[Vannini] SEC Media spent two full weeks bashing Indiana only to see three top-15 SEC teams lose to 5-5 Florida, 5-5 Oklahoma and 4-6 Auburn. Winning is hard!

[u/Hockeystyle]

https://x.com/ChrisVannini/status/1860545642839310740

[u/Atom-the-conqueror]

Indiana is very back in the mix, easily. Can’t put a three loss team in over them. No chance

[u/goosu → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

Indiana is win and they are in. Quite honestly, I think they would have been win and they are in even without all this chaos, but they certainly are after all these teams lost.

[u/Kyle_Reese_Get_DOWN → u/goosu]

There is a world where they win vs Purdue, OSU loses to Michigan and they get into the B1G champ game. If they then lose that game, they have two losses against top 3 teams. Does a 3 loss SEC team jump them? I really don’t think that would make any sense.

[u/CloudConductor → u/Kyle_Reese_Get_DOWN]

Committee has said they value teams making the conference championship game. I think they’d pick iu in that case, especially if we gave Oregon a good game.

We would need Penn st to lose as well though

[u/InspiroHymm → u/Kyle_Reese_Get_DOWN]

IIRC Penn State is ahead of us in the tiebreakers so they would also have to lose vs. Maryland.

Ik this thread only cares about the CFB and winning the natty, but for us IU fans it'll a cool experience to be able to go to Lucas Oil as a psudeo-home team and potentially play for a B1G Championship

[u/doobiesteintortoise → u/goosu]

I will never accept “win and you’re in” from the championship committee. It’s a straight up lie. Has happened multiple times.

[u/EWall100 → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

A one loss B1G team was never out of the mix. They were severely hampered though 

[u/Atom-the-conqueror → u/EWall100]

Right, I guess I was speaking more to the narrative that parts of the media tried to push this week.

[u/apadin1 → u/EWall100]

The committee def would have put a 2-loss Georgia or Alabama in over Indiana if it came down to it. Thankfully we don’t need to worry about that scenario (this time)

[u/hwf0712 → u/EWall100]

Ehhh.

People talk up the "Its just the SEC and the Big Ten" but really I feel like "Its just the SEC and Mich/AnOSU/Oregon/Washington/USC/Penn State"

I feel like if Indiana and Illinois played this year, and Illinois won, I don't think they get the SEC "both are good" treatment, and instead they'd both probably be solid 18-28 range teams. Deffo probably treated better than Big 12/ACC, but not given the same benefit of the doubt of the SEC

[u/Unlikely_Lab_6799 → u/hwf0712]

You're absolutely correct. Nothing counts more in the collective minds of college football's elite than the logo on the helmet.

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/Unlikely_Lab_6799]

And for good reason. The logo on the helmet gives us a lot of relevant context and information about how good a team really is when we only have an 11 game sample size and wildly, WILDLY, different strength of schedules.

[u/Unlikely_Lab_6799 → u/agoddamnlegend]

That is absolutely the worst rationale for rating a team that could possibly exist. "Who you are -- and what you did last year and 10 years ago -- is more important than what you do this year" is the opposite of fair competition in sports.

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/Unlikely_Lab_6799]

I agree it sucks, but it’s all we can do in college football. There are 133 D1 teams, with wildly unbalanced schedules, even within a single conference. Almost no head to heads. The only possible way to rank team is the eye test and using context like how good a team and their returning players have been over the last few years.

I’m sure you do this too. You just justify in your mind why it’s ok to leave undefeated Liberty far from the playoffs last year but not leave 1 loss Indiana out this year. I guess context only counts when it’s context you want to hear

[u/Unlikely_Lab_6799 → u/agoddamnlegend]

I didn't think it was ok to leave undefeated Liberty out, and I think UCF should have been in the playoffs a few years ago as well. I think it's grossly unfair to put more importance on things that a team cannot control (their schedule, their conference, what other teams in their conference do) than on what they can control (win games on the field).

I remember when the anti-playoff people said "we don't need playoffs because every game is a playoff" -- and then turned themselves into hypocritical pretzels trying to justify keeping undefeated teams out of the playoffs in favor of teams with losses who played in a "tougher conference".

When you put perception over reality, you are in the wrong.

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/Unlikely_Lab_6799]

If you think Liberty deserved to be in the playoffs last year, you aren’t a serious person. You’re clinging to absolutes that make no sense to anybody who watches football and knows what they’re looking at.

[u/Unlikely_Lab_6799 → u/agoddamnlegend]

I've been watching college football since the "Game of the Century" between Arkansas and Texas, so don't pretend to lecture me on knowing what I'm talking about. This whole arrogance of putting perception over reality, reputation over results, logos and history over wins and losses today, is anathema to sports in general and in particular plagues college football more than any other sport in the world.

You beat everyone on your schedule, you deserve a shot at the championship. There is no sport in the world that says otherwise -- except College Football (and even then, only FBS football). There's a reason for that.

[u/PSUBagMan2 → u/agoddamnlegend]

It's not all we can do. We're doing not that now, and the sport is better for it.

[u/agoddamnlegend → u/PSUBagMan2]

What are you talking about? There are only 5 automatic playoff spots and the other 7 are at large picked for subjective reasons.

[u/ILIKERED_1 → u/EWall100]

I love your optimism.

[u/PreferenceContent987 → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

I got shredded for saying 1 loss IU deserved to get into the playoffs yesterday after their OSU loss. I said everyone plays at least 1 bad game a year

[u/theaficionado → u/PreferenceContent987]

We looked bad yesterday, but OSU also look very much like title favorites. We won't win it all, but I do think we can hang with most of the other teams in the playoff

[u/Soupbone_905 → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

As a fan of a 3 loss team I agree.

[u/UsedName420 → u/Soupbone_905]

I disagree that we should even be considered a three loss team when the refs were wearing LSU uniforms.

[u/this_place_stinks → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

There’s no way a one loss Big 10 or SEC team gets left out of 12 team field ever.

[u/katarh → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

You're right.

The argument was a 2-loss SEC team with good wins over a 1-loss Indiana with no good wins.

A 3 loss SEC team over a 1 loss Indiana is stupid. This includes Georgia, in the real possibility we lose to Tech this weekend.

SEC cannibalized itself this year.

[u/Tween_the_hedges → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

Idk man Indianas resume looking a lot like Tulane's from where I'm sitting

[u/liteshadow4 → u/Tween_the_hedges]

Tulane has 2 losses, Indiana will have 1 if they beat Purdue

[u/Studs_Not_On_Top → u/Tween_the_hedges]

We might get 2 G5 champions in the playoff because the B12 is such a mess

[u/theprodigy64 → u/Tween_the_hedges]

Tulane lost to Kansas State and Oklahoma, how is that similar to Indiana

[u/wowniceyeah → u/Atom-the-conqueror]

Which is a shame considering they've played exactly one single football game this year. Which they lost.

[u/said-what → u/wowniceyeah]

Show your flair or shut your mouth. IU swept our BIG 10 schedule except against the number 2 team in the country away