College Football 2023-Year of The Dawgs?

[Marrila]

1. Alabama had a higher strength of schedule than any of the teams in the playoffs (and Georgia and FSU). Strength of schedule matters.
2. Georgia is probably the best team in college football but they had the worse side of an Alabama-Georgia game because it’s 2 teams that have a good rivalry And they play competitive games together.
3. Michigan should never have been in the playoffs because they should have been disqualified because….cheating matters.
4. I really do get the sour grapes from FSU fans, but…they were ranked #50 in strength of schedule. Their 1st string quarterback was out. Alabama beat the #1 team in college football. It’s not that complicated. Do I think they should have been in over Michigan? Yes. But that not what happened.
5. FSU’s players sitting out in that bowl game made them look ridiculous. It would have been a good opportunity for them to win a game against the (probably) best team in football and prove they belonged in the playoffs. (Really I think they knew they were going to get blown out either way but took the easy road of being able to say “but the opt-outs!).

A loss is always hard to take, but I'm sure Alabama will be a contender again next year.

 

[Disneychick13]

A loss is always hard to take, but I'm sure Alabama will be a contender again next year.

I would have happily watched FSU beat Alabama. Michigan cheated and shouldn’t have been in the playoffs. That’s a separate issue than if Michigan beat Alabama legitimately (and they did, they were the better team yesterday). The question is were all of their games leading up to the playoffs legitimate (ie would they have won those games if not for cheating). I guess that’s one of those ”we’ll never know” things, right?

 

[robinb]

LOL.

Whoops.
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Now that's some hard core rival hatred right there.

I wonder what it says about me when I thought, “Ha! Double losers!”?

 

[GreatLakes]

Two one-score games in the semi-finals is a good indication that the teams that got in are evenly matched and all deserved to be there. Personally I think the best team in college football is still Georgia, and I say that as an Ohio State fan, but they lost their head to head and can't blame anyone but themselves about not being there.

 

[robinb]

I, for one, am really excited for a two B1G NC. One in the B1G now, one joining next year.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Sooo...
If we would have just played the old-school Rose Bowl before all the playoff nonsense, we'd already know who the National Champion is - amiright?

Gotta love the irony in that. You can go back and search it if you like, but I called it at the time - the championship was decided on a missed Oregon field goal on October 14.

 

[sam_gordon]

Sooo...
If we would have just played the old-school Rose Bowl before all the playoff nonsense, we'd already know who the National Champion is - amiright?

Who? You can make an argument for both Michigan and Washington. Either one you pick, the other team would be crying as much as FSU.

 

[robinb]

Who? You can make an argument for both Michigan and Washington. Either one you pick, the other team would be crying as much as FSU.

I read his comment to say that the Rose Bowl used to be Big Ten v/s Pac 10/12. Michigan is a Big Ten team and Washington is currently a Pac 12 team. The Rose Bowl was yesterday and in a traditional Big Ten/Pac 12 game the two team have already met and a victor determined.

 

[GAN]

So a pair of undefeated teams beat a pair of one loss teams. It's almost as if Power Five undefeated teams are the best. It's a shame there weren't more available.
Oh.
There was. Yeah but their quarterback was hurt. Makes sense now. It would have been embarrassing. I mean, no way their backup manages [checks notes], 116 yards passing and 21 yards rushing. Great job, Committee.
Lol. Well, maybe those QB stats just mean more when an SEC player puts them up.
And to be clear, the point is not that Alabama made it competitive (mostly because Michigan special teams had their worst game in several years) but that FSU deserved its shot.
To be fair, Milroe did fairly well given how bad his O-line is, which is atrocious. How does a conference end up with a champion with line play that poor?
Poor little SEC.

No. They didn't deserve "its shot." They weren't one of the Top 4 best teams in the eyes of the Selection Committee. Just get over it already and prepare to be in it next year to show 95% of College football fans what they're all missing.

 

[sam_gordon]

I read his comment to say that the Rose Bowl used to be Big Ten v/s Pac 10/12. Michigan is a Big Ten team and Washington is currently a Pac 12 team. The Rose Bowl was yesterday and in a traditional Big Ten/Pac 12 game the two team have already met and a victor determined.

Ah, thank you. FSU would still be complaining.

 

[jimmymc]

So a pair of undefeated teams beat a pair of one loss teams. It's almost as if Power Five undefeated teams are the best. It's a shame there weren't more available.
Oh.
There was. Yeah but their quarterback was hurt. Makes sense now. It would have been embarrassing. I mean, no way their backup manages [checks notes], 116 yards passing and 21 yards rushing. Great job, Committee.
Lol. Well, maybe those QB stats just mean more when an SEC player puts them up.
And to be clear, the point is not that Alabama made it competitive (mostly because Michigan special teams had their worst game in several years) but that FSU deserved its shot.
To be fair, Milroe did fairly well given how bad his O-line is, which is atrocious. How does a conference end up with a champion with line play that poor?
Poor little SEC.

Those are 116 SEC quality loss yards. They just mean more.

 

[hopemax]

1. Alabama had a higher strength of schedule than any of the teams in the playoffs (and Georgia and FSU). Strength of schedule matters.
2. Georgia is probably the best team in college football but they had the worse side of an Alabama-Georgia game because it’s 2 teams that have a good rivalry And they play competitive games together.
3. Michigan should never have been in the playoffs because they should have been disqualified because….cheating matters.
4. I really do get the sour grapes from FSU fans, but…they were ranked #50 in strength of schedule. Their 1st string quarterback was out. Alabama beat the #1 team in college football. It’s not that complicated. Do I think they should have been in over Michigan? Yes. But that not what happened.

Let's look at how the committee viewed SoS, and the other statistics they claim matter when it came to the other playoff teams. Wins vs Top 25 teams. UW: 5, Mich: 3. SoS UW: 11 Mich: 33. SOR UW: 1 Mich: 2. Which team was #1 again?

The committee has been talking out of both sides of their mouth about what is important all season, and it doesn't match up. Maybe non-UW fans didn't listen in the previous weeks about how the committee explained why FSU was a better team than Washington again and again, despite UW playing and beating ranked opponents... right up until the point that Jordan Travis got injured. An ACC schedule was sufficient, lack of Top 25 matchups, it was fine. FSU got left out because the committee didn’t think a backup QB could hold up against their potential matchup. Despite winning the final two games. But that is not how we normally determine who gets to play in sports playoffs, is it? Not at the youth level, not at the professional level. It’s still so obvious to UW fans that after last night’s victory there are still a bunch of jokes related to the committee trying to figure out how they could swap in Georgia or Alabama instead of Washington.

The committee probably hoped that FSU would lose naturally in one of the final two games, Georgia would win out, or Oregon would beat UW in the Pac12 championship and when that didn’t happen had to come up with some sort of explanation. The failures of the committee over the years, is why the rest of the college football kept moving to giving mid-major / Group of 5 schools a spot in a NY6 bowl, and unltimately what we'll have next year in an expanded playoff. Which boils down to giving the best teams in other conferences a chance to prove their worth through *victories*. That's why FSU's snub is so egregious. They did that and not only the committee but other fans are still saying it wasn't enough.

 

[sam_gordon]

Why are the FSU defenders pissed at Alabama making it? Shouldn't they be pissed at Texas?

Texas beats #22 in the conference championship game and moves up four spots?
Alabama at least beat the #1 team in the country. If they lose against Georgia, the SEC champion is STILL in the CFB as is the B1G champion.

Next year teams will STILL be *****ing about being left out of the playoffs.

 

[hopemax]

Why are the FSU defenders pissed at Alabama making it? Shouldn't they be pissed at Texas?
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Texas beats #22 in the conference championship game and moves up four spots?
Alabama at least beat the #1 team in the country. If they lose against Georgia, the SEC champion is STILL in the CFB as is the B1G champion.

Next year teams will STILL be *****ing about being left out of the playoffs.

Because in most other sports from youth to professional, head-to-head matchups matter, and are often codified into tiebreaker rules. Texas beat Alabama head to head. Football fans understand this. The committee actually demonstrates they understood this concept, which is why they took Texas and Alabama.

 

[sam_gordon]

Because in most other sports from youth to professional, head-to-head matchups matter, and are often codified into tiebreaker rules. Texas beat Alabama head to head. Football fans understand this. The committee actually demonstrates they understood this concept, which is why they took Texas and Alabama.

And in most other sports, head to head only comes up in tie breakers. So that explains why Texas was ranked ahead of Alabama. Doesn't explain why Texas jumped over FSU. FSU fans are complaining because they weren't #4. Shouldn't they have been #3? Assuming Michigan & Washington 1 & 2.

Texas had one loss to a team ranked below them.

 

[hopemax]

And in most other sports, head to head only comes up in tie breakers. So that explains why Texas was ranked ahead of Alabama. Doesn't explain why Texas jumped over FSU. FSU fans are complaining because they weren't #4. Shouldn't they have been #3? Assuming Michigan & Washington 1 & 2.

Texas had one loss to a team ranked below them.

Yes. The actual top 4 should have been UW, Mich, FSU and Texas. But the committee showed their hand. Leaving the SEC champion out was unacceptable. That's the crux. It's Alabama's inclusion that caused the problem, not Texas' inclusion. The committee knew they couldn't include Alabama and justify keeping out Texas, so they didn't. Plus, they ranked Texas 3rd to make sure people understood that the committee wasn't discounting Texas' victory. So with Alabama slotted at 4, then it's a short-hand to make the case to swap in FSU, not muddy things by quibbling about the order. Every year there is quibbling between 3 & 4. Had FSU actually been 4, there would have been quibbling.

 

[sam_gordon]

Yes. The actual top 4 should have been UW, Mich, FSU and Texas. But the committee showed their hand. Leaving the SEC champion out was unacceptable. That's the crux. It's Alabama's inclusion that caused the problem, not Texas' inclusion. The committee knew they couldn't include Alabama and justify keeping out Texas, so they didn't. Plus, they ranked Texas 3rd to make sure people understood that the committee wasn't discounting Texas' victory. So with Alabama slotted at 4, then it's a short-hand to make the case to swap in FSU, not muddy things by quibbling about the order. Every year there is quibbling between 3 & 4. Had FSU actually been 4, there would have been quibbling.

So we're back to no matter what team they leave out, someone is screaming.
If FSU stays in and Alabama out,, Alabama has the argument "We beat the #1 team."
If Alabama is in and Texas out, Texas says "We beat them."
Michigan, Washington, and FSU all have the "We're undefeated." (As does Liberty, but they don't count. )

For the record, only the ACC & MAC had losing records in bowl games.

 

[hopemax]

So we're back to no matter what team they leave out, someone is screaming.
If FSU stays in and Alabama out,, Alabama has the argument "We beat the #1 team."
If Alabama is in and Texas out, Texas says "We beat them."
Michigan, Washington, and FSU all have the "We're undefeated." (As does Liberty, but they don't count. )

For the record, only the ACC & MAC had losing records in bowl games.

Let's try leaving out an NFL team because their QB got injured and not their record and then let's see how the "Someone is getting left out, so we have to treat all the justifications as equal," reasoning plays. In any other sport, or at any other level that and Alabama's justification will be rightfully rejected as being insufficient to counter teams actual records and head-to-head matchups.

 

[soccerdad72]

Let's try leaving out an NFL team because their QB got injured and not their record and then let's see how the "Someone is getting left out, so we have to treat all the justifications as equal," reasoning plays. In any other sport, or at any other level that and Alabama's justification will be rightfully rejected as being insufficient to counter teams actual records and head-to-head matchups.

It's not a good analogy to compare college football with the NFL. The NFL has a lot more common opponents than college football does, so a team's record at the end of the year can be compared with the other 31 teams (15 if you're just comparing by conference) much better than in college, where the top 8-10 teams may have 1 or 2 common opponents, if any.

 

[sam_gordon]

Let's try leaving out an NFL team because their QB got injured and not their record and then let's see how the "Someone is getting left out, so we have to treat all the justifications as equal," reasoning plays. In any other sport, or at any other level that and Alabama's justification will be rightfully rejected as being insufficient to counter teams actual records and head-to-head matchups.

Based on "actual records", Liberty should have been in the CFP. Are you actually arguing for that? There were four undefeated teams, right? Four slots in the playoffs. Perfect! No? Liberty's not a good enough team to be in the playoffs? Why not? They were undefeated and "actual records" is what should be followed, not SoS.