Meet the new (CFP) boss, same as the old (BCS) boss.
And so the new, improved! 2014 regular season has wrapped up, leaving college football in one of the two places the most cynical of us thought it would wind up all along, with more teams in contention than there are semifinal slots to fill. (The other possibility was a replay of 2005, with two clear national players and nobody else worthy of consideration.)
All of the top teams going in held serve in Week 15, which was tough enough. But Ohio State, which became the first school to start a rookie quarterback in a P5 conference title game, thrust itself into the postseason picture with what was arguably the most impressive win of the week. So instead of a debate led by the folks at ESPN over who’s number two and who’s number three – gosh, that seems so quaint now – we’re going to be treated to a seemingly endless series of arguments over numbers four, five and six. Fun times for the selection committee.
Now that’s progress. And Condi Rice thought she had it rough trying to deal with the North Koreans.
The clear winner out of all of this? That’s easy. It’s the proponents of an eight-team playoff, which will be coming sooner than you expected. Rejoice in more progress. Best of all, there will be even more progress after that!
Get The Picture 
Just awesome! Now all we need is The Committee to stick by their guns, ignore Corch, Delaney, and Herbie’s whining, and leave ohio out of the Top 4. Then we will get the conference champions the slot they deserve. Commissioner’s derserve this for such a short-sighted decision, let’s get this corrected.
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Guess who Herbie picked!
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/herbstreit-sec-ohio-state-last-team-in/
OSU. Quell Surprise.
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This is 1,000x better than the BCS. Can you imagine only filling the top two slots? I would rather argue about who is number 4 than who is number 2.
And I’d rather argue over who is number 8 than who is number 4.
It’s a shame that our season essentially ended in Jacksonville. More playoff spots means that’s not the case.
Progress…
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The only clear winners here are the steely-eyed accountants who tote up the profits for the TV weasels. Them boys scored like TOSU, course none of them are starting for the first time.
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The other clear winner is CFB as one would hope this will push us to the 8 team playoff by next year!
The clear loser may well be the Big12 if they get completely shut out this year.
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+1 on your first sentence. If the Committee bows to the media pressure and knocks TCU out for ohio they should all be removed and let’s start over with folks who take their job seriously. I agree the system is flawed without all five conference champs being included and that sets them up to be attacked but nothing would justify them removing # 3 TCU based on this weekend. Sure the unrest will be enhanced but they have to stick to their prior logic of “body of work.” Ohio didn’t play the quality of opposition that TCU did and that is because of their weak conference.
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And 16 teams by the year after that!! Where it stops, nobody knows! But I can’t wait for Marshall to be 4-loss national champs based on getting hot at the right time. CINDERELLA BABY!!!11!!1!
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You are way too much of an expansionist for my tastes. Only need to go for enough to get the silly oversights corrected, the movie had it right, Eight is Enough.. Although some would say a person smart enough to have two aspirins would take the whole bottle and all cars should have governors set at 30 MPH. Why assume everyone doesn’t have half a brain so lets just do things half ass to not let them enjoy things done right.
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I get it. You think 8 is perfect and you’re sure that everyone shares, or at least should share, your opinion. But they don’t. And they won’t. 8 won’t satisfy everyone. It won’t even satisfy most people. Especially the people who are in charge of the playoff.
But I do appreciate your position that you can’t fix college football until you almost break it. And then you can trust the “right thinking people” to not just tip expansion past your preferred number. I just disagree.
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And I accept that you don’t think eight is right, have no problem with the difference of opinion, just feel you are wrong. I do think 8 is the perfect spot, but I have never thought everyone shares that opinion, or that they should. My issue is people misstating my thoughts or exaggerating them. I don’t ridicule those who want four, or were happy with two, or even those who never liked the BCS with two; I just state why I don’t feel that delivers what will ultimately be best. The chaos and fallout of not having conference representation is just what I had hoped for. The Committee could not have won regardless of their choices, four just isn’t enough.
I have given a lot of thought to why eight is right under the current conference set-up so ridicule doesn’t set well with me. I am not an expansionist, I just want a playoff that delivers the right balance of exclusiveness and inclusiveness. If we had four 16 team conferences, I would favor four teams as the playoff as the conference championship games would provide every team an opportunity. And I will be just as resolute about passionately fighting any expansion beyond eight.
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I said from day 1 the committee would screw this up. The BcS standings would have been sufficient to identify a worthy top 4, but politically, it was toxic. Ohio State’s loss is absolutely horrific now. Baylor and TCU gave up over 55 to each other without OT. There are 3 worthy teams – Bammers, Nike U, and F$U. My only hope is that O$U is #4, so Bama can bomb them where Corch is left to eat cold pizza under the Superdome and think about going home to his family.
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I’d take this to the Bank: The “Committee” will juggle the rankings, with extreme justification, so that the American TV viewer is fed a Ducks/aOSU Rose Bowl & F$U/Bama Sugar Bowl.
The entire exercise is a politically and profit driven charade for maximum TV viewership (but then, we already knew that).
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… which is why I stay out of the gambling game! The disregard for the traditional Rose Bowl combatants is the one truly surprising element to this production. Though perhaps SEC-B1G would draw better in the end.
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Sorry ee, who screwed what up? The Committee was working with a flawed plan from the start (or from conception actually.) It couldn’t have helped but stall in chaos. Too many conferences, too few slots. Wouldn’t have mattered who comprised the committee, or what methodology they used. Blame the decision makers who contrived this 4 team playoff idea.
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I just think the committee was a poorly conceived notion from the beginning. This was an awful plan executed by a bunch that would screw up a one-car funeral. I hate expansion, but this is where it’s going.
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My perspective on the playoff is that it is supposed to identify the “real” number 1 team/ national champion of college football. I don’t think it matters if there is a debate about which team should be number 4 in the playoff. If the number 1 team is in the top 4, I think the system is a success.
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Funny thing is this year a 6-team or an 8-team (add both MSU’s) would actually fit very well.
So that will get used as further reason to go that route. And first year it’s in place, it will be an obvious 2-team or 4-team year.
And the gnashing continues in perpetuity….
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So how long until college football players on the good playoff teams are playing 18 games a year? In my naive mind, that’s hypocritically using them for money just as badly as the silly rule that got Todd Gurley suspended. And there’s a hoary concept called school work. Kiss that even further good bye.
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While I agree with you, and have been asking the same question for two years, apparently nobody else cares about the physical realities of an extended season on the 75-man roster. Discussing that problem sells less Viagra than wailing and moaning over who got left out.
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I have expressed the same sentiment. I guess it is just the two if us.
The NFL has a waiver wire and its players are not required to be students, and it’s players association resists expanding the season. Of course, the NCAA football commentators don’t have to worry about a CFB players association. Yet.
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Go to 8 and there will be a lot of 3rd stringers starting in the semi-finals. FSU guys were dropping like flies last night.
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I’ve always enjoyed the word “hoary” fwiw.
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What if the 3rd & 4th spots were wildcards? So the 3rd & 4th ranked teams played one game for the 3rd spot, and the 5th & 6th played for the 4th?
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Your plan is the Gary Danielson plan. Take the top 4 conference champs and throw in 2 wildcards. Have #3 play #6 and #4 play #5 the week after the championship games.
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6 would be great if the byes weren’t such a huge edge and totally subjective, two more teams is far less controversial and will add to the excitement. There are eight damned good teams every year, give the 5 conference champs a ticket, add three wildcards, and the legitimacy of any argument is diminished to an insignificant degree.
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No. There aren’t.
And that’s why things won’t stay at eight.
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Sorry, but there are. Honest difference of opinion but eight is elite enough and doesn’t deny those who have done what they should always strive for, win their conference. And then go represent your conference and try to prove what cannot be explained by polls or committees.
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Your arguments aren’t consistent. On one hand, you argue that there are always 8 good teams, so an 8-team playoff is the right number. On the other hand, you argue that conference champs belong, so even a poor conference champ (like 2012 Wisconsin) should be in the playoff.
So, which is it? Is a playoff a chance for the best teams to play to decide the best team? Or is a playoff a chance for conferences to split post season money and lobby for wildcard spots while those who don’t know any better claim they’re “settling it on the field?”
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Ooh ooh, I know! Call on me! 😉
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You must enjoy the American Greed show in CNBC as much as I do.
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Never seen it. What’s the premise?
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True story, documentary show, Mostly Ponzi schemes where semi-intelligent investors cannot help themselves by pouring more and more money into bogus investments until they are “all in”. Then comes the bad news, usually after talking friends and family members to joining them. A few real estate scams mixed in with some major league dumb-assery there also. Some pretty sad stories.
The theme gets tiring but like a bad wreck you just cannot help but watch. Check the guide at night times for CNBC and DVR a few. I think they have some 2-3 nights a week, some late.
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Perhaps you see that as inconsistent, but my point is there will never be agreement about the relative strength of conferences, ever. And there will never be a season long enough to permit all the interactions necessary to solve that debate on the field so we are stuck with opinion surveys/polls and I feel giving a “questionable” team an entrée to the playoff is better than kicking that conference to the curb and telling them they simply are not worthy. That is pretty much what happened to the Big 12 this week, and I think it highly doubtful many CFB fans feel the Big Delaney was better than the Big 12 this year.
I think both TCU and Baylor are better teams than ohio, and I would add K State, WVU as other teams in that conference better than the Buckeyes. Does that mean that a #1 and #2 seed may have a game against an average team in the opening round some years? Sure, but that is better than leaving legit teams out. That makes being a top seed important.
And no, I am not a “money drives everything” proponent, but understand there is much truth in that statement.
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You’re using an impossible standard to justify including more teams/conferences in the post-season. True, a 4-team playoff doesn’t satisfy everyone’s objections or desires. Neither will an 8-team playoff. Or a 16-team playoff.
The Big12 gets left out this year. But mid-majors get left out almost every year. And we’ve all seen Utah and Boise State beat quality P5 teams. Wouldn’t an excellent Utah team be more “legit” than a 5-loss P5 champ like 2012 Wisconsin? I would say so. The only truism, besides death and taxes, is that somebody is going to be pissed with the post season.
And I think it would be ridiculous to argue that, because mid-major advocates will be upset, we should expand the post season to give those teams a chance for the championship.
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It’s not a bye because the teams wouldn’t play the semifinal until Jan 1. The teams would get adequate rest.
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Well, I mean 8 is alright. But if we went to 12, I can guarantee that nobody would ever complain about anything ever again. Promise.
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I have never said that “everyone” would ever be totally satisfied with the concept that eight is enough but the number of serious complaints drops significantly and the idea that everyteam in the Power 5 conferences controlled their own destiny is a strong rebuttal that will silence all but the whackos.
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Not at all. The more teams, the harder it gets to identify “deserving” teams. Top 2 is pretty easy. This year, it would be between Bama, Oregon, and FSU. One gets left out. Expanding to 4 makes it harder. Few would argue that TCU, Baylor, and OSU are as good as the top 3. But, we need 4, so we have to leave two teams out.
Going to automatic berths for the P5 works well this year. All are highly ranked. But in most years one conference is clearly down. So then the argument simply shifts to wild cards. What about the wild card that is ranked #6 but the champs of the lousy conference are ranked #19. Why is #19 more “legit” than #6? And the unfortunate answer is simply politics. Objecting to politics in choosing a CFB champion isn’t a specious argument made by whackos. It’s a “legit” issue.
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OSU will be 4th because traditional powers but I believe it should be between TCU and Baylor.
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Not sure how a discussion is difficult.
Baylor 61, TCU 58. Baylor advances.
Baylor’s best win is #3 TCU; Ohio St’s best win is #8 Michigan St. Advantage: Baylor.
Baylor’s loss is to 7-5 WVU on the road; Ohio St’s loss is to 6-6 Va Tech at home. Advantage: Baylor.
Baylor’s overall SOS is #56; Ohio St’s is #52. Advantage: Ohio State.
To me, that means Baylor should advance.
But they won’t because they don’t have Ohio State’s brand.
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Big 12 f-ked up by having co-champs. They should at least pick their own candidate, instead of leaving it to others. That’s not gonna cut it when the other 4 major conferences have undisputed champions. I don’t see much argument involved. The committee is going to go with safe, easy-to-defend picks of the 4 conference champs. Case closed.
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Re: your SOS component, on that wrap-up show last night ESPN conveniently used its own schedule meter in which aOSU was #45 and Baylor was like #63.
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Unfortunately, You were right. Too much power in the media markets to push OSU and not enough for the Big 12 teams. The weakness of the Big 10 (?) was shown by the “championship” game. Hopefuly, Oregon will rectify that mistake.then Bama can take the chrystal sphere home.
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I am struggling with the top for now. And not because of OSU or Baylor. FSU is my fly in the ointment. As of today, based on the entire season and all possible teams, FSU is out. My top 4 would be 1. Bama 2. Oregon 3. Baylor 4. OSU. What OSU has been able to achieve this season with 3 different QB is damn impressive. Meyer is a douche and I do not much care for the Buckeyes, but I tip my cap those those guys this season. That’s impressive. FSU has been the least impressive team this season, playing in the least impressive conference. I struggle with their undefeated record. But at the end of the day I believe my top 4 are the best 4 teams in the country.
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And yet when you check FSU’s OOC opponents you see: Okie State, Notre Dame and UF. Granted, each of those was mediocre but each is also bowl-bound and was defeated by the Noles.
aOSU features: Navy, Va.Tech, (HOME LOSS) Kent and Cincy.
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Like someone mentioned FSU is the one team that has played 12 FBS opponents. FWIW.
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I may be stating the obvious, but no matter what size playoff this year, the one or two behind the last one in are gonna wail, and the number is gonna get bigger as long as there’s more money in it. The genie is out of the bottle.
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Yes indeed.
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The oh so predictable drama. You can’t stage a playoff in college football without it being “unfair.” And even though college football fans can’t define “unfair” when it comes to a playoff, you can be damn sure they’ll know it when they see it and they’ll see it every year.
And there will only ever be one solution to the unfairness of the playoff… More playoff.
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All true…
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I’m prejudiced. Leave out OSU. Screw oven Meyers.
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What it is, What it isn’t
This playoff formula was crafted to avoid a situation where a system of 2 had to figure out whether Alabama, Oregon, or FSU stayed home. It would have been an even more contentious debate than Alabama versus Oklahoma State in 2011, a situation where #1 was clear and #2 vs #3 was fueled more by Bama/SEC-fatigue than on-field comparisons. It worked.
So, which outcome for #4 here outrages the most fans? I think a TCU selection gets 1/2 the B12 and the entire B1G demanding 8, while a tOSU selection only alienates the B12 (though the quality of that outrage might make up for the quantity of other scenarios).
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All I know is a team doesn’t want to be #5 cuz that 5 vs 12 matchup is always a bracket buster.
YEAH BABYYYY
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I tip my hat, sir.
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Soon we’ll be debating #8 vs #9! Oh boy!
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Oh, it will be even worse. Right now, Alabama, FSU, and Oregon have the consensus claim to the top 2 spots. So, under a 2-team playoff, one will be left out. But we’ve gone to four. So, we let FSU in and discuss whether the last spot goes to OSU, TCU, or Baylor. Two teams get left out.
The more teams get in, the more teams get left out. GA Tech can’t argue that they’re one of the top 4 teams in the country. But they can argue that they’re in the top 8, or 12, or whatever. And so can a ton of other teams. 8 team playoffs means 6 teams are wailing over being left out. And we all know how to fix that.
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