What if?

[TNnative]

Disagree. Entirely disagree.

The four best teams in the country should play for the championship. Some years, they'll come from 4 different conferences, and all be conference champions.

Many years, they will not.

Let the four best play.

When you have 5 power conferences and only 4 spots on the playoff bracket, one conference is always going to be unhappy. But 2 ways it might get real nasty is if a non power 5 team manages to go undefeated and has a good strength of schedule OR two teams from the same conference gets selected at the end of season.

I seriously doubt we will ever see, at least in my lifetime, a championship system completely free of controversy. But no doubt the current format comes closer than it has ever been before.

 

[Carl Pickens]

Tennessee were to win out, play Alabama in the SEC championship, even highly unlikely were to win, where does that put the Vols and does that leave the SEC out of the playoff?

Yes. Three loss Teams that are reduced to skeleton crews on D and give up 400+ yds on the ground always make it to the playoff.

 

[TNnative]

Precisely.

Winning your conference is another data point in the effort to find the four best teams. Not the only data point, not the most important data point, but a significant data point.

It can help the committee in their deliberations about who the four best are. It should not make the decision for the committee.



[And I believe that would be true in an 8-team playoff, as well. The 5 Power5 champs would not necessarily all be among the best 8 teams in the country.]

I am just glad the AP and coaches poll (officially at least) plays no part in their decisions. Nothing against democracy, but it is not a decent way to decide a championship.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

When you have 5 power conferences and only 4 spots on the playoff bracket, one conference is always going to be unhappy. But 2 ways it might get real nasty is if a non power 5 team manages to go undefeated and has a good strength of schedule OR two teams from the same conference gets selected at the end of season.

I seriously doubt we will ever see, at least in my lifetime, a championship system completely free of controversy. But no doubt the current format comes closer than it has ever been before.

Remember the year Bama and LSU played for the Natty? They were widely believed to be the best two teams in the country, even by folks who favored other conferences. Oh, the other conferences didn't like it one bit, and it didn't make for very good TV ratings (only one region of the country being represented).

But relatively few people honestly tried to argue that they weren't the best two teams. Most often, the complaints were about "fairness" and "equity" and the like.

Nonetheless, it was the right thing to do. You let the best teams play.

That's just as true now that we're in the 4-team CFP. If some years that generates some controversial outcomes, like an undefeated Group of 5 school that played maybe one good team all year being left out, or two teams from the same conference being included (we might see that this year, with Ohio St / Michigan or Clemson / Louisville), well, so be it. As long as the common view is that, yes, those really are the best teams.

So far, the CFP Committee hasn't made any bad choices. That's remarkable, in itself.

 

[08Vol]

Alabama is at least 20% better than any team in America and I am a tennessee fan. They are about 40% better than Tennessee and I hate to say that---but it is what it is.

Michigan has beaten 3 of the top 10 teams. Bama doesn't have a win over a top 10 team. Their best win was over a USC team in week 1 that gave up in the 2nd half. SEC is weak this year outside of Bama. There is a chance Bama will be the only SEC team with at least 9 wins at the end of the regular season.

 

[pimo1]

Michigan has beaten 3 of the top 10 teams. Bama doesn't have a win over a top 10 team. Their best win was over a USC team in week 1 that gave up in the 2nd half. SEC is weak this year outside of Bama. There is a chance Bama will be the only SEC team with at least 9 wins at the end of the regular season.

there is no chance that is true that no other SEC team has 9 wins at the end of the season.

Bama plays in the SEC....it is a hard conference to stay ranked in because they play each other. People do not get the fact that the doormat teams would be quite competitive in any other conference and most would rule a non power 5 conference. Its like when I was in high school the teams in Memphis were never really highly ranked but always won state.. Why because they had to play each other all year.

Bama is the best team in the USA until someone knocks them off the throne. No one has been able to in the last decade. As I have said I think the only teams in a position to do that are Auburn and UT with LSU the dark horse. not this season but in the coming seasons, because of scheduling.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Michigan has beaten 3 of the top 10 teams. Bama doesn't have a win over a top 10 team. Their best win was over a USC team in week 1 that gave up in the 2nd half. SEC is weak this year outside of Bama. There is a chance Bama will be the only SEC team with at least 9 wins at the end of the regular season.

You're falling into the same trap as the polls frequently do.

Conference A has 12 teams, every one of them ending the season somewhere between 7-5 and 5-7. All 12 of them.

Conference B has 12 teams, two of which end up 11-1, while the rest finish anywhere from 8-4 to 2-10.

Which is the stronger conference?

Answer: We can't tell from that data. Because there are no data points contrasting the two conferences directly against each other.

~ ~ ~​

Michigan's three Top 10 wins are against, you guessed it, fellow B10 teams. Oh, and Colorado.

The only data point we have comparing the better teams of the SEC and the better teams of the B10 is this: Wisconsin beat LSU 16-14 early in the season.

That's it.

Is Bama better than Ohio State? Auburn better than Michigan? Tennessee better than Nebraska?

We don't know yet.

We'll know a lot more as we work through the bowl season.

I don't disagree with you about the SEC having a down year. My own little conference ranking system puts us behind the B10. But calling the SEC "weak" is a bit of hyperbole.


p.s. There are two SEC teams likely to end up with 9 or more wins in the regular season. Happily, Tennessee is one of those two.

 

[HuntlandVolinColo]

What if? ... bamer lost 38 players from their 3 deep due to a wicked diarrhea and flu bug the day before SECCG?

 

[VolDaddy61]

Tennessee were to win out, play Alabama in the SEC championship, even highly unlikely were to win, where does that put the Vols and does that leave the SEC out of the playoff?

The committee isn't going to have a three loss team in the playoffs, S.E.C Champ or not.

 

[Titan&Volfan4life]

I still think the playoffs should be 8 teams.

I don't care if that would drag out football for 2 more weeks.

I can live with 2 more weeks of good football to watch.

VFL...GBO!!!

 

[TNnative]

Remember the year Bama and LSU played for the Natty? They were widely believed to be the best two teams in the country, even by folks who favored other conferences. Oh, the other conferences didn't like it one bit, and it didn't make for very good TV ratings (only one region of the country being represented).

But relatively few people honestly tried to argue that they weren't the best two teams. Most often, the complaints were about "fairness" and "equity" and the like.

Nonetheless, it was the right thing to do. You let the best teams play.

That's just as true now that we're in the 4-team CFP. If some years that generates some controversial outcomes, like an undefeated Group of 5 school that played maybe one good team all year being left out, or two teams from the same conference being included (we might see that this year, with Ohio St / Michigan or Clemson / Louisville), well, so be it. As long as the common view is that, yes, those really are the best teams.

So far, the CFP Committee hasn't made any bad choices. That's remarkable, in itself.

Of course I remember that game. And if you remember, that game also triggered the talks to get the CFP format established. Up to that point, the system that allowed Tennessee to bring home the first crystal ball trophy was not changing. That game and the overall domination by the SEC over the year got the other power conferences to push for the change. I agree those were the 2 best teams that year. In fact, it might have been one of the few years the best two teams played. But don't tell that to the other 4 conferences.

Before the BCS, I didn't give a damn about college football. I followed the Vols, but I hated watching bowls over the weekend, and having to wait until Monday or Tuesday for a bunch of idiot sportwriters to vote so a champion could be declared. I believe you only settle championships on the field, not on some jackasses opinions.

Point being is it has taken years for change to happen. As long as sponsors were making money, they did not care. As long as sheep fan bases accepted the status quo, why mess with their incomes?

I don't think it is so stunning the committee is doing good so far. I had my doubts at first, but when they said the polls would not play into their decisions, I felt better about it. That was part of the problem with the BCS some years. All the polls are is several hundred sportswriters filling out ballots each week, and they never ever have to be held accountable. With the committee, you have 12 people who have to back up their opinions to one another in the same room. Which one allows for less bull5h1t?

 

[fossilfiction]

Disagree. Entirely disagree.

The four best teams in the country should play for the championship. Some years, they'll come from 4 different conferences, and all be conference champions.

Many years, they will not.

Let the four best play.

Yup. Imagine a scernatio where
Tennessee's only regular season loss is to Bama.
Florida's only loses to Tennessee.
LSU only loses to Alabama.
Alabama loses to Tennessee in the SEC championship.


The best teams should go to the playoffs irregardless if they are conference champs. Looking at a situation like this means that a team that is not the conference champion has to make it in.