(10-17-2021 09:30 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-17-2021 09:18 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(10-17-2021 08:54 AM)curtis0620 Wrote:  

(10-17-2021 08:29 AM)bill dazzle Wrote:  Can the AP poll voters vote, as national champion, for a team that did not participate in the playoff?

Yes, they do not have to vote for the playoff winner.


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So, and in theory, Cincinnati could be excluded from the four-team playoff, win its NY6 Bowl game, finish 14-0 and be voted No. 1 in the AP poll? Correct?

In theory, that is correct. That could happen in the Coaches poll as well, as the Coaches poll is not tied to the CFP either.

And in hoops the Coaches poll could vote someone other than the NCAA tournament winner as the national champ (the AP does not hold a post-tournament poll).

But the odds of either happening are extremely small.

The only way it happens:

1. Cincy pounds a very good SMU team by, say, five TDs in the AAC title game, looks razor sharp and is perceived by many (including lots of media folks) as deserving of a bid to the four-team playoff — but is not invited.

2. The four teams that go to the playoff each have one loss.

3. A "sixth team," with one loss and, like Cincy, reasonably deserving of a playoff bid — is not invited. That team and Cincy (both "top seven-esque" teams) are pitted against each other in a NY6 bowl game and enter it with massive chips on their respective shoulders.

4. Whoever wins the title game does so in a very ugly, low-scoring game to finish 14-1.

5. Cincy manhandles its strong opponent in the NY6 bowl game in impressive fashion and finishes 14-0.

IF all that happens (extremely unlikely), the AP voters could vote UC No. 1 ...

... and I bring out the unicycle, multi-colored afro wig and small exotic mammal to celebrate.