ESPN already setting the CFP narrative

[UTFranklinVol]

Tennessee is ranked #6 in both AP and Coaches polls. If the CFP ranks us any lower it's unjustified.

Tennessee should get to host a playoff game no matter what.

 

[YankeeVol]

With tOSU beating the one idiots team, you'd think he would love nothing more than to put OSU on the road.

 

[UT97Vol]

Tennessee is ranked #6 in both AP and Coaches polls. If the CFP ranks us any lower it's unjustified.

Tennessee should get to host a playoff game no matter what.

Yep. If Texas wins, UGA should be the 9 seed playing on the road. Technically both Ohio St and Tenn could host.

 

[Power_Sweep_Vol]

Hey nuwbie. Ever hear of Charles Woodson?

Yeah…how the CFP teams are chosen is just like the Heisman lol

 

[UTFranklinVol]

Yep. If Texas wins, UGA should be the 9 seed playing on the road. Technically both Ohio St and Tenn could host.

Technically, as long as the CFP ranks us 6 like the AP and Coaches polls then it shouldn't matter what happens to Georgia or Texas or Penn St. We will get the 8 seed and host a game.

If the CFP ranks us lower than 6 its just cheating. Everyone else has spoken we are #6 period.

Ohio States loss was putrid. Their offense and QB were terrible. When is the last time Tennessee lost a home game to a 6 loss team? Tennessee is better than they are.

For that matter Georgia needing 8 overtimes to beat an unranked team at home also putrid. Had we played Georgia in Knoxville we won that game.

 

[Power_Sweep_Vol]

Technically, as long as the CFP ranks us 6 like the AP and Coaches polls then it shouldn't matter what happens to Georgia or Texas or Penn St. We will get the 8 seed and host a game.

If the CFP ranks us lower than 6 its just cheating. Everyone else has spoken we are #6 period.

Ohio States loss was putrid. Their offense and QB were terrible. When is the last time Tennessee lost a home game to a 6 loss team? Tennessee is better than they are.

For that matter Georgia needing 8 overtimes to beat an unranked team at home also putrid. Had we played Georgia in Knoxville we won that game.

OhioSt has 2 wins better than our best win..to say that having them above us is cheating is absurd

 

[UTFranklinVol]

OhioSt has 2 wins better than our best win..to say that having them above us is cheating is absurd

OhioSt has 2 wins better than our best win..to say that having them above us is cheating is absurd

Huh? What are you basing that on? Are you saying PSU and Indiana are better teams than Bama? Do you really believe that? Indiana who dropped 10 spots in the rankings after losing just 1 game?

Ohio State has ZERO wins better than our best win.

Indiana and Penn St are complete frauds.

The AP and Coaches agree with my position given that OSU is ranked below us

I repeat it's cheating with no basis if the CFP puts them ahead of Tennessee.

 

[Power_Sweep_Vol]

Huh? What are you basing that on? Are you saying PSU and Indiana are better teams than Bama? Do you really believe that? Indiana who dropped 10 spots in the rankings after losing just 1 game?

Ohio State has ZERO wins better than our best win.

Indiana and Penn St are complete frauds.

The AP and Coaches agree with my position given that OSU is ranked below us

I repeat it's cheating with no basis if the CFP puts them ahead of Tennessee.

Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying- that 11-1 Indiana and 11-1 PennSt are both better than 9-3 Alabama. This is backed up by every subjective and objective ranking out there

 

[wmcovol]

With tOSU beating the one idiots team, you'd think he would love nothing more than to put OSU on the road.

They hate the SEC more

 

[wmcovol]

Yes, that’s exactly what I am saying- that 11-1 Indiana and 11-1 PennSt are both better than 9-3 Alabama. This is backed up by every subjective and objective ranking out there

Neither beat a top 15 team.

 

[Power_Sweep_Vol]

Neither beat a top 15 team.

Neither lost by 3 td’s to a 6-6 team, either

 

[adam.vol]

Atlanta is meaningless. Yall are only trying to talk it because of the rage you will have when you can’t understand why the loser, especially if Georgia, won’t be penalized for it and drop below us in the rankings.

So if SMU loses and Clemson gets in, SMU should stay in the playoffs because they can’t drop below their current rank.. They have the power to launch a team up 14 spots without taking any penalty?

 

[JMSqb11]

So if SMU loses and Clemson gets in, SMU should stay in the playoffs because they can’t drop below their current rank.. They have the power to launch a team up 14 spots without taking any penalty?

If that happens, the conversation becomes is 10-2 Miami or 9-3 Bama getting the final spot.

SMU is in the playoff. I think Clemson winning means there is a real chance the ACC gets 3 teams. I think ACC gets 2 in regardless of who wins. Either SMU/Clemson or SMU/Miami

 

[adam.vol]

If that happens, the conversation becomes is 10-2 Miami or 9-3 Bama getting the final spot.

SMU is in the playoff. I think Clemson winning means there is a real chance the ACC gets 3 teams. I think ACC gets 2 in regardless of who wins. Either SMU/Clemson or SMU/Miami

That’s not realistic. You can’t lose to the 18th ranked team and not get dropped any spots.

If Texas loses to Georgia, does Texas bump Penn State back to claim the 5th seed since Georgia claimed one of the top 4 seeds? That’s penalizing Penn State for a loss to the #1 ranked team over a team that lost to #5 ranked team. Or we penalize Texas for losing to a lower ranked team, which is contrary to what the committee claimed about conference championship games.

 

[Justin1989]

Huh? What are you basing that on? Are you saying PSU and Indiana are better teams than Bama? Do you really believe that? Indiana who dropped 10 spots in the rankings after losing just 1 game?

Ohio State has ZERO wins better than our best win.

Indiana and Penn St are complete frauds.

The AP and Coaches agree with my position given that OSU is ranked below us

I repeat it's cheating with no basis if the CFP puts them ahead of Tennessee.

The committee has them higher ranked so yes, in the minds of the people who are actually making the decision, not fans on a message board, PSU and Indiana are better than Alabama.

 

[jarnol32]

With their latest projections they have Ohio State ranked 6 and us at 7. That would have them as the last team hosting and us going on the road to Columbus.

Their reasoning is that Ohio State has 2 “statement” wins- Penn State and Indiana while we only have 1.

I’m happy with going to whip them at their place- just wild how ESPN is trying to justify the masses towards them.

(I realize a lot can and will change- but they dropped 6 spots with their first loss last year. Now losing at home to a .500 team they think they should only drop 4)

Indiana is not a statement win…. I know espn wants to pretend that the big ten is equal to the sec, but Indiana would have at best a Mizzou type record, and at worst a Mississippi state type record if they played in the sec. Same for Penn st.

 

[marcusluvsvols]

Hell no they shouldn't have. That Arkansas loss was a blessing. We get to avoid Atlanta and are a lock to be in the playoff

Said this all season. The #5 seed is the best seed in the playoffs. No conference championship game to needlessly beat up our team a week before the playoffs...

We wont get the #5 seed...but #6 thru #8 is just fine. 3 weeks rest and practice to get our team healthy and ready for a HOME game vs a lesser team. We are 4 wins away from winning it all...with the 1st ever playoff game in Neyland coming as the first game. Could not ask for a better scenario. Ask UGA and Texas off camera how they feel about having to play the SECG? Bet they want no part of it. They are beat up badly from a 12 game season with 8 SEC opponents just like we are. We get 3 weeks (!!!) To heal up and practice new plays on offense.

GO VOLS!!!! WGWTFA. 2024 CHAMPS

 

[volfan102455]

The committee has them higher ranked so yes, in the minds of the people who are actually making the decision, not fans on a message board, PSU and Indiana are better than Alabama.

The committee ranked them based on their record - the committee has NOT put any importance on strength of schedule. They had BYU ranked at 6 until they lost and in the last poll BYU was at 19. At one point BYU was considered to be better than Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina, A&M, Missouri et al - now they are not.

Schools like PSU and Indiana reaped the benefit as the SEC teams beat up on each other as well as a year where Michigan is down.

 

[VolJarhead]

Everyone saying that georgia should drop if they lose isn't taking into account that it also makes our loss look worse. I think that opens up the justification to put Indiana ahead of us. I'm not saying it will happen, but I think it becomes a discussion.

 

[volfan102455]

If that happens, the conversation becomes is 10-2 Miami or 9-3 Bama getting the final spot.

SMU is in the playoff. I think Clemson winning means there is a real chance the ACC gets 3 teams. I think ACC gets 2 in regardless of who wins. Either SMU/Clemson or SMU/Miami

We will know on Tuesday - Miami will drop. In both the AP and Coaches poll they dropped to 14. They have lost 2 of their last three games to unranked opponents.

I think they drop out of the top 12 and I guess if the conference championship games are wild and space opens up, they might sneak in, but I fully expect to see Alabama, South Carolina and Arizona State ahead of them and Clemson even further down in the ranking. I just don't see a place for a third ACC team. I think the combination of both the Miami and Clemson loss may have put the ACC back to only one team in.

If Clemson wins it will come down to SMU in comparison to Indiana and Alabama / South Carolina because that is probably who they would have to "kick out" of the mix to keep SMU in the playoffs. If the ACC gets three - then Indiana and the SEC fourth team is out - then the B1G gets 3, the SEC gets 3, the ACC gets 3, Mountain West gets 1, Big 12 gets 1 and then Notre Dame.

 

[volfan102455]

Everyone saying that georgia should drop if they lose isn't taking into account that it also makes our loss look worse. I think that opens up the justification to put Indiana ahead of us. I'm not saying it will happen, but I think it becomes a discussion.

No, it doesn't. And Indiana has beaten no one of importance this season. Indiana is not going to magically jump over us.

 

[UT97Vol]

Everyone saying that georgia should drop if they lose isn't taking into account that it also makes our loss look worse. I think that opens up the justification to put Indiana ahead of us. I'm not saying it will happen, but I think it becomes a discussion.

No it doesn’t. They’re still going to be top 10.

 

[1725gatorhater]

With their latest projections they have Ohio State ranked 6 and us at 7. That would have them as the last team hosting and us going on the road to Columbus.

Their reasoning is that Ohio State has 2 “statement” wins- Penn State and Indiana while we only have 1.

I’m happy with going to whip them at their place- just wild how ESPN is trying to justify the masses towards them.

(I realize a lot can and will change- but they dropped 6 spots with their first loss last year. Now losing at home to a .500 team they think they should only drop 4)

Only reason is because they was ranked higher before loss.

 

[UTFranklinVol]

The committee has them higher ranked so yes, in the minds of the people who are actually making the decision, not fans on a message board, PSU and Indiana are better than Alabama.

Alabama would beat both teams at their own stadiums. 100%

 

[sami]

It is insightful to know where the CFP Committee members are from.

It's not an exact science, because they're all sports or journalism professionals who have held jobs across the country: in college, in the pros (not just football, other sports), and in the media. But if you read their bios, you get a pretty good feel for where their hearts might be now.

I'll give just two examples of the complexity involved: Gary Pinkel played football at Kent State in Ohio; then bounced as an assistant coach from there to Washington, back to Ohio at Bowling Green, and back to Washington. His longest stint in those days was 6 years at Washington. Then as a head coach, he was with Toledo 10 years, then Mizzou for 15. Mizzou is where he retired from coaching.

Hard to say which of those holds his heart foremost, but his lifetime footprint is mostly in the Mid-west, from Ohio across to Mizzou. The time out west in Washington is the outlier. BECAUSE my suspicion is that the SEC is way under-represented in the Committee, I went with Mizzou as Gary Pinkel's first love. But it could be Toledo.

Second example: Kelly Whiteside. She was a student at Rutgers, then Columbia, studying journalism. She has served as a journalism professor at Columbia and Montclair for a decade and a half, and has written mostly for USA Today (14 years) but also for Newsday, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times. So her footprint is all over the northeast. She probably thinks of herself as a New Yorker. I put her star at Rutgers, in Jersey.


The 13 committee members map out like this:

Chris Ault -- Nevada
Chet Gladchuk -- Navy or Boston College (charted him Navy)
Jim Grobe -- Wake Forest or Virginia (charted him Wake)
Warde Manuel -- Michigan
Randall McDaniel -- Arizona State
Gary Pinkel -- Mizzou or Toledo (charted him Mizzou)
Mack Rhoades -- Baylor
Mike Riley -- Oregon State or Nebraska (charted him Oregon St)
David Sayler -- Miami
Will Shields -- Nebraska
Kelly Whiteside -- USA Today writer; Rutgers or Columbia (charted Rutgers)
Carla Williams -- Virginia
Hunter Yuracheck -- Arkansas

On a map, that looks like this:
View attachment 702316

Three of the 13 are from the Pacific/Mountain West area ... Three are mid-western ... one is B12 ... and five are Atlantic Coast footprint. Only one, Arkansas, is SEC. Well, two if you count Mizzou. Most of us probably don't, lol.

That big, open nothing from the SEC part of Texas, across Louisiana, all across the deep south plus up into South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, that could be a sign of SEC under-representation.

The Committee might counter that two of its members played sports in the SEC (Mike Riley, the Oregon State star on the map, was a Bama football player; and Carla Williams, the Virginia star, was an UGa women's BBall athlete). That's not where their hearts seem to be based on a lifelong career.

Is this a problem? Dunno. Maybe it's something for Sankey to spend more time on, or maybe it's not as anemic for our conference as it seems.

Just thought it was worthy of us being aware of it.

Go Vols!

The problem is the mere existence of a "committee" of bureaucrats, all with their own agendas and biases, making these kinds of program altering decisions - not who they are or where they're from. What makes any of these people "experts" in the area of ranking college football teams from different conferences playing at entirely different levels?

Any system other than some kind of relatively objective algorithm is just inviting corruption, regardless of the "credentials" these people have. We see it day in and day out in government and the highest level of business. There's no way to avoid it other than taking the bias and agendas out of the equation. Which, of course, is never going to happen.