Are you shitting me, Gary?
It’s not like I care about Notre Dame, the program, and, given the way the current selection committee rankings are, it’s likely that this will turn out to be a moot issue, but to tell the players suiting up for ND who’ve bled and banged all season, “sorry, we decided to block you from the CFP because Brian Kelly’s a greedhead” seems like a less than optimal way of doing it for the kids.
Although I would enjoy watching Barta deliver that message in person to the team… well, mainly I’d enjoy watching the team tell Barta where to stick his protocol.
Get The Picture 
That may be the most asinine statement I’ve ever read on this blog, and there have been some doozies. So if a star player gets hurt in the conference championship, do they factor that in to the mystical formula?? I believe if you stopped the meeting in the middle and collected everyone’s notes, there would be a bunch of hearts and dirty pics doodled all over the pages. Idiots.
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No need to stop the meeting, the sudden silence might wake them up. Just get in, collect the notes, and get out.
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Don’t make me defend the committee, but they’ve always had this as a part of their thinking. If a key player was missing for a team’s loss they factor that in, if said player is able to come back and the team gets back to its former self blah blah. If an entire coaching staff is awol the month of December that kinda changes the team. I doubt they would use that card, but it does make some sense. Early signing day has been a lesson in unintended consequences. The rush to fire coaches to save a recruiting class trickle down effect. What happens to Cinn if their coach bolts for ND? Two of the top 3-6 teams headless going into January. Now there’s your real shit show scenario.
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Nothing different happens with Cincy if they lose their coach.
They’re gonna get crushed in the playoff, Fickle or no.
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I think USC and LSU should get in due to their new coaches. 😂😂
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The committee is a disaster, but of course, that’s what we were all saying when the playoff was announced. The BCS had its flaws (not rewarding conference championships for one), but it generally got it right over time.
The committee isn’t transparent. It’s everything we hate about politics – back room dealing and no standards.
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I forgot … thanks to the most arrogant person in college sports, Jim Delany, for this creation.
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committee is such an inconsistent joke. that’s the stupidest “data point” imaginable. tells us all we need to know. that it’s not about best OR most deserving. it’s about the whims of a group or subjectively influenced jackasses.
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This committee shit is getting worse every year. How can you not make statements like this and not be hypocritical.
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It’s amazing how many of these people aren’t smart enough to keep their mouth shut.
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The problem is he has to go in that stupid show every week to talk about the rankings. Of course, the ESPN guys are going to ask the question.
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I could think of a 100 different ways to not answer it. Apparently he couldn’t think of one.
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I agree – athletic directors aren’t typically known for their thinking on their feet skills 😉
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Nah, they’re as arrogant as they are rich and stupid and their underlings are paid to treat them like they’re Einstein, Jack Welch, and Abe Lincoln rolled into one.
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My first thought was “holy #*!&, that’s dumb.”
My second thought is that this is sort of “chicken or the egg” scenario with the coaches. Like if OU still had a shot at making the top 4, Lincoln Riley probably doesn’t accept the USC job until after the CFP rankings are announced and he knows if they’re in or out. Similarly, if Notre Dame makes the top 4 then Brian Kelly would probably make himself available to coach those games. If not, then he’s gonna bounce to LSU right away.
That he included player availability in his comment made me scratch my head at first, but then I remembered that it’s about the four “best” teams, not “most deserving”. Say you have a top-ranked team whose success is fueled by some Heisman-winning QB, and that QB gets a season-ending injury late in the conference championship game, and they manage to eke out the win without him. Is that team as a whole still considered one of the 4 best without their star player? I think it would be pretty crappy to exclude a team in that scenario, but I guess an argument could be made.
Still, I agree with the overall point of the original post. They are just making it up as they go along.
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I’d have to think that if Brian Kelly had any inkling about coaching the Irish in the Playoff, his “See you bitches, I’m headed Lawsiana way” meeting woulda lasted longer than 2 minutes.
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Agreed. And that’s the way it should be, in my opinion. Once you announce (or it’s leaked) that your leaving for another program, just LEAVE.
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Disagree. Kirby staying at Bama was the right move. It’s all about finishing. Adults making adult decisions – and it teaches kids how to finish properly.
As George Washington sings in Hamilton, “Teach them how to say goodbye.”
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Hmmm… I wasn’t really thinking of assistants. Not sure what I think about that.
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The difference is that nobody begrudges the assistant for taking a head job. Lateral moves, head coach to head coach or coordinator to coordinator and it’s hit the road jack.
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what is really funny, is there is a scenario where ND plays Cincy in the FINALS. pretty funny
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The 4-game format has become more of a clown show than anything I remember from the BCS era. More often than not, the extra semifinal game seems superfluous. The CFP is mostly about getting airtime for the clowns that run it in the final 6 weeks of the season.
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Of the 7 Playoff years thus far, the final game has been between the teams initially ranked 1&2 only 3 times. In fact, the team initially ranked #1 has only won the title twice. That alone gives it a thumbs up from me.
The argument was always “how do you know you got 1&2 right?” The data would suggest that they generally do not.
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The committee’s statement can be described with less invective than you used. He’s trying to say they make judgments, not use wooden procedures. Not trying to say you’re wrong, but it’s not all bad.
It would be savory though, if a couple of championship games (other than ours) turn out unexpectedly, and this problem gets dumped squarely in the committee’s lap.
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Yes, they are making it up as they go along – and they should.
I hate the playoffs. Really do. And the rankings shows are even worse. A horse-shit way to squeeze every last drop of money out of the property. The cash fridge in an overpriced luxury motel.
But every year is different, and forcing a one-size-fits-all formula onto every season makes no sense at all.
As said above, this has always been part of the protocol. It was a justification for ‘17 Bama, excusing their L to Auburn to a slew of defensive injuries. They were going to slide Utah in 2 years ago if they’d won out by citing Moss’s injury against USC. Etc.
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This is exactly the way that I feel about it. I know he was asked whether or not a coach leaving could have an impact. He either says yes it could (which causes outrage) or lie and say no it doesn’t (which everyone knows to be BS). Same with players. There isn’t a set-in-stone formula and there shouldn’t be because it would be impossible if the only limiting factor is picking four. You could add other limiting factors by saying that teams that aren’t independent must be a conference champion or must at least win their division within their conference, but unless or until that happens then you will have a situation where they use nebulous and ever-changing criteria for determining the teams.
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Brian Kelly’s farewell meeting with the team was not exactly a profile in courage. Ten minutes at 7am. He must have had to get home to pack.
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Reports I heard this morning says that initial report that he gave them only 10 minutes was overblown. It was actually more like 2 minutes tops. Pretty much sounds like he stuck his head in the door and said “I got mine bitches. See ya”.
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I saw the same yesterday afternoon. A couple of minutes and he left without taking questions.
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Sounds like Greg McGarity at the Richt press conference. A couple of minutes and then ducking questions.
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Everyone seems to be forgetting that this is ESPN’s invitational post season tournament disguised as some sort of college football championship. The committee has one key job, to ensure the largest tv audience possible for ESPN. The committee is not concerned with the “best” or “most deserving”, they are concerned with which teams will bring the most interest and the largest audience to the six games that are broadcast by ESPN. Anything that would reduce the audience’s interest in a team, be it an injury to a star player, a coach leaving or any other event is a valid reason to take a team out of the playoff.
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Could be it’s a way to include Bama if they lose to Georgia this Saturday.
Saban put a bug in their ear.
“We’re about out of running backs, please consider that”.
Very few teams go through a season without losing a key player.
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I’ve said it often. If they get down to having to chose one of their 2 favorite pets for that final spot, there will be committee melt down. If they have to choose Bama over ND or vice versa, they may have to seek counseling to deal with the grief.
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I think it would be the opposite of that. If Bama was fully healthy and lost a close game to Georgia the committee would be more likely to put them in. A beat up Bama that lost to Georgia and had 2 losses on the season is not a team that will draw much of a crowd. A beat up Bama that beats Georgia makes a compelling story of a team battling through adversity to win their conference championship.
It is all about eyes on tv sets.
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I have thought for several weeks that Bama would get in with a loss in the SECCG if other top teams lost. Say Iowa beats Michigan and Oklahoma State loses to Baylor…does anyone not think that Bama still gets in and we have to beat them twice?
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Bama loses and they’re out.
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If Georgia wins, then…
It depends on how Bama lost.
Who else lost and how.
Example: If Bama loses on a last second FG, Cincy loses to Houston, while Michigan and Okie State win… then you’re probably looking at Georgia-Ok State and Michigan-Bama.
But Georgia probably wins by 2 scores or more, which removes Bama from consideration no matter what.
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I would agree unless Baylor wins the Big XII CG (certainly not out of the realm of possibility since OSU is a -5.5 favorite) and Iowa upsets Michigan. In that case I think Bama still gets in over a similarly situated two loss Michigan team that also lost in the conference championship game since Michigan is favored by double digits and that is an upset.
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I mean it sucks, but he also said the protocol is there for players, too.
So let’s say there’s a playoff team out there thoroughly dependent on their QB; if he were to get hurt in a championship game and the team loses and the QB is done for the year, that all would be used in the decision-making process.
So that’s all completely logical to me. I know Cincy’s defense is good, but if they lost Des Ridder, they should not get an invite to the Playoff. That’s just the way it should be.
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He shoulda Riley’d them.
“Let’s just stop this right now. We are not leaving Georgia out of the playoff. Next Question.”
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So sad how honesty is no longer chosen by public figures. From the beginning the BCS and now CFP should not have been declared a “Playoff”. Just a new higher tier bowl structure to ensure more potentially interesting matchups for TV. No one would have fussed (except the Rose Bowl, who are still fussing while they count their extra money). Then after the bowls are over, same committee selects 2 teams to play for the “College Football BOWL Championship” from the winners of the top tier bowls. Totally subjective, but usually obvious. Admit it’s made for TV because there is and will never be a good system for major college football to fit into an NFL type playoff system. NFL lite fans will grumble, but the rest of us would have enjoyed the ride. Conference championships would truly mean something again too.
And the 2008 Georgia team might have even been in it!
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Not sure why this is an issue. Fuck Notre Dame.
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