(12-03-2018 11:24 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Both teams should be up for this game.

LSU knows damn well that UCF will claim a national title if they win.

I live in Baton Rouge, and we are inundated with talk radio about college football. I've never heard anyone discuss UCF claiming the 2017 national title. It's at best a joke, nobody cares. LSU players with draft prospects and injuries of any kind will surely sit this out.

Plus, how on earth can anyone credibly claim the national championship by beating a three-loss #11 team that didn't even win its conference division? How can that make any sense whatsoever?

UCF logic: Alabama had to beat Georgia and then Oklahoma and then Clemson to claim a national title.

UCF? We get to beat Memphis and then LSU and we get to do do the same!

Oh, we're talking about UCF here - now it makes sense.

(12-03-2018 11:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 11:24 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Both teams should be up for this game.

LSU knows damn well that UCF will claim a national title if they win.

I live in Baton Rouge, and we are inundated with talk radio about college football. I've never heard anyone discuss UCF claiming the 2017 national title. It's at best a joke, nobody cares. LSU players with draft prospects and injuries of any kind will surely sit this out.

Plus, how on earth can anyone credibly claim the national championship by beating a three-loss #11 team that didn't even win its conference division? How can that make any sense whatsoever?

UCF logic: Alabama had to beat Georgia and then Oklahoma and then Clemson to claim a national title.

UCF? We get to beat Memphis and then LSU and we get to do do the same!

Oh, we're talking about UCF here - now it makes sense.

I dont think UCF will claim it this year. The winner of the playoff will likely be undefeated as well. Last year, UCF was the only undefeated team and beat the team that beat both playoff finalists. Additionally, UCF was named national champion by a NCAA major selector. I dont think UCF will have the same set of circumstances this year and wont claim a championship this year.

(12-03-2018 12:28 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 11:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 11:24 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Both teams should be up for this game.

LSU knows damn well that UCF will claim a national title if they win.

I live in Baton Rouge, and we are inundated with talk radio about college football. I've never heard anyone discuss UCF claiming the 2017 national title. It's at best a joke, nobody cares. LSU players with draft prospects and injuries of any kind will surely sit this out.

Plus, how on earth can anyone credibly claim the national championship by beating a three-loss #11 team that didn't even win its conference division? How can that make any sense whatsoever?

UCF logic: Alabama had to beat Georgia and then Oklahoma and then Clemson to claim a national title.

UCF? We get to beat Memphis and then LSU and we get to do do the same!

Oh, we're talking about UCF here - now it makes sense.

I dont think UCF will claim it this year. The winner of the playoff will likely be undefeated as well. Last year, UCF was the only undefeated team and beat the team that beat both playoff finalists. Additionally, UCF was named national champion by a NCAA major selector. I dont think UCF will have the same set of circumstances this year and wont claim a championship this year.

If Oklahoma wins, you don't think the Colley falls into place again?

(12-03-2018 12:43 PM)otown Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 12:28 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 11:29 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-03-2018 11:24 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote:  Both teams should be up for this game.

LSU knows damn well that UCF will claim a national title if they win.

I live in Baton Rouge, and we are inundated with talk radio about college football. I've never heard anyone discuss UCF claiming the 2017 national title. It's at best a joke, nobody cares. LSU players with draft prospects and injuries of any kind will surely sit this out.

Plus, how on earth can anyone credibly claim the national championship by beating a three-loss #11 team that didn't even win its conference division? How can that make any sense whatsoever?

UCF logic: Alabama had to beat Georgia and then Oklahoma and then Clemson to claim a national title.

UCF? We get to beat Memphis and then LSU and we get to do do the same!

Oh, we're talking about UCF here - now it makes sense.

I dont think UCF will claim it this year. The winner of the playoff will likely be undefeated as well. Last year, UCF was the only undefeated team and beat the team that beat both playoff finalists. Additionally, UCF was named national champion by a NCAA major selector. I dont think UCF will have the same set of circumstances this year and wont claim a championship this year.

If Oklahoma wins, you don't think the Colley falls into place again?

I did some permutations on the Colley Matrix predictor they have, and even with the right teams losing to create a situation where UCF is the lone undefeated team, our cap on that poll is #4.

And that's even with UCF's best wins also winning their bowl matchups. Our best situation is that coupled with Alabama winning it all. So we would be, in our best situation, contending with a CFP win by Alabama at 15-0.

So in short, I think the firmest ground for us to make a claim is for the American to have a near-to-perfect bowl season with all other teams taking a loss, leaving UCF in the strongest post-season conference with the only unblemished record.

UCF's claim is decidedly weaker this season due to the other top teams performing better. Again, another claim would mean that we would be simply taking jabs at the College Football Playoff system and keeping the conversation going.

(12-02-2018 09:03 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  If UCF wins it will be another national championship

Only if Oklahoma wins the playoff would be my guess.

Last year their justification was that they were the only unbeaten team (and to a lesser extent that they had also beaten Auburn, who beat both UGA and Alabama)

Tough matchup for UCF. LSU isn’t a great offense but UCF is going to have to be better in run defense to pull this off. If they can hold up there they have a shot. If not it’s very very dicey with LSU’s ability to single cover defensively against a RS freshman QB and a offensive scheme that wants to force 1 on 1s Outside.

(12-02-2018 05:17 PM)TampaTom Wrote:  Disappointment for LSU?

This is their first major bowl in a long time. LSU will be excited to be back in a good place.

Huge Disappointment. They won the bogey prize, the Monkey's Paw. We want a NY6! Her you go, the bottom seed you get to play the G5 "Champ". So much for playing a school like Michigan, Penn State or even Washington State.

I am going to do what I always do, take the G5 school to "upset" a completely unmotivated P5 school. Coaches and players will make all the "oh this game means a lot to us" and then when the kickoff starts they will give a 80% effort, less if they fall behind.

(12-03-2018 01:38 PM)Stugray2 Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 05:17 PM)TampaTom Wrote:  Disappointment for LSU?

This is their first major bowl in a long time. LSU will be excited to be back in a good place.

Huge Disappointment. They won the bogey prize, the Monkey's Paw. We want a NY6! Her you go, the bottom seed you get to play the G5 "Champ". So much for playing a school like Michigan, Penn State or even Washington State.

I am going to do what I always do, take the G5 school to "upset" a completely unmotivated P5 school. Coaches and players will make all the "oh this game means a lot to us" and then when the kickoff starts they will give a 80% effort, less if they fall behind.

Literally their loss if they perceive big games like this that way.

God forbid they think that way if they were to play a team like the Cleveland Browns or Detroit Tigers in the NFL. "Oh crap, we have to play this team? Not worth the effort, we could beat them at 50% if we wanted to..."

The whole "x team is not interested" argument is weak.

Teams are interested when they are playing FCS teams that have zero chance. Winning the Fiesta bowl is huge for both programs because the victory will get a top 10 finish.

The oddsmakers have made both Alabama and Clemson double digit favorites to win their semifinal games. If I had to guess (and I suppose I do) the committee probably saw it the same way. The reality is that beyond those two schools, there were a lot of teams the committee could have selected for the third and fourth slots without having to apologize for their decision. UCF was one of those teams.

I have no problem with the teams they selected. But I wouldn't have had a problem if they had selected UCF either (or Georgia or Ohio State). IMO they missed two opportunities with their decision. First, from a marketing standpoint, I think ESPN missed an extremely rare opportunity to have four unbeaten teams in the playoff, including Cinderella herself.

Second, I think they missed an opportunity to make a statement that every school has a path to their championship. They can certainly justify why they didn't do this. But the opportunity to permanently quiet fans who would slander them as being biased against half the schools in FBS may not come along again for years.

And, if they had selected UCF, that would have set up a Sugar Bowl matchup of Georgia vs Oklahoma, adding some zest to an otherwise lackluster New Year's day lineup. Instead, the Dawgs are just another double digit favorite against Texas.

My bold prediction: LSU's anemic offense is going to make UCF's suspect defense look good.

LSU should still win by a touchdown or two. UCF's not the same team without Milton.

(12-03-2018 03:21 PM)ken d Wrote:  The oddsmakers have made both Alabama and Clemson double digit favorites to win their semifinal games. If I had to guess (and I suppose I do) the committee probably saw it the same way. The reality is that beyond those two schools, there were a lot of teams the committee could have selected for the third and fourth slots without having to apologize for their decision. UCF was one of those teams.

I have no problem with the teams they selected. But I wouldn't have had a problem if they had selected UCF either (or Georgia or Ohio State). IMO they missed two opportunities with their decision. First, from a marketing standpoint, I think ESPN missed an extremely rare opportunity to have four unbeaten teams in the playoff, including Cinderella herself.

Second, I think they missed an opportunity to make a statement that every school has a path to their championship. They can certainly justify why they didn't do this. But the opportunity to permanently quiet fans who would slander them as being biased against half the schools in FBS may not come along again for years.

And, if they had selected UCF, that would have set up a Sugar Bowl matchup of Georgia vs Oklahoma, adding some zest to an otherwise lackluster New Year's day lineup. Instead, the Dawgs are just another double digit favorite against Texas.

Exactly why it would be a good idea to expand to an 8 team playoff. Every year, there are always 1-2 really amazing stellar teams that are no brainers. However, #3-8 in any given year can be quite a difficult task to sort through. As you said, there are very good reasons to include or not include each of them. These teams are still really great. This way you capture them all. Sure, there will be arguments about the 9th team left off, but you will have seen a real drop on the lower seeds. This system would be in place to capture the great teams, and make sure none are left out. Yes, a few weaker teams would be included some years, but the high seed team gets rewarded playing them, and there would be no question that the real strong/great teams were included. Have the 1st round at higher seeds home stadium.

(12-03-2018 12:28 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  I dont think UCF will claim it this year. The winner of the playoff will likely be undefeated as well. Last year, UCF was the only undefeated team and beat the team that beat both playoff finalists. Additionally, UCF was named national champion by a NCAA major selector.

I think you are being too sanguine. There was zero legitimacy to UCF's claim last year, so the lack of any of the three things you just mentioned won't stop them from claiming again this year. Being undefeated means nothing, that depends on who you play. Beating Auburn meant nothing, Auburn was beaten by 3 teams before UCF beat them so obviously beating Auburn wasn't a big deal. Heck, all 3 teams that beat Auburn were also beaten by Alabama. Finally, the NCAA has a list of about 20 "major selectors", the criteria for which is merely that the ranking be nationally distributed online. You and I could meet that criteria tomorrow. Nobody has ever regarded being #1 in a single computer like Colley Matrix as being national champ. Nobody, not even the likes of Alabama, that claim everything.

No, mark my words, if UCF beats LSU, they will find another reason to claim a bogus championship even if all 3 factors you mention don't come through this time.

UCF deserved better than LSU. Undefeated 2 years ...and you get a 4th place SEC team.... lame.

(12-03-2018 03:31 PM)WhoseHouse? Wrote:  My bold prediction: LSU's anemic offense is going to make UCF's suspect defense look good.

LSU should still win by a touchdown or two. UCF's not the same team without Milton.

I think LSU 2 TD and FG....at least. You are right UCF isn't the same without Milton.

Any defending national champ who goes unbeaten is entitled to claim another title.

And that goes for Alabama, too, not just UCF.

I think it may be just slightly anticlimactic to have a four-team playoff to see who gets to share the title with UCF but hey College Football is quirky sometimes, that’s why we all love it!!!

(12-02-2018 11:54 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 09:03 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  If UCF wins it will be another national championship

So if the Fiesta Bowl is a national championship game, does that mean LSU is the champ if they win? It must.

So if your “Virginia Tech Bowl Eligibility Game” was lost by Marshall, does that make Marshall bowl ineligible?

It must.

Apropos of nothing, but the Colley Matrix has UCF seventh right now. However, lest you think its mid-major boner has subsided, in basketball it has Buffalo (6) ahead of Duke (8). And also UCF at 19.

(12-03-2018 10:06 PM)owl at the moon Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 11:54 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(12-02-2018 09:03 PM)Carolina_Low_Country Wrote:  If UCF wins it will be another national championship

So if the Fiesta Bowl is a national championship game, does that mean LSU is the champ if they win? It must.

So if your “Virginia Tech Bowl Eligibility Game” was lost by Marshall, does that make Marshall bowl ineligible?

It must.

Silly comparison.

When’s the over/under on when quo claims LSU threw the game because they wanted Alabama to split another national title?