(12-03-2017 05:52 PM)HeartOfDixie Wrote: (12-03-2017 05:24 PM)Win5002 Wrote: (12-03-2017 04:39 PM)10thMountain Wrote: Satan coming through with his end of the bargain with little Nicky or the epic butthurt of Ohio State fans whining about the same ruling that put THEM into the playoff over PSU last year....
Some days there are no winners
In fair disclosure I am from the Midwest, and this isn't meant to be an anti-Alabama or SEC commentary but more of an anti-CFP process discussion. I also think PSU should have got in last year over OSU due to the head to head victory and winning the conference. BUT... there is a huge difference between the quality of wins OSU had last year in wins over
#14 OU at OU
#8 Wisconsin at Wisconsin
#3 Michigan
Alabama didn't have even close to the quality of wins this year the 2016 OSU team had.
Then we heard on the tv who would win heads up quoted repeatedly on ESPN yesterday. Who the heck knows! What quality win did Alabama have this year to tell you whether they would or wouldn't?
Could Alabama win the whole CFP? sure. Did they deserve to be in? Absolutely not! There is nothing on their schedule that says they deserved to be in. I would have been fine if they put USC in over both too. The only thing they can use to place Alabama in is to say they "think" or "feel" they are the best team. There is absolutely nothing based on the season to show that, even though its possible they could be.
You can't have the 3rd best team from any of the leagues in as a participant in only a 4 team college football playoff. I'm a fan who watches college football 11 a.m. to midnight every Saturday during the regular season. But now that the season is over, I for the most part turn off the debacle known as bowl games or post-season exhibition games, and while I'm curious to see how Oklahoma does I won't watch the the Alabama vs Clemson, nor will I watch if it is Alabama vs Ga. in the final(no offense to Ga.) When the CFP becomes the bias of human selection committee's or influenced by network desires it really devalues the sport. It makes me decide to watch a legitimate product the NFL more and more each year.
You know what we didn't have?
2 loses...
There are several significant factors that put Alabama in over Ohio State.
1. HoD is absolutely right. We had fewer losses and most apples to apples comparisons will only be made when teams have the same record.
2. The Big Ten representatives have been horrid the last 2 years. Both Michigan State and Ohio State got absolutely demolished. In fact, they were both shut out. From a competitive standpoint, the B1G has lost a great deal of credibility so I doubt very many committee members looked at those top 10 wins and said "yep, those are legit."
3. Piggybacking on the previous point, one of the committee's jobs is to "find the 4 best teams." In so doing, they must also consider how each team is capable of competing against the others. Point being, no one wants to watch a game where one team routs the other by 40. TV ratings are paramount and that may not sound fair, but ratings pay the bills. Putting a B1G team in that had already been whipped at home by another participant(Oklahoma) and that hadn't really done anything to demonstrate they might not get blown out by the others was not going to happen.
4. Ohio State's loss to Iowa was huge. Not just the loss, but the way they lost. You won't find very many commentators who would say that the same thing would have happened to Alabama in that situation. Perception factor...
5. Ohio State snuck in back in 2014 because they whipped Wisconsin in the CCG. Aside from OSU having a lot more cache than TCU, this dynamic gave the committee a reason to say "OSU is way better than their league." This year, the CCG came down to the final possession.
6. This may actually be the biggest factor....
Remember when Alabama and LSU had a rematch in 2011? Fewer people watched the game, yes. You know why that doesn't matter? Because the uproar gave the powers that be a shot in the arm and they finally relented on creating a playoff. The networks didn't have to be talked into it. They knew they were going to cash in so there was no chance they'd fight it.
You know what's going to happen this year? Fewer people will watch the playoff, yes. You know why that doesn't matter? Because soon and very soon we're going to expand the playoff. This is part of why the suits wanted so badly to get Notre Dame in. They understood the cause and effect.
Administrators will now be afraid of consistently losing a spot since the committee has shown the willingness to put 2 schools from the same conference in. The networks will make even more money and we'll probably end up with some sort of hybrid system where the P5 get their champions automatically in while the committee gets to pick 3 at-large schools. We'll get the anticipation of watching the conference race determine participants while also not forfeiting the drama of watching other schools be judged subjectively. Arguments will continue, but no one will really get left out.
Drama, drama, drama = ratings, ratings, ratings = cash, cash, cash