One thing coming out of last night’s conversations – it sounds like the teams who are NOT playing in a conference championship are locked where they are.
So, questions:
- If Penn State loses to Oregon and now has two losses, doesn’t that diminish Ohio State’s lone win? What if it’s a blowout loss?
- If SMU beats Clemson, and SMU lost to BYU, and BYU defeated a conference champion…why isn’t BYU in the conversation?
- If Georgia beats Texas again, Texas would officially have one “good” win – against a Texas A&M team that is now an afterthought in the CFP. Since Carolina whacked TAMU, how does USC Jr’s resume look much worse against Texas’s? Considering the Cocks got jobbed by refs and the refs are clearly the Longhorn’s friend, I don’t see this getting much thought.
Also, a Lewd Manure said on the CFP call last night that SMU could possibly drop below Alabama with a loss in the ACC Championship game, which, reminding everyone is against a Clemson team that lost to TWO SEC teams. Yet, with a win, would be seeded higher than SEC teams.
Meanwhile, it’s looking like fully one-third of the CFP will be composed of B1G teams. Penn State’s lone resume shine is a win against *checks notes* Illinois? And a “good loss” to tOSU, despite their inability to score an offensive touchdown against the Fuckeyes, which just lost to a team that abandoned the forward pass after getting trounced by Texas. No, I’m not talking about Iowa, either. Indiana hasn’t beaten anything with a pulse and got killed by the team that just lost to an unranked team that decided to get in the Wayback Machine and run the 2024 Notre Dame Box offense, in theory.
Which brings us to Georgia – Montgomery Ward Manual made a point to mention that TCU lost in their Conference Championship Game in 2022 and didn’t drop in the final polls. Yet, as you saw above, he did say SMU could fall. Sooooooo, Ward, which is it? If the non-participants get a lock, why not the conference champ participants…a promise to merely flip-flop in the rankings and replace the other while non-participants remain static?
Nah, this is the part of the story wherein the hero gets proper fucked. Georgia already fell the most by any team in the rankings after losing to Ole Miss, while Ohio State merely shuffles down the CFP home game list by four points, so you know where this is inevitably going. Warde is a Michigan guy, and those folks up there hold grudges, and he’s clearly got one against Georgia and likely South Carolina after Clowney killed Michigan a ways back. Alabama is okay since they dropped the snap against Michigan paving the way for their asterisk-informed “championship” last season.
So Georgia would get to host Indiana at $220 per ticket…but if Georgia loses, look at what the Committee would be arranging to happen. Georgia would likely drop down, Alabama moves up, Tennessee moves up, you would then get:
- Alabama (10) at Ohio State (7) – Blue Blood play-in battle $$$$$ – Winner plays Texass $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ (they get the Alabama Texas matchup they wanted in the first place)
- Indiana (9) at Tennessee (8) – “High Powered Offenses” battle it out $$$ – Gives easier pathway for Oregon and a B1G championship
- Georgia (11) at Notre Dame (6) – The two most universally hated programs in the country face off $$$$$ – Beyond this, if SMU is the 3 seed, I can only imagine this is being done to give Notre Dame an easier pathway to the Playoffs, perceiving that Georgia can’t win in South Bend.
If Georgia wins, and SMU wins, I’m assuming they move Georgia to the 3 seed and SMU to the 2 seed. If this happens: Texas drops to 6, plays Alabama, matchup they wanted, right – plus…big bonus – ANOTHER GAME AGAINST GEORGIA $$$$$$$$$. Let the SEC kill each other and increase the chance to get a B1G champ.
At this point, I have to say they’re not even trying to hide it. The objective is clear, and it’s not favoring Georgia at all. I know I’ll watch, but at this point, it’s in the bag. The prerogative was simple – improve the B1G brand, diminish the SEC, and uptick the bloodlust thirst for OOC competition until the two conferences organically merge. Remember this happened:
Looks like a conference from a hotel lobby. That fits, because hotels are where people go to cheat on their spouses, and these two have committed an infidelity that will corrode the game we love for years to come.
Looks like it’s high time for a divorce. No doubt, they can pay the fucking alimony.
I’m on-record as hating this current system. The current controversy will only serve as an excuse to make the damn thing even larger in 2026 where we can have the same stupid arguments over the 15-18 or 23-26 teams.
Can we even sell out the stadium in Dec. 20-21 with the students away and the prices set at that level? At some point, the fans have to say enough is enought with this constant gouging.
Student tickets are $25 each. Going to be interesting if they can get the students back to campus the weekend before Christmas.
Personally, I’ll be ordering my tickets for a friend to use. We’ve had a trip prior to Christmas planned for months. I just don’t see how this ends up working especially at $200+ a ticket for a seat I normally pay $75 for.
That’s cute you think they care about fans in the stadium. They are just background for the reality TV show they’re broadcasting. If there aren’t any people there, they can just green screen it.
I wish they would just call it the Disney Invitational Tournament and crown the winner the tournament champion. Go back to the AP giving a trophy for the season champion.
Anyone that acted like this wouldn’t be fucked up was in denial.
I watched that crap last night then I immediately downloaded an anti porn device to my TV then ran and took a shower.
Anti-porn or Auntie-porn?
Sign me up for the 3rd or 6th seed.
Excellent post. Chef ‘s kiss at the end was perfect. I honestly have not seen any national sports media (excluding espn homers) liking any of this. Oregon vs SMU, Boise, Vols or Clemson in the final will kill the ratings. No major media market, no Cinderella story and a 60-3 blowout for Nike/Lanning.
Andy Staples loves this, and he’s called people names who disagree. The CFB media loves this. It’s clicks and engagement, and they have a platform for their hot takes.
The people who don’t like it are those of us who liked the regional nature of the sport and thought a bowl game win and a conference championship were enjoyable.
Why do we even play the games? Just let the committee pick who they want to be champion. The pre-BCS era made more sense than this.
I told a friend of mine last that Bama doesn’t even need to play a regular season.
This creates more cash for all involved. When in doubt of anything regarding CFB now just default to what generates more money and you’re never wrong.
“The prerogative was simple – improve the B1G brand, diminish the SEC.”
Improving the Big Integer brand is part of it. If the SEC is f’ed in the process, well, that apparently isn’t bothering Mickey. As we’ve said before, TV ad revenue is what’s driving all of this. Disney will contort the system, using the committee invertebrates as a diversion, to wind up with whatever matchups they think will get the most eyeballs. “Best” and “deserve” have little to nothing to do with it.
We knew it would be a clusterphuck when they set it up. Re-alignment makes it look worse with smu and boise taking top seeds while so many blue bloods had shit seasons. But beat Texas and don’t worry about it.
If I have to go to Indiana in December I’m gonna be pissed!
It would be a good precedent to give a championship game participant a seed higher than the third team in, home games in Austin/Athens either way. Creates a bit of a buffer for that money making machine as well. No more stupid laner talk of not wanting to make it in.
The issue that the CFP architects didn’t come to grips with is the fallacy that all wins and losses are equal. That has to be your frame of reference if you compare a 1-loss Boise St to a 3-loss Alabama/South Carolina/Ole Miss and decide that Boise State is better/more deserving/whatever. The fallacy is baked into the system. They don’t have a good way to evaluate strength of schedule besides their own rankings, so they default first to the number in the loss column, then punish teams who don’t have the same brand recognition and didn’t play anyone.
For example… how is Penn State 6 spots ahead of Indiana? The win against 6-6 West Virginia? They are each 11-1, tied for second place in the Big Ten, with their sole loss to Ohio State. Penn State lost at home, Indiana lost on the road. What is the deciding factor between the two teams’ resumes and the great disparity in the ranking? Why is Indiana behind Ohio State? Indiana has fewer losses and beat Michigan, which Ohio State did not do. What is Ohio State’s argument that doesn’t match UGA’s over Texas?
Very true. I was listening to the radio last week and Chuck Oliver on 680 was, to my surprise, arguing that losses are just losses and essentially buttressing the committee’s argument about the loss column. I wanted to rip out the radio and fling it out the window. His argument was centered on how in the NFL a loss is just a loss and that there aren’t good losses or bad losses when it comes to the playoffs. Which is, frankly, an asinine argument for more reasons than I have time to list. The fact is that in the college game, with unbalanced schedules and a playoff path that is largely dependent on factors beyond a team’s control, the only differential between similarly situated teams must come down to is good wins, losses and bad losses and who each team plays during the season.
Alabama mustering a single field goal and losing to a 5-5 OU team by three touchdowns at the end of the season should mean something. Ohio State scoring ten points at home and losing to a 6-5 Michigan team outside the top 25 should mean something. Texas beating one team all season with a pulse should mean something. It should mean something when, for example, comparing Tennessee and Georgia each being 10-2 but Georgia playing two ACC opponents (one of which is in the ACCCG and the other with a 7-5 record) and Tennessee’s only real OOC game being an NC State team that finished .500 overall, under .500 in conference, and 12th in the ACC.
It is maddening to me that a committee that bases its entire process on subjectivity can, with a straight face, sit there and talk about the loss column number being more important than a team’s schedule, who they lost to, and who they beat. Other than FSU fans trying to get Congressional hearings on the CFP, did anything think that FSU deserved to be in the playoff even though they were 13-0 based on how they looked after Jordan Travis got injured? The committee sure didn’t.
I’m not sure how everyone not playing in a conf championship can be locked in. Someone has to win the Big12 and they will be vaulted into the top 5. That winner will come from outside the 12 team ranks. Likewise, if Clemson wins the ACC they will also come from the outside of the 12 teams ranks and move into the top 5. Same with UNLV; straight to the top 5. This scenario right here would bump out 3 teams because you have to make room for those 3 winners. There will be lots of crying if this happens.
This rule where they have to put the top 5 ranked conference champions in the top 5 slots is stupid. UNLV could go from #20 to #5 with a win over Iowa St. Crazy…
The top 4 CCs get the 1-4 slots. The 5th is at the mercy of the rankings. They may be 5, but they can also be #12.
Ok, you are right. I just re-read the rules.
This is so broken… Boise State and SMU will both get byes to quarter finals, despite the fact they have played no one of substance. Meanwhile, Texas and Georgia look to be guaranteed a rematch of the SEC Championship Game in a quarterfinal game no matter the outcome of SEC CG. (I guess Texas could bounce ND in the rankings).
Someone suggested that after the first round play-offs, all of the winners should get reseeded, to reflect how well they are playing at that time. (which would help eliminate UGA /Texas quarterfinal match-up)
This is beyond ridiculous
This playoff thing is the dumbest idea TV people have ever dropped out of their butts.
I hope every football fan is pissed and TV get screwed. Dump the whole thing next year and start over.
Please.
GO DAWGS
I hate that I have to pull for Clemson this weekend, because Fuck Bama. What sucks is that, even if the soon-to-be-portal-king Dabos win and get the auto-bid, these assholes will still find some justification to keep the tide in the mix.
Lighten up and put away the tin foil hats for a minute, we are still the highest ranked 10-2 team;)
The mistake is trying to use logic to understand what they’re doing. The only way it makes sense is through the money lens. They’ve ruined it
This is the absolute worst system we’ve ever had. Even no system was better than this. The committee’s own explanations for where they place teams and why they put them there make absolutely no sense whatsoever. At least one goal appears to be to leave someone outside (Clemson) with an opportunity to jump back in, creating the football equivalent of a Cinderella team. And we all know the 12 team field won’t last long before it’s expanded. I hope the SEC has both the sense and balls to cancel any further championship games. Teams playing in these games get screwed under the current system.