I think they got the right 4 teams this year. I couldn't justify Stanford over any of them and certainly not Iowa or Ohio St. Notre Dame lost to Stanford (and Clemson). They had a pretty easy year. It was the rest of the bowl pairings that were lousy.

Now they didn't have any choice with Oklahoma St. They won the tiebreaks for the Sugar slot. And while Baylor looked good against UNC, they were without their top 2 QBs, top RB and top WR. UNC was probably much over-rated. TCU will be without their star QB. But with everyone healthy, pretty much everyone views Oklahoma St. as the 4th best in the Big 12. They got gift wins from the refs vs. both KSU and Texas. Could have easily been 8-4.

Everything is coming up Milhouse for NIU fans. Fired our OC who was way past his prime and all these crushing losses are making our game an afterthought

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(01-01-2016 09:12 PM)Hopeful Wrote:  Regardless, I believe the two best teams in the country are going to play for the championship. It sucks that Ohio State and Stanford didn't get the opportunity, but there was no way they had the right over the teams that made it in.

That's right. An 8-team playoff would have room for those teams, but not a 4-team playoff. Maybe we'll get to 8 some day if the powers-that-be can ever tear themselves away from the bowl leeches.

For the record, Ohio State was also eastern division champs. I know one one really cares as they weren't in the ccg, but you cant ding the Big Ten for Iowa loosing while a divisional champ while not giving credit to Ohio State (although Iowa deserved the Rose a little more still imo).

Michigan 41 SEC East champion Florida 7

Everyone knew the Big Ten West was weak this year. So, Iowa going undefeated wasn't that unbelievable. If OSU went to the Rose and Iowa to the Fiesta, both games would have been highly competitive (Iowa/ND and Stanford/OSU) and the Big Ten may have won both.

MSU, on the other hand, out-gritted (and lucked?) both UM and OSU this year. That got them in the "big game," whether they were the "best" Big Ten East team or not. Even so, OSU and UM would probably have been annihilated by a performance like Alabama's on Thursday night. Anyone in the country would have.

As a Big Ten member school fan, I'm satisfied with our showing this year. Nice mix of wins and losses. (And if PSU wins in a few hours, I'll be VERY satisfied. :) )

(01-01-2016 08:50 PM)JRsec Wrote:  Can anyone recall the two divisional champions of any conference having such a horrific 24 hours? It certainly calls into question many aspects of the CFP and how it assesses the participants. Was Stanford really the deserving school? How underrated was a competitive PAC? How overrated was the Big 10?

It was awful, wasn't it?