CFP will not use conference championships as tiebreakers

[SpaceCoastVol]

'22 still stings. That was awful what they did just because Hendon got hurt.

Same thing with FSU.

 

[SaipanVol]

Why will they screw us over?

Are you serious? There is going to be a lot of teams pissed off about who is playing and who is not. BET ON IT!

 

[ftsandersvol]

“The College Football Playoff selection committee will no longer use conference championships as one of its tiebreakers because the new 12-team format guarantees bids for the five highest-ranked conference winners, the CFP announced Thursday.

PAC-12​

• Oregon State Beavers
• Washington State Cougars

Maybe we should immediately join the PAC-12.

 

[sami]

Same thing with FSU.

Last season was actually a classic example why they will never go to any sort of objective system of playoff selection such as the BCS. An objective system of any kind which analyzed results, conference championships, strength of schedule, etc. would have had an unbeaten ACC champ FSU in the four team playoff, but the powers that be couldn't have that, as the TV ratings might have suffered. So they made up new "rules" as they went along, and who is to say they haven't done this before and won't do it again?

It is entirely possible that if HH had been hurt and was out for the season but we had managed to beat USCjr and Vandy, that they would have found a rationalization to keep us out of the playoff. Don't say it isn't possible after we saw it happen to an undefeated conference champ last year.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

So, thinking out loud on this issue:

1. There are 9 conferences (technically 10, but the Pac2 is really either a couple of independents in a long-term relationship, or a placeholder for a future merger just to keep the PAC name alive). Four of them are the remaining Power conferences (SEC, B10, B12, ACC) and the other five are the old Group of 5: American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, MAC, Mtn West, and Sunbelt.

2. That yields 9 conference champions. As we all know, but the CFP can't say out loud, the 4 Power conference champs will always get the first round bye, and be seeded #1 through #4.

3. So this rule is really about those other 5 conference champs. For example, Liberty from CUSA. One of those 5 dudes is guaranteed a spot in the 12-team playoff.

4. But everyone who is being honest and doesn't have a son playing at Liberty knows that even a 13-0 Liberty is not as good as the SEC team that went to Atlanta and lost. Or even the 2d-place teams of the B10 (probably Michigan), ACC (Clemson), and B12 (God only knows). Heck, a 13-0 Liberty or SMU isn't even as good as the third or fourth-spot SEC team. Maybe as good as the #4 B10 team.

5. So this rule change frees the CFP committee from having to do something really stupid, like put Liberty artificially high in the rankings. I mean, can you imagine them getting one of the #5 to #8 spots, and winning the chance to host a playoff game at their home stadium? Which I think just got expanded to hold a whopping 25k fans?

Seems to me that's all this is really about.

Go Vols!

p.s. Does beg the question whether the winner of the Wash St - Ore St game gets to call themselves a conference champ. Heh.

 

[lukeneyland]

Not really? After the team’s 2nd loss, they shouldn’t have been in the top 4.

(Maybe arguing that they should have been 1 spot higher and in the Sugar Bowl rather than the Orange Bowl? Sure. But not top 4.)

I wouldn’t go so far as to say we were screwed. But we had a more deserving resume than TCU. 10-2 with our schedule including blowing out LSU on the road and beating Saban is more impressive than 12-1 in a weak conference.

 

[zjcvols]

Until they come up with a method of selection that eliminates this collection of stooges, there will always be issues with these oh-so-subjective "rankings". How on earth can anyone who has worked for a school or schools over the course of years not have developed biases, likes, dislikes, etc.? They are suddenly "objective"? Please stop.

Of course, the powers that be in CFB love the attention and controversy, as it keeps the sport at the top of the headlines and the subject of discussion from November well beyond the end of the season. Why would they change anything?

Not one person affiliated with this system has explained to me why they can't use the BCS as a way to rank teams and how the hell a committee is better.

 

[zjcvols]

For those that are asking "How does this affect anything since the top 4 teams have to win their conference anyways" it's basically a way to publicly ensure that a 13-0, conference winning G5 school can't outrank a 10-2 SEC school or 10-2 Big Ten school. That way they can say "Well, when seeding 5-12, we don't look at conference championships" when they inevitably get asked about this situation if it ever occurs.

 

[sami]

Not one person affiliated with this system has explained to me why they can't use the BCS as a way to rank teams and how the hell a committee is better.

I think you just answered your own question. The FSU snub was incredibly outrageous, and was done with playoff ratings as the single solitary motivation. I fully expected the leeches in national media to hop on board, but the part that was the most distressing were fans who, out of hatred for FSU or just wanting to see "better games", supported this atrocity. If it can so easily happen to them, it could just as easily happen to you next time.