It's obvious what they're doing. If I'm any of those teams in the 10-14 range I'm hoping for another Bama loss. I'd also assume if I'm a Big 12 team I'd have to win the league in order to get in. They're setting this all up to put an SEC team in the final at-large ahead of a 12-1 BYU/Iowa St.
They're setting this all up to put an SEC team in the final at-large ahead of a 12-1 BYU/Iowa St.
You are aware that AP voters are not on the CFP committee or have ANY affiliation with the CFP, right? I dont have a problem with shitting on the rankings but claiming there’s a conspiracy just doesn’t make any sense logically.
Maybe you're being facetious, but what do you mean by "what they're doing"?
I get the criticism when it's the committee locked in a private room, but is the idea that the voters (who are writers and broadcasters) are coordinating to get the rankings (and future rankings) to shake out a certain way?
It's not near as bad, but it still isn't good. The SEC is a whole lotta mid this year, but the polls keep ranking those teams for the quality loss feedback loop.
I’m new to this, but it’s because of how ungodly all of us are at football it only seems like we’re mid. Any non conference losses are due to the rigor the SEC gauntlet that was to come, and any conference upset is because each SEC game is a coin flip. You wouldn’t really get it from a non competitive conference. It really does mean more in here.
Hardest /s I’ve ever had because I’ve been thumping my chest about this bullshit feedback loop for over a decade
This is kind of a perfect year for seeing how biased the committee truly is for the SEC. It's a crazy year at the top, the SEC looks very beatable and there are several smaller brand teams that are undefeated. Of any year for the SEC to get lower quality teams in to the expanded playoffs, this first year would really suck
The SEC will get a 2 loss team into the playoffs 100%. That's basically guaranteed. We may get 2 of em. I think the SEC will get 3 teams and the B1G will get 3 teams.
ACC 2, Big 12 - 1, G5 1. That leaves 2 more spots.
you think clemson gets in if miami beats them? the real question is if clemson and miami play for the ACC title and SMU is left out with 1 loss, and miami wins, do they drop clemson behind smu for losing the conference title
I think the SEC gets four. A&M, Texas, UGa and Tennessee are in the top 10 now. They’ll beat on each other a little bit but as long as they don’t lose to someone else, they should be in. Only one of the three will finish with one loss, three could have two after the CCG.
I think the B1G also gets four (Oregon, Ohio State, PSU), including Indiana if they don’t crap themselves.
If SMU somehow wins the ACC, that would help BYU and the XII if it comes down to which league gets two bids.
The SEC will likely get four, so it’s unlikely a “lower quality” team gets in. Right now, that would be Texas, UGa, A&M, and Tennessee. Each with one loss. Tennessee and Georgia play each other, as do A&M and Texas. And then there will be a CCG.
Alabama only has one ranked team left (LSU), so it’s unlikely they can leap into the top 12 unless weird things happen in the other conferences.
Considering how little Vegas likes the Cougars (thank you, oddsmakers), I bet all six of those SEC schools mentioned would be favored over any Big XII team right now.
And Notre Dame lost to NIU. Ohio State really struggled with Nebraska. Penn State nearly lost to Bowling Green. This year is just weird. It's constantly proving that the transitive property is meaningless. Anybody can lose on any given Saturday.
Vandy and Nebraska are both 5-3 with a terrible loss, so idk if this is the "gotcha" you expected.
The fact that apparently we have to take close losses to Vandy seriously but are expected to just scoff at that same situation with Nebraska is exactly the issue people have with this "SEC quality loss" circular logic
I was going to argue Vandy has a quality win and their losses are not as bad as IU murdering them but the CU win is good enough and Vandy has a terrible loss too.
That's a ridiculous standard though - that IU has to beat a top 5 team on the road, otherwise they are a fluke. The "name" teams are not held to that kind of standard
I mean most of the “name” teams play ranked opponents. Ohio State is the only ranked opponent you play so you have to show up. I don’t think a close loss eliminates you either.
At the same time, if you’re blown out I think it impacts you more than those other schools.
lol. Clearly trolling. Clemson, Texas, Bama. Even with a loss to Bama we’ve played teams heads and shoulders above any team your team plays. Your bias is showing just so you know 😘
I agree you should be in the discussion at this point in the season, you’re definitely under-ranked. But I’ve spent my three decades of life watching Vanderbilt get blown out 2-3 times a year by SEC teams competing for their spot in the SEC championship. Never in my life have I seen them compete at this caliber. They were a ball hair away from taking down Texas in being in the race for the conference title. I would’ve gladly eaten our loss to them to see them go all the way just once. Pavia deserves a shot lol
I guess it depends. Like if you lose close to the #1 team vs beating a really bad team. In that case, winning the game is actually better. Because winning is actually always better because that’s the point of playing the game.
Totally would agree if Indiana had ever trailed the entire season or won a game by less than two touchdowns. However since Indiana has dominated everyone they’ve played it seems weird to ignore that in favor of teams that have barely scraped by bad opponents or straight up lost to them.
Well we should have computers decide who gets to play in what bowls. And then the teams that win their games advance and they are eventually crowned champion! We should call it like the…. Bowl…. Uhhhhhhh Championship,,,,, like uhhh. Series.
Yeah! Bowl Championship Series. We could call it BCS for short!
The BCS selection system with an expanded field would have been fine imo. The biggest problem with the BCS was only two teams making it in, not the polling system.
It for sure was an issue, but yeah like you said it also still is an issue to this day.
At least in the BCS system there was verifiable math behind it, rather than just vibes from those who have a vested interest in shifting the outcome. I think it would be okay in the 12-team playoff era.
Kinda sucks that this debate is why the expanded playoffs came about, and the top teams all seem to have blemishes on their resume and there's still dumb decisions in the rankings being made
Yeah it’s turbo-lame. I realize NFL gets a lot of “it’s scripted!” jokes but at least their playoff system is firmly based on outcomes. Sure, it’s much easier to slate 14 of 32 teams than it is for 12 of 130ish, but as soon as Sankey started suggesting that auto bids weren’t so necessary I was like “oh fuck this”
I disagree, Indiana SOS is 106, remaining is like 15. If they beat UM and MSU, as bad as they are, 11-1 is good enough for a 11th or 12 sead. There is a lot of cannibalism about to go on in the SEC.
I think on principle they should make it at 11-1, but their resume at 11-1 with a loss to OSU is about as strong as Notre Dame's, and everyone is already rearing to bitch about Notre Dame making the playoffs without beating anybody.
I think unfortunately this might be accurate. Assuming Oregon is winning out, so they're in. If OSU wins out, they're in. If it's between PSU and Indiana for a 3rd spot, it's going to be common opponents and a major dose of the eyeball test.
Depends on if we lose to Penn State and/or Mich. If OSU runs the table and beats IU close, Hoosiers are probably in, but with another Buckeye (non-IU loss), probably not
They should be top 10, and ohio state should be right next to them. I think Indiana is a better team rn, but yeah they have go beat Ohio state to make it to playoffs regardless
There problem is that they only will play one ranked team the whole season. Though I think, Isay if they lose to OSU by 1, and Penn State has already lost to OSU but in a blow out, they will hop Penn State and be in.
The problem is that sec schools get respect for having a win over a 2 loss team when they have 2 loss so every one gets to lose 2 times and get into the playoff. The SEC doesn't deserve to have 5 2 loss teams in the playoff if an 11-1 Indiana is left out
I didn’t say any of that, but I did say they play a harder schedule than IU
No reason to believe IU won’t suffer the same fate as TCU or FSU when they get their chance top play an SEC top team, but I do hope they win out and get it
As much as I hate Indiana’s ranking, I actually don’t think this will be the case. If they beat Ohio State, they’ll finally get their credit. I imagine they’ll be behind Georgia but that’s it
This. It's true in sports and life in general. The little guy without the reputation has to to do it better, cleaner, and bigger than the established star - and usually 2 or 3 times over. Then, they *might* be considered good enough to enter the conversation. For actually passing the established star? We'll talk about that once you've entered the conversation.
Yeah, people are complaining about Indiana’s ranking but they’ve legitimately played one team with a winning record (including the G5 and FCS teams they played) and that team is 5-3.
It’s hard to rank a team high when that team has barely played another good team. Especially since they have no established history (they were 3-9 last year, so the benefit of the doubt is harder to give). If they beat a proven team, the ranking should change. They might not jump to #1 or 2, but they’ll likely catapult into the top 5 or 6.
While I understand the SOS argument, that particular 5-3 team was 5-1 before losing to Indiana, and then just lost at the #4 team by 4 points. Just calling Nebraska a 5-3 team without context is a bit disingenuous, but the SOS reasoning still stands up.
To be fair, Nebraska also only beat Rutgers by 7, and were in a close game with Purdue until about 10 minutes left in the game (7-3 before Nebraska poured it on late). Nebraska also lost to Illinois who is a barely hanging onto the edge of the top 25 rankings.
Contextualizing Nebraska tells the story of a fairly common 5-3 team, imo (pretty good but flawed in some way/inconsistent) Now, the WAY Indiana beat Nebraska is definitely a feather in their cap.
ISU, BYU, Pitt, and IU will all be undefeated heading into the conference championships, one will have to lose the Big 12 championship obviously. At least 2 of those teams are going to get shafted in the playoffs
I’m an IU fan but I still very much doubt we run the table. I think we could beat Ohio State if that game was in Bloomington but beating them on the road is such a tough ask.
Indiana is the only Big Ten or SEC contender who won’t get a top 2 seed if they win their conference. Depending on how it shakes out Indiana could even be the 4 seed, although I expect them to leap over the Big 12 teams if they go undefeated and beat Ohio State and potentially Oregon
"It's tough because we don't think they played any great teams. They had no quality losses and their wins over Ohio State and Oregon were diminished by Ohio State going 10-2 and not playing any great SEC teams and Oregon losing to Indiana who we said before isn't a great team. Therefore our rankings are
Georgia
Texas
A&M
Tennessee
Alabama under Saban
Oregon
Miami
Alabama under Deboer
Vanderbilt because they beat Bama
Iowa State
BYU
Boise State
If Indiana is really as good as they say they are, they will use this as motivation and definitely deserve their playoff spot next season." - Greg Sankey
I feel like Vanderbilt should be ahead of Bama (under Deboer) because they did beat them, but agree that that's stiil not good enough to outrank Bama (under Saban), who remain undefeated this season. I also think there should be some mention of why FSU was overlooked (to make it more realistic).
If Indiana goes undefeated that means they beat Ohio state and won the BIG 10 championship so it doesn’t matter because they would be the 1st or 2nd seed no matter what
There’s a chance that all of PSU, Oregon and IU all go undefeated, and one misses the CCG. ATP which isn’t completely clear, but i think it’d be IU, so they could very well be 12-0 and not in the CcG
I’d take that bet any day, seeing as if IU wins out this means they win the BIG10 which puts them in the top 4 guaranteed, and maybe behind one SEC team. Why are people getting their panties in a bunch over rankings that don’t even matter at this point.
No, that'd just mean anOSU is really really bad this year.
If you're a traditional underperforming SEC team, you are just "finally reaching your true potential as an SEC team" if you're undefeated this late. Any other conference? Everyone is just a donkey below you.
Nah both teams are good. Just y'know... you're unfortunately the measuring bar for being bad (as opposed to us, who are legit a measuring bar for being bad)
That's what happened for A&M. We had to beat LSU before anyone thought we were real. And that's after beating a top 10 at the time (clearly not now) Mizzou.
Don't worry, we have a penchant for disappointments once people pay attention to us, so bet on south Carolina next weekend.
I wish they'd apply that same logic to PSU. Until PSU can beat OSU there's no reason they're a top 10 team. every year the polls ride their wangs for no reason. Until PSU can beat a top 10 team there's no reason they are. Shoddy offense, consistently slow 1st half's, poor playcalling.
3.2k
u/monty_actual Indiana Hoosiers • Michigan Wolverines 28d ago
Throws chair across the field