Conference Championship games
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Conference title games are being set up today.
In the Power 5, 2 of the 4 are set and the B1G appears set as well unless MSU makes an all time comeback.
The ACC title game will be Clemson vs. Virginia Tech in Orlando.
Clemson will be in the Playoffs with a win over the Hokies probably as the #2 seed. Clemson and VT did not play in the regular season this year.
The B1G title game will be Wisconsin vs. Penn St. in Indianapolis. Wisc./PSU did not play this year.
This one will have all kinds of Playoff implications. Wisconsin and PSU should be sitting at 5 and 6 in the CFP rankings when they come out and the winner should get a Playoff spot, but each team has 2 losses and Ohio St. only has 1 loss (to PSU) and beat Wisconsin head to head this year which should make the CFP committee have a very interesting discussion about how much winning a major conference championship matters because we could see PAC12 champ Washington get left out of the Playoff behind a 2 loss B1G champ and 1 loss Ohio St. who won’t even play for their conference title.
The SEC title game will be Alabama vs. Florida in Atlanta. Alabama and Florida did not play this year.
Alabama should win this one because Florida’s offense sucks and that would give Alabama the #1 seed in the CFP.
The PAC12 title game will be Washington vs. Colorado/USC. USC beat Washington and UW/CU did not play.
Washington will be in for sure thanks to their win over WSU yesterday. Colorado is playing Utah later tonight in Boulder and a CU win puts Colorado in their 1st PAC12 title game. A CU loss will put USC into the PAC12 title game. Washington’s lone loss this year came against USC while Colorado’s 2 losses came against Michigan and USC. Even if Washington wins the PAC12 next Friday, it’s possible they get left out of the CFP because of Ohio St. Colorado’s hopes of sneaking into the CFP were dependent upon Michigan winning the B1G which didn’t happen this year. They would likely need Virginia Tech to upset Clemson along with beating Washington to allow them a chance to sneak in as the 4 seed.
The Big 12 is playing an unofficial championship game in Norman in the Bedlam game as the winner of the OU/OSU game will be the Big 12 champ. OU has an outside chance at making the CFP if a couple of upsets happen in the other championship games.
In the Group of 5, the championship games will most likely look like this:
AAC: Temple/USF vs. Navy, Temple needs to beat 3-8 ECU to clinch their spot in the AAC title game which they should do easily, but if they blow it, the USF Bulls will take on the Midshipmen. USF beat Navy and Navy and Temple did not play this year.
C-USA: Louisiana Tech vs. Western Kentucky/Old Dominion. If Western Kentucky beats 3-8 Marshall, they will play LTU, if not, ODU will play LTU. LTU beat WKU and did not play ODU this year.
The MAC title game will be Ohio vs. Western Michigan. This is the same Ohio team that beat KU earlier this year and Ohio and WMU did not play in the regular season.
The Mountain West title game will be San Diego St. against Wyoming. Wyoming beat SDSU 34-33 last weekend and should be another good game between these two.
Navy and WMU appear to be the two schools left standing for the New Year’s Day 6 bid among the Group of 5 teams which goes to the highest ranked conference champion among the Group of 5 teams.
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The College Football Playoff selection show is tomorrow and they have a fun on to deal with tomorrow. What to do with Ohio St.? Does OSU get in the CFP over PSU who not only won the Big 10 tonight, but also beat Ohio St. along the way.
Should Penn St. be left out in favor of Ohio St., the CFP committee os telling the entire country that not does winning your conference no longer matter, but neither does head to head matter either.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Or will they both get in? Washington isn’t that great.
Personally I think the college playoff has done it’s job- make sure the best team gets a shot at the championship. In the BCS era and earlier that didn’t always happen. There where occasions when the best team was left out completely. There where even split national championships because the 2 remaining undefeated teams didn’t play each other.
SO in my mind the playoff is working Alabama is the best team this year and they are in the other participants will be deserving in some way. If the BCS could’ve picked the right matchups we wouldn’t be in this mess. It’s the KSU vs Oregon and Alabama vs Notre Dame games that ticked me off most recently. Alabama killed ND and the kittens were thrown in a burlap bag in the lake by Oregon. It should’ve been Alabama vs Oregon for all the marbles, but Oregon didn’t get their shot.
Now here we are. While an 8 team playoff would be more exciting for the playoff it would devalue the regular season. A four team playoff should get the best team or two involved and that’s all that really need to occur. Give the best team a shot be it Boise St., KU, or Alabama.
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Fluke win for PSU against tOSU. Blocked fg returned for a td, long punt return that set up a score. Very Chiefs… They also lost by a truckload to Michigan and lost to Pitt.
JMO
- Bama (duh)
- tOSU
- UW
- Clemson
I don’t really see anyone beating Bama. If PSU gets in it will be a straight up massacre.
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Here’s what I think should happen. Have an 8 team playoff, every power 5 conference champ gets in, take the best non power 5 team Western Michigan this year. Fill in the other 2 spots with worthy teams. Shorten the regular season to 11 games to help with this. I personally think that OU should be in, they are one of the hottest teams right now with 9 straight wins. They have a top 5 SOS, and if Washington gets in, they have an SOS in the 100s. You basically tell me that you want to play cupcakes not good games. If OU played Buffalo instead of OSU they’re prob in at this point. I think it will end up being Bama, Clemson, Washington and OSU.
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@BShark So you’re saying Penn St. beat Ohio St. because PSU has superior special teams play than Ohio St.? Special teams are part of the game and we’ve seen plenty of games lost (including some KU games) that have been lost because of special teams. Blocking a FG and getting a good punt return is not a fluke, it’s good scouting and prep work.
Michigan peaked in September with their wins over PSU and Colorado, but faded down the stretch, same with Ohio St., PSU has been lights out since October and has legitimately looked like the best team in the Big 10 since mid October. I do legitimately believe PSU is the best team in the Big 10 and that the on field results back that up.
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Completely disagree. I think tOSU would win 8 out of 10 or so against PSU. Now, they did lose the one they actually played so that matters. I feel the committee made the right decision though. Not sure what happens now but Bama would have destroyed PSU.
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@BShark I’m with @Texas-Hawk-10 a win is a win. My four prediction was correct. Idk how you can say OSU over PSU, by doing so you say head to head match ups and conference titles mean nothing. So if by some ungodly performance Washington beats Bama, tho Bama is better does that mean Washington doesn’t advance? Seems how Michigan got jobbed hard by the refs against OSU but no one had them in. Also it would appear with Washington in that SOS has no bearing whatsoever ether. Just make a decent playoff system like any other sport known to man.
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The problem is yes PSU beat tOSU, but they also lost to Michigan and Pitt. You can’t just remove those losses. So yes they have h2h against tOSU but by having the L against Michigan it created a messy triangle where you can’t do h2h because it’s 3 teams and they each went 1-1 against the other.
And yes 8 teams would have made this better.
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The committee lies about considering strength of schedule, unless it can hurt a flyover school.
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@dylans Yes, like a big 12 school.
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An 8 team playoff is really bulky. This year, for example, I don’t know that there are really 8 teams that need to be considered. Oklahoma could be included. Maybe one other B1G school. But that’s probably it. Most years, there won’t actually be 8 teams. There will be 5, maybe 6 most years.
I do think there needs to be some consistency in how to deal with scheduling. Pre-season rankings are too influential. If a team is overranked at the beginning of the year, it takes most of the season to balance that out (see LSU this year). That makes teams that beat them look better than they actually are, particularly early in the season.
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As long as they pick the best team the others don’t matter much IMHO. The playoff was to make sure the best 1-2 teams get a shot and they will. It was never about being fair or giving everyone a shot. It’s about getting the one team that’s most deserving a shot (this year it’s Alabama).
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This particular year, does it really make a difference which other 3 teams are selected? From what I read, it is a given that Alabama will win it all…
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They are the clear cut #1 but football is crazy so you never know.
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@dylans In my eyes, really it was to make sure the 2nd and 3rd best teams got a shot. 99% of the time there is a clear #1. It is that murky thing where you can have one or two great teams with one loss or an undefeated with a weak schedule. This just gives everyone a fair shake.
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@JayHawkFanToo Yea I wouldn’t count out Ohio State or Clemson. While Bama’s whole roster is the most talented by far, both of those teams have some special guys that could flip a game on its head
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@Kcmatt7 Nobody thought Ohio State could hang with Bama a few years ago ether. I just think there is a better way need to get the NCAA together so that they recognize the NC. The CPI and BCS were not. Its the only form of sports besides Juco football that doesn’t have a decent playoff.
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Think of how many more National title games KU would’ve been in if basketball was set up like football…
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@kjayhawks I just don’t think that there will ever be a fair way in college football. Too many teams to make happy. And we can’t turn these seasons into 16-17 games. At what point do you cut it off? Is 16 teams enough? Well then you are going to put in a 4 loss Auburn instead of a Virginia Tech team that lost a close game in their conference championship to the #2 team in the country and because they lost that game they dropped 4 spots in the polls? When they should have been in the tournament… I like 4 teams because it only adds one extra game. The 4 teams in it all earned it. It is much better than the BCS was. I just don’t see how you solve the problem unless you cut out non-con games. If you shorten the regular season to 9 games maybe it could work.
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Part of me wants to see the playoffs become 8 teams but in some years you might be watering down the play if it was 8. Not every year is going to yield 6-7 worthy or even 8 teams. But with 5 power conference champions someone is always getting left out and that’s not fair, especially when there is literally no written rules on how to actually get into the playoffs. There is so much bias to certain teams and certain conferences and I don’t think that will ever be removed.
6 teams would seem to be perfect but that can’t happen. Maybe give the #1 seed a bye… Again not fair.
If I’m a Penn St fan you do have to feel upset (even though your consolation prize is the Rose Bowl) that a team you beat and didn’t win its conference gets in the playoff over you when you won the H2H and won the conference outright. The H2H and conference championship is supposed to mean something but it didn’t in Penn St’s case because of the bad loss to Michigan and a loss to 8-4 Pitt.
If we are to have everything on a equal footing going forward I think the Playoff committee needs to come out with some sort of written criteria for how the teams are chosen. What has more weight over what because otherwise everything is opinion and subjective to a committee’s thoughts.
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…but…wasn’t all the talk that the Big 12 was getting hurt because it did not have a Championship game? Apparently having one does not seem to help much either.
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Yes there was a lot of talk about that. We’ll see if the Big-12 gains from adding the championship. I have to think Baylor’s issue and TCU being down had a lot to do with a Big-12 team missing it this year. OU would have made it if they could have beaten Ohio St at home.
It changes every year, this year was the year of the Big-10. Next year it could be another issue that becomes the latest thing.
The Big-10 situation was something I don’t think will happen often with the current system.
