(12-10-2019 02:21 AM)JRsec Wrote: (12-09-2019 09:48 AM)quo vadis Wrote: Just my takes on the final CFP rankings:
Yay ... The CFP got the Final 4 right, in terms of the teams and the seedings.
Nay ..... Alabama is criminally under-ranked.
Alabama at #13? Does anyone doubt even this wounded, Tua-less Alabama would be a favorite over every team ranked ahead of them at least up until #5? And probably over Georgia too? Heck probably over Oklahoma? You'd have to get to the three unbeaten teams to choose over them.
If you had to bet your life on the winner of these games in a bowl on a neutral field, who would you bet on over Alabama?
Auburn? Nope. Auburn needed miracles - not just a 'doink' missed FG but TWO freak pick-sixes and the refs giving them a FG try at the end of the half to squeak out a 3-point win over Bama at home.
Penn State? Not a chance. Maybe keep it to 10 point margin.
Wisconsin? Alabama would beat them by 20.
Florida? Please. Alabama wins that game 31 - 14.
Utah? Are you serious? Even worse than Wisky and Florida.
Oregon? Don't make me laugh. Alabama would mow them down.
Baylor? Are you kidding?
Seriously, Alabama should be ranked #5 or so. And i HATE Alabama, LOL.
Yay .... Got the G5 rankings all right. Not only Memphis #1, but then Boise and App State ahead of Cincy, but also getting Navy in as well. Five G5 teams in from three different conferences, and deservedly so. Heck if anything, Air Force should have been in there too. Banner year for the G5.
Nay ... Utah ranked way too high. Does anyone think Utah could beat any of the four teams ranked behind them? It didn't matter because they didn't make the NY6 anyway but still
More generally, this shows IMO a flaw in the CFP approach, namely, teams not getting stung bad for losing CCGs. It's like the committee is saying "well, they play an extra game against a good team while others stay home, so we won't punish them much". That is dumb thinking. A game is DATA and can't be ignored!
Look at the ranked CCG game losers this past week ... nobody fell much at all. It makes no sense. When you lose, especially if you get routed, you should FALL just as if it was October.
Bottom line ... Cincy should be behind Navy, Wisky should be behind Penn State.
Heck, we can say a similar thing about H2H, the CFP overrates it. Auburn should be behind Alabama, Michigan behind Notre Dame. H2H is a tie-breaker, not a be-all.
Anyway.
Quo you need to do your homework on the 1 second given to Auburn at the end of the first half. Rules require that time on the clock be reviewed and Auburn had just gained a first down which stops the clock. The game officials, the head of the officials, and the SEC office all confirmed that it was the correct call.
Maybe by the rules, but if so, the rule is stupid and needs to be changed.
Because IIRC, the replay ruled that the time keeper incorrectly ran the last second off the clock, when it should have been stopped for the first down. But time stoppage for a first down is temporary, it's not the same as a "time out", so had the time keeper correctly stopped the clock with one second left when the AU receiver was tackled, there is no way Auburn could have gotten the FG unit on the field and set up before the ref re-started the clock. The ball would have been placed and the chains moved and the clock wound long before AU could have done any of that.
So in effect, the replay review created a free "time out" for Auburn that allowed them to set up for a FG try that they never would have been able to set up for. That's wrong, and the rules should be changed to not allow that.
Something like a "no substitution" rule during a time-remaining replay unless a team has a time-out to use to actually stop the clock.
What the ref should have said after the replay review was something like "replay shows that there was one second left on the clock when the Auburn receiver was tackled, but as that is insufficient time for the offense to assemble and run another play, the half is over".
So I was correct, Alabama was screwed by that process.
Heck, IIRC, I'm not even sure a rule change is needed, as I think the college rule, like the NFL rule, is that at the line of scrimmage, the offense must be "set" for at least a second before the ball is snapped, which should have run the clock out on Auburn before the snap even if they got the FG unit out on the field.
Any way you slice it, AU should not have gotten that field goal. They caught a big unmerited break there.