SEC

[shaneb]

I still cant figure out why oregon is ahead of BAMA. They are trying to take the SEC out of the playoffs.

 

[Alan]

I still cant figure out why oregon is ahead of BAMA. They are trying to take the SEC out of the playoffs.

It's because not everyone drinks SEC koolaide! :mrgreen:

 

[M5farm]

I still cant figure out why oregon is ahead of BAMA. They are trying to take the SEC out of the playoffs.

It's because not everyone drinks SEC koolaide! :mrgreen:

Apparently we Are winning our way out of their playoffs.

 

[highgrit]

The reigning champs that also happen to be undefeated are going backwards. Maybe they'll put the Ducks ahead of Bama after they beat Mississippi. Looking kinda liberal to me.

 

[Alan]

I still cant figure out why oregon is ahead of BAMA. They are trying to take the SEC out of the playoffs.

It's because not everyone drinks SEC koolaide! :mrgreen:

Apparently we Are winning our way out of their playoffs.

:lol: :nod: :nod: , lots of time and lots of games to go, it all means very little right now. What going to happen now, only one SEC team in the top four!

Just because I'm talking college ball. The Ducks beat #17 Utah in Salt Lake City on Sat night... But not without a cost, lost our all American DB in the first quarter, foot injury, should be back by next game. Lost our two time all pac 12 center to a ??? Injury, looks like a slight knee inury. He walked off the field but straight to the locker room. Lost our starting tight end to a gruesome knee injury, non contact injury. He went to make a cut and one of thoses "OH! MAN! That's not the direction the knee shouldn't go" type of things. You watch it once and wish you hadn't of. He's in ICU in Utah until after the first surgery.

Utah lost two other players to non contact leg injuries that night also, including their starting QB. It may be time to take a close look at the field condition.

 

[Deepsouth]

Pretty surprising to me tonight.

I'm with you greybeard, I don't understand the TCU and Baylor situation either. I'm not real familiar with their schedules but I know Baylor beat TCU in the head to head.
I was very surprised that Oregon jumped FSU. I'm not saying that I think FSU is better than Oregon but they are undefeated and the defending national champs. Just surprised that they put a one loss team and really undefeated Mississippi State in front of them. I think they are telling them that they have to earn that one spot.
Shane, why do you think Alabama should be on top of Oregon? What have they done to deserve it? They may beat Mississippi State this week but I have not been impressed with them this year. They are definitely not as strong as they have been in the last few years. Arkansas lost to them because of poor kicking. Ole Miss beat them. LSU give them the game last week. They blew A&M out because A&M was beat up from a overtime game with Arkansas and getting whipped by both Mississippi schools all in the three weeks leading up to that game and they just give up. I'm not saying Mississippi State will beat them but I'll won't be surprised at all if they do. This is one of Saban's weakest Alabama teams.

 

[greybeard]

they (FSU)are undefeated and the defending national champs.

Neither of which matter, especially the 'defending national champs' thing--ancient history. It doesn't figure into the rankings in any way shape or form.

SEC:
I agree with the following:

EC Is Looking at One Bid

Forget two bids in the four-team field. The SEC will need to hang on to its one bid, as a two-loss conference champion may very well be shut out of the playoff. Despite being the top-ranked team for three weeks in a row, Mississippi State may be finished with just one loss if it does not win the SEC West because of a weak nonconference schedule.

Looks like the committee has explained that baylor-tcu thing...

y putting Baylor at No. 7—three spots below TCU, a team it beat in spectacular comeback fashion—the selection committee has made it clear that weak out-of-conference schedules will be penalized, and as a result, the "rules" will begin to bend. ESPN's Brett McMurphy provided Long's specific comments on "ranking TCU over Baylor":
Jeff Long on ranking TCU over Baylor: "Head to head comes into play when all else is equal"
the committee has made it clear that cupcake schedules early on could result in an uphill climb late.
TCU convincingly beat Kansas St--Baylor has yet to play Kansas St.
Long said TCU's overall body of work, which includes two wins against the top 25 (Minnesota and Kansas State) outweighed Baylor's last-second victory against the Horned Frogs.

Long stressed that Baylor could still move past the Horned Frogs.

"They can make their case by their body of work and resume," Long said.

Committee member Long has said they wouldn't be sending messages directly--they'd let their rankings send the messages. The message is (IMO) :
Beat a SOMEBODY and beat them convincingly, and do it (almost) every week.
I agree with that and agree this is not Saban's best team. Also agree that FSU IS undefeated, but some of their wins have not been particularly impressive.
BUT, if head to head wins don't count for much, what will be the result should Alabama beat Miss St?

The order doesn't really mean much in the top 4 tho--the playoff championship games will have whoever is ranked 1-2-3-4, no matter which ranking they have going in.
If Baylor wants in, they better kick it up a notch or 2, especially their last game.

TCU Shouldn't Get Too Comfortable

While the Horned Frogs made a celebrated jump into the Top Four this week, this stay is by no means permanent. Baylor still has a chance to get past TCU, as it has better opponents coming up, including the regular-season finale against Kansas State.

Since the two teams share the same foes in nine of their 11 games against FBS opponents, TCU should root hard for Minnesota, as its victory over the now-ranked Gophers is a far better scalp than Baylor's win over Buffalo.

 

[greybeard]

Another take on the new rankings:
Florida State is college football's undefeated defending national champion. What does that really mean?

It means the Seminoles have deftly navigated college football's 55th hardest schedule, and managed to beat teams like the UVA, Wake Forest, and the Citadel. There's also a 31-27 victory over No. 18 Notre Dame, and nervy wins over No. 22 Clemson and No. 25 Louisville sprinkled into Florida State's schedule.

Florida State has beaten every team its played, and as such, it remains in the College Football Playoff.

However, the committee made clear that there is little value in the path paved by the Seminoles. A loss would all but guarantee they find themselves on the outside looking in.

Instead, teams like Oregon and TCU are being rewarded for undertaking far more daunting schedules (Oregon's strength of schedule is 22, and TCU's is 23). The clear message from the beginning has been that a team's wins will always be valued above its losses.

The Seminoles' wins are all but worthless.

When discussing the power of wins, one could argue that Alabama's wins are equally impressive to those of Oregon and TCU, but the Crimson Tide are left out in the cold. The rebuttal would be that Alabama will face No. 1 Mississippi State this weekend with the opportunity to wipe away any doubts that committee might have.

That's the true success of the playoff rankings to date. Each choice has been made in a way that empowers teams, giving them complete and total control of their destiny. It's what fans, coaches, players, and everyone else wanted from the beginning.

Oregon and TCU earned their ranking, just as much Florida State earned theirs.
IOW, FSU dropped down in the current rankings for the same reason unbeaten Marshall isn't in the top 25. Compared to other teams, a cupcake schedule.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/11/florida ... ff-ranking

 

[Alan]

Some good conversation here, very good comments from DP and GB thanks.

Here's Jeff Longs comments yesterday on Oregon jumping FSU;

"Based on the committee's view about the strength of Florida State's schedule and their body of work compared to Oregon's strength of schedule and body of work, the committee voted that Oregon was No. 2. It was a very close call, but the committee placed significant value on Oregon's quality of wins against three top 25 teams, two of which were on the road."

Also I think Arizona State's margin of win over Norte Dame weakened the strength the Norte Dame victory for FSU. FSU wins out their in. SEC west will shake things out the remaining weeks.

 

[highgrit]

I agree with the weak schedule, but FSU has the talent and a good coach. They'll be alright if they win out, maybe? I feel like the Ducks and Mississippi state depend on their QB's to much. I wouldn't mind seeing Mississippi state beat Bama, but it's not likely because of the QB.

 

[greybeard]

I agree with the weak schedule, but FSU has the talent and a good coach. They'll be alright if they win out, maybe? I feel like the Ducks and Mississippi state depend on their QB's to much. I wouldn't mind seeing Mississippi state beat Bama, but it's not likely because of the QB.

And you think FSU doesn't depend on it's QB too much? Think Alabama doesn't have a good coach?
Think the committee cares one toot about talent or a good coach? Nope--they care about the results-and the schedule, as it should be. If the BCS computer was still part of the rankings, then those intangibles might matter, but it is not.

 

[M5farm]

I could argue that when ND was beaten they were # 5. but all of that does not matter at this point. when a team schedules their opponents they can not control how those teams play and where they are ranked in the polls. With the schedule FSU had this year it could have been one of the toughest if the other teams that usually have a top 25 ranking had of played to their potential. Clemson #22then #19now, #5then #18 now ND, #25 Louisville - Miami is most years is a top 25team as well as Florida. but I can't argue FSU has not won games in a dominating fashion. but If you go back to the first poll that came out I said then and was argued down that it would be 4 of the 5 power conferences in the playoff. what you see now is that coming to fruition and when FSU win out the reg season and plays for the ACC championship they will most likely play a #19 Duke. while I would prefer to be solid in at #2 it really does not matter as long as your in the 4 teams

 

[Alan]

Couldn't agree with you more M5, being in the top 4 is all that matters. When the top four teams are in the bracket seeding really doesn't matter a whole lot.

As for Baylor and TCU I can't help but wonder how much not have a conference championship game will hurt them. will they slide down ranking with the other four power conference playing an extra game, one that will count big in strength of schedule?

 

[highgrit]

Didn't FSU beat Clemson with a backup QB? The defense stepped it up for the win.

 

[M5farm]

Didn't FSU beat Clemson with a backup QB? The defense stepped it up for the win.

YES - they did

 

[Deepsouth]

Right now in the current strength of schedule rankings the 7 teams in the SEC west are all in the the top 14. Auburn is number 1 and Miss State is 14. State being ranked last in the division because they are ranked number 1 in the poles.
TCU is also in there at number 7 and Baylor at number 12. Oregon is ranked 19.
Why isn't TCU and Baylor ahead of Oregon in the poles?

Here is the link to the strength of schedule rankings link.

http://www.teamrankings.com/college-foo ... le-by-team


The way the committee is doing this, I'm not saying it's wrong, the SEC could end up totally out of the playoff. If the east division champion beats the west division champ in the conference championship game that will mean the SEC champion will be a 2 loss team. Will the committee put a 2 loss team in the playoff? Not likely! Say Alabama beats MS and Missouri or Georgia beats Alabama in the conference championship and MS finishes 11-1. Should they jump the 2 loss conference champion?

 

[greybeard]

That is correct--the order doesn't matter much at all as long as you're one of the top 4.

For years, I heard Florida fans complain that "yeah, but Alabama doesn't have to play Georgia".
Saw a website this morning that compared the current committee ranking with all the other polls as well as using the old BCS formula. It was interesting. Have to see if I can find it again, but overall, I like this year's format and the way it is working.

Yes, #2 (at the time) FSU beat #18 ranked (at the time) Clemson using backup qb when Winston was benched--barely.FSU-23 Clemson-17 and needed OT to do it. Not, a power win.

 

[M5farm]

May be in your fantasy world. It will be ACC, sec, Pac 12, big 10 or big 12- 2 loss sec team ain't going unless they win sec championship . The only way for 2 sec teams is if th champion of one of the other conferences has 3 losses and just win it by default. If you can't win your conference you don't get to play. It's simple as that.

The committee has 3, that's THREE, SEC teams in there now . Two of them with a loss. They are setting a standard that the teams will be ranked according to their strength. I will admit that a conference championship does carry some weight. But it is not enough just to get you in automatically.
I wonder if it's possible that we could see an all SEC PLAYOFF! Alabama against Mississippi! 8)

can I get a prophet star.

 

[greybeard]

Playoff Committee Rankings Comparison
CFP Rank Team ...BCS...B/R Mock AP Coaches
1` Mississippi State 1......1..........1.......1
2 Oregon............4......3..........3.......4
3 Florida State......2.....2...........2......2
4 TCU................5.....5...........5......5
5 Alabama...........3....4...........4.......3

 

[Alan]

May be in your fantasy world. It will be ACC, sec, Pac 12, big 10 or big 12- 2 loss sec team ain't going unless they win sec championship . The only way for 2 sec teams is if th champion of one of the other conferences has 3 losses and just win it by default. If you can't win your conference you don't get to play. It's simple as that.

The committee has 3, that's THREE, SEC teams in there now . Two of them with a loss. They are setting a standard that the teams will be ranked according to their strength. I will admit that a conference championship does carry some weight. But it is not enough just to get you in automatically.
I wonder if it's possible that we could see an all SEC PLAYOFF! Alabama against Mississippi! 8)

can I get a prophet star.

Ok DS you're drinking the koolaide again. :mrgreen: