every year, why not elevate two more bowls and play 6 playoff games (8 teams become 4 teams become 2 teams)? Then you could rotate the semi-finals between all 6 each year, and everyone makes even more money, because honestly, isn’t making money what the NCAA is all about anymore? Upside : No more PSU/Michigan/WMU screwovers, more football for everyone to watch, more chance for an underdog national champ. Downside : there is none?