April 17, 2019 · 2:27 PM

But his criteria…

Perhaps you remember this quote from Barry Alvarez I posted a couple of days ago.

But when our league is left out of the playoff for three years in a row, I’m not happy with that. I don’t think that we have followed the criteria set by the commissioners in naming those four teams.

Let ESPN, of all places, explain about the criteria to you, Barry.

Though Georgia — which also is bringing back a known quantity at QB in Jake Fromm — is a longer shot to reach the playoff than Michigan, Georgia has a better chance of actually winning the national championship. It makes sense: Most (including FPI) would agree that the Bulldogs are better than the Wolverines, but their path the top four is more complicated with Alabama and LSU in the same conference.

If the Big Ten can’t put a team in the semis this season, then, yeah, it’s time to give Alvarez what he wants, because it may never make a four-team playoff again.

7 Comments

Filed under BCS/Playoffs, Big Ten Football

7 responses to “But his criteria…”

  1. eethomaswfnc
    April 17, 2019 at 3:51 PM

    One scenario has Bama, Clemson, UGA and LSU in the playoff. B1G heads would spontaneously explode if that were to happen.

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  2. UGA '97
    April 17, 2019 at 9:29 PM

    Alvarez wants equal rights? The rights to a fast path to glory without earning it on the field. Kind sounds like a 5 star primma donna QB transfer, don’t ya think? This coming from a guy who probably, all in the same breath, bitches about the contiued wussification of America. He can go pound sand, what a quack.

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  3. Hogbody Spradlin
    April 18, 2019 at 6:41 AM

    So Meechigan is already the chosen one in the Birg Ten? Ohio State got shorted pretty quick, with Corch ‘retiring’ and Justin Fields gorking it up.

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  4. mdcgtp
    April 18, 2019 at 10:25 AM

    .While we could debate whether there are actually more than 4 “true” contenders in most seasons. Last year, there were three, and because most human beings have trouble shaking off orthodoxy (i.e., a loss is always worse than a win), one of those three did not make the playoff. Instead, two teams with virtually no chance of winning made it. I am all in favor of expanding the field if the goal is to cover that scenario.

    That said, expanding the playoff with some type of automatic bid based on winning a P5 conference is a terrible idea because it doesn’t right that wrong. It simply allows more less deserving teams to gain access. The process should remain “at large” which would guarantee Fat Barry NOTHING in principle, but the media is likely to solve his problem with the Big Ten echo chamber.

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