OT: College Football

[RiverDog]

Playing off on some comments made in our newest spammer thread...

The college football playoffs are only marginally better than the old BCS that no one liked. Teams from the SEC still get favored while deserving teams from the Pac 12 and other areas are consistently snubbed, and this season is no different.

Up until this weekend, Oregon was having a great season, having run off 9 straight wins after losing a close game to top 25 team in Auburn, yet they were still a long shot to make the playoffs. The reason: The SEC. Undefeated LSU recently handed Alabama their first loss of the season (as Obi noted, the Tide plays a marshmallow non conference schedule), which opened up the prospect of the SEC sending two teams to the playoffs, with the other two most likely candidates being LSU or Georgia as they look to meet in the SEC Championship game. Couple that with undefeated Ohio State and defending champ Clemson claiming the remaining two spots fills out the field, leaving two Power 5 conference champs out of the playoffs.

I was hoping that Oregon would run the table, not necessarily because I'm a fan of the Ducks, but because it would ignite a controversy and might force the NCAA to expand the playoffs to either 6 or 8 teams. But now that the Ducks experienced a really bad loss to unranked ASU, their argument has been reduced from a demand to a pretty please. I'm now rooting for Utah to run the table, although they wouldn't produce the same stink that Oregon would.

Comments?

[NorthHawk]

I was watching a halftime show and Urban Meyer was talking about Utah and said he thought they were the best
team outside of LSU and probably as good as the top 3 or 4 ranked teams. Solid on both sides of the ball.
If they run the table, I hope they get the nod - at least for variety sake. The same old teams gets boring.

I'm not sure Alabama will do much damage without Tua, but maybe their system is so solid they can withstand
losing their starting QB. If so, it might make any QB from that system suspect in the draft because of the
plug and play nature of their QB program.

[RiverDog]

I was watching a halftime show and Urban Meyer was talking about Utah and said he thought they were the best
team outside of LSU and probably as good as the top 3 or 4 ranked teams. Solid on both sides of the ball.
If they run the table, I hope they get the nod - at least for variety sake. The same old teams gets boring.

I'm not sure Alabama will do much damage without Tua, but maybe their system is so solid they can withstand
losing their starting QB. If so, it might make any QB from that system suspect in the draft because of the
plug and play nature of their QB program.

Utah lost to an unranked team albeit it a well recognized CFB giant in USC. The problem is that Alabama lost to the #1 team in the nation in a close game so a beauty contest would favor them. The only way Utah gets in is if they run the table and either Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson loses, and even that might not be enough.

For decades, I've argued for an 8 team playoff format that would still preserve the major bowls as they could be used on NYD as quarter final sites. 8 teams would allow for automatic bids for the Power 5 conference champs and 3 at large slots, which would make it possible for a deserving mid major like Boise State to advance.

[c_hawkbob]

The Urban Meyer Utes were a big part of the reason we now have a playoff system, maybe the current version can be the catalyst for expanding it.

[RiverDog]

The Urban Meyer Utes were a big part of the reason we now have a playoff system, maybe the current version can be the catalyst for expanding it.

As a rule, I'd be rooting for Oregon, but after their loss to ASU, they're done as far as the playoffs go. If Utah wins out, they'd either make the playoffs or present a strong case for expanding them, so with apologies to Obi, I'll be rooting for the Utes.

[c_hawkbob]

Good on ya!

I will too of course, but that's to be expected.

[jshawaii22]

Utah lost to an unranked team albeit it a well recognized CFB giant in USC. The problem is that Alabama lost to the #1 team in the nation in a close game so a beauty contest would favor them. The only way Utah gets in is if they run the table and either Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson loses, and even that might not be enough.

The difference is a team playing and winning the conference "Championship Game" weighs heavy in the configuration. Utah can be that team, Alabama can't. That's a big + for the Pac12. Of course, Utah still has to win the games. Who had Arizona St. on Saturday against the Ducks?

[RiverDog]

Utah lost to an unranked team albeit it a well recognized CFB giant in USC. The problem is that Alabama lost to the #1 team in the nation in a close game so a beauty contest would favor them. The only way Utah gets in is if they run the table and either Alabama, Ohio State, or Clemson loses, and even that might not be enough.

The difference is a team playing and winning the conference "Championship Game" weighs heavy in the configuration. Utah can be that team, Alabama can't. That's a big + for the Pac12. Of course, Utah still has to win the games. Who had Arizona St. on Saturday against the Ducks?

That's the way it should be, but I'm not convinced that's how it will play out. The current playoff standings has 3 SEC teams in the top 5. If Alabama beats Auburn this week, I'm betting that the SEC will advance 2 teams to the CFP, and it doesn't necessarily have to include Alabama. If the SEC game is very close with Georgia coming out on top, I can see them advancing LSU over Utah/Oklahoma even if both those teams win out.

[RiverDog]

I was hoping that Utah would win in the Pac 12 championship game last night as they had a better chance of advancing in the CFP but Oregon was obviously the better team. It sucks that a Pac 12 team can't get any respect, but they haven't done much recently to deserve any, being the only Power 5 conference with a losing bowl record last season, an embarrassing 1-8 bowl record two years ago, and their league champ having lost to the #4 team in the SEC this season. You have to earn respect.

Ohio State looks really tough this year as they dominated a very good Michigan team on the road last week. No one's even come close to beating them as they've won every game by at least two scores.

I'm watching a very entertaining, competitive game between Oklahoma and Baylor, with two more headliner games later today with Georgia vs. LSU in the SEC championship game and the aforementioned Ohio State against Wisconsin in the Big 10 title game.

Nice warm-up for a big day tomorrow..Niners-Saints, Ravens-Bills, and Chiefs-Patriots capped off with my Seahawks playing on SNF. What more could a football junkie ask for?

[c_hawkbob]

That Utes loss sucked almost as bad as a Seahawks loss tomorrow would ...

[obiken]

Not to me, I am Duck Alum!!

[obiken]

That Utes loss sucked almost as bad as a Seahawks loss tomorrow would ...

We would only be in trouble IF the Niners won in NO, and we lost to the Rams. I like the odds, CB.

[RiverDog]

That Utes loss sucked almost as bad as a Seahawks loss tomorrow would ...

We would only be in trouble IF the Niners won in NO, and we lost to the Rams. I like the odds, CB.

Not really. As it stands now, if we were to lose in Week 17 yet end up being tied with the Niners, the tiebreaker would go all the way to strength of victory of which we currently own and are likely to maintain. If both us and the Niners lose tomorrow, we will have a worse division record and they would own the tiebreaker. It could mean the difference between a first round bye and a #5 seed.

The way things are lining up, with the two of the three teams with the best records in the conference being in the same division, these last 4 games are hugely important.

[obiken]

Okay, I see your point, but River, we are coming off of Monday night on the road, and the Rams are hotter than a 3 dollar pistol, we will be lucky to win this game. One always hope with RW!

[RiverDog]

Okay, I see your point, but River, we are coming off of Monday night on the road, and the Rams are hotter than a 3 dollar pistol, we will be lucky to win this game. One always hope with RW!

The Rams are only two weeks displaced from an absolute beetch slapping by the Ravens, then beat up on one of the worst teams in the league last week, so I wouldn't say that they're "hotter than a 3 dollar pistol". We're playing at our peak and are as healthy now as we have been all season. Weather shouldn't be a factor. IMO we win this game by two scores.

[trents]

Ducks' AD made a tactical error in scheduling an early season game with an SEC powerhouse in their house.

I understand they were trying to improve their perceived strength of schedule factor but they took too big a risk. It would have been smarter to schedule a game with team not considered to be a pansy win but something less than Auburn.

[RiverDog]

Ducks' AD made a tactical error in scheduling an early season game with an SEC powerhouse in their house.

It wasn't exactly in "their house" as it was in Arlington, TX, but it's a short drive from Baton Rouge.

The problem with Oregon and the rest of the Pac 12 is that they don't have a lot of top flight programs within the conference like they do in the SEC, so they aren't going to get as many beauty points for winning conference games. Alabama, on the other hand, has teams like LSU, Texas A&M, and Auburn in their division that you can count on being ranked in the top 25 each season in addition to the Floridas and Georgias that are there on a rotational basis so they don't have to schedule tough intersectional contests to look good in front of the playoff committee.

The other thing to consider is recruiting. The Pac 12, particularly the northwest teams, need to get exposure in the big markets of the southeast and east coast in places like Texas, Florida, etc, if they hope to attract top players outside of the west coast.

My hat's off to Oregon for having the guts to schedule a tough team away from home like that. WSU, on the other hand, hasn't played a single regular season non conference game against a Power 5 school since 2013.

[obiken]

The Rams are only two weeks displaced from an absolute beetch slapping by the Ravens, then beat up on one of the worst teams in the league last week, so I wouldn't say that they're "hotter than a 3 dollar pistol". We're playing at our peak and are as healthy now as we have been all season. Weather shouldn't be a factor. IMO we win this game by two scores.

Riv, I think the words: I told you so, do not adequately describe how I feel right now.