College Football Playoffs

[ClassVI]

AP has Army at #19. I would hope the CFP Committee has us higher.

[Armyfaninpa]

Sorry to be so late and obviously uninformed about the playoff structure, but I'm looking at the brackets in complete disbelief. Boise ranked #3 and Arizona State ranked #4 both getting first round byes, while Texas, Tennessee, Ohio State , Notre Dame, Penn State all have to battle it out in order to make to the QF round? How is this even remotely possible? I've never once heard either Boise or ASU once mentioned as contenders for the NC and yet they get a free pass - based on what criteria?

Remember when we wee told that the reason for the CFP was to determine the who's the best in the country by settling the issue on the field? I dont see either the #3 or #4 seed finishing in the upper half of the SEC. What a farce.

[neumanna1]

The top 4 conference winners get Byes.

[Armyfaninpa]

The top 4 conference winners get Byes.

Thanks> I guess it makes sense from that perspective. It's kind of interesting that all the emphasis on SOS in determining ranking in the polls works in exactly the opposite direction when determining tournament seedings. The weaker the schedule, the better off you are. Just seems a bit weird to me.

[PrideandDream]

it is weird because I believe the assumption, when they put it together, was that the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC would all have conference champions that looked pretty legit and got 1st round byes. Well not so fast my friend. Not only did the Mountain West Sneak in with Boise but the Big 12 wound up as a disaster and all the conference realignment and expansion created scenarios with huge conferences that allowed for weaker schedules and not to have the best vs the best in each conference. Ironically the SEC only added 2 teams and stay relatively strong and has some parity but because they got rid of the Divisions (east and west) you didn't have to win the division through head to head, same with other conferences, and in the SECs case you wind up with 3 loss Alabama and 3 loss Ole Miss meanwhile UGA beats UT twice and both get in? I mean it's a mess. But I don't think the playoff committee ever saw any of this coming because they don't control the conferences. This is only going to accelerate change going forward.
PD

[kfan12]

Sorry to be so late and obviously uninformed about the playoff structure, but I'm looking at the brackets in complete disbelief. Boise ranked #3 and Arizona State ranked #4 both getting first round byes, while Texas, Tennessee, Ohio State , Notre Dame, Penn State all have to battle it out in order to make to the QF round? How is this even remotely possible? I've never once heard either Boise or ASU once mentioned as contenders for the NC and yet they get a free pass - based on what criteria?

Remember when we wee told that the reason for the CFP was to determine the who's the best in the country by settling the issue on the field? I dont see either the #3 or #4 seed finishing in the upper half of the SEC. What a farce.

I disagree. The second third of the SEC is overrated year after year, to pump up the conference and ensure it gets the $$ associated with contention for the biggest bowls and national championship. We will see if Az State and Boise are competitive against the top of the P4 conferences, but the reality is, and has been for decades, that the SEC feasts off of week1 rankings and the concentration of sports writers in the SouthEast and East of the country.

[kfan12]

it is weird because I believe the assumption, when they put it together, was that the SEC, Big 10, Big 12, and ACC would all have conference champions that looked pretty legit and got 1st round byes. Well not so fast my friend. Not only did the Mountain West Sneak in with Boise but the Big 12 wound up as a disaster and all the conference realignment and expansion created scenarios with huge conferences that allowed for weaker schedules and not to have the best vs the best in each conference. Ironically the SEC only added 2 teams and stay relatively strong and has some parity but because they got rid of the Divisions (east and west) you didn't have to win the division through head to head, same with other conferences, and in the SECs case you wind up with 3 loss Alabama and 3 loss Ole Miss meanwhile UGA beats UT twice and both get in? I mean it's a mess. But I don't think the playoff committee ever saw any of this coming because they don't control the conferences. This is only going to accelerate change going forward.
PD

This is a case of you get what you ask for. The SEC and Big12 have been living off this perception they were better than everyone else, yet, TEXAS goes into the SEC and is in the championship game year1 after all the talk of "if you were in the SEC, you would finish .500". Oregon wins the Big10, year one coming from the PAC12. AZ State wins the Big12, year one coming from the PAC12. Teams can now use NIL to pay players as some of these big schools have been doing for decades under the table; hello Alabama. So yeah, let's hope Boise or AZ State or ND win the whole thing. The travesty here is that the SEC and BIG12 conferences have colluded with the sports media to try to lock others out of the biggest pay days. Would be really good to find a way to end that and this perception that 8-3 Alabama should be in the playoff because they got lucky against a conference rival even though they lost twice to unranked teams, simply with the justification that they are in the SEC.