CFB Week 14: Championship Week

Captaincoop

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Anything that codifies P5/G5 is lame, imo. Top six conference champions gives you the same result without the stink of a caste system.
That's fine, and it's also a distinction that makes no difference.

The SEC also-rans get their shot at Alabama every year and they always fail. As a fan, I'd like to see Alabama or whoever comes out of that league play some other schools.

CFB is turning into a regional sport at this point, which is fine with Greg Sankey but shouldn't be fine with anyone else.
 

JoePoulson

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Let's separate the SEC East from this conversation. The best team Georgia beat all year was Kentucky. They don't play in the same league as Alabama.
Heard this morning the last time Saban lost to an SEC East team was in 2010 to Spurrier's Gamecocks. That's incredible but not surprising really. As a Hog fan all I can do is laugh and hope they finish higher than 4th in the West occasionally.
 

Ale Xander

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That's fine, and it's also a distinction that makes no difference.

The SEC also-rans get their shot at Alabama every year and they always fail. As a fan, I'd like to see Alabama or whoever comes out of that league play some other schools.

CFB is turning into a regional sport at this point, which is fine with Greg Sankey but shouldn't be fine with anyone else.
CFB has been a regional sport for 50 years. ever since Alabama integrated in 1971. The Southeast and small sliver in the upper midwest along hwy 23, will continue to dominate it.
 

Awesome Fossum

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That's fine, and it's also a distinction that makes no difference.
True, although imagine a world where the top six conference champs got in this year, and SDSU had won their game on Saturday. With Cincinnati already getting one spot, we'd have to choose between three-loss Utah and one-loss SDSU, where SDSU holds a head-to-head victory over Utah.
 

Ale Xander

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Let's separate the SEC East from this conversation. The best team Georgia beat all year was Kentucky. They don't play in the same league as Alabama.
I’ve had recurring dreams over the past few years that the SEC and ACC negotiate a trade of Vandy and Clemson.
 

Captaincoop

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CFB has been a regional sport for 50 years. ever since Alabama integrated in 1971. The Southeast and small sliver in the upper midwest along hwy 23, will continue to dominate it.
That's just incorrect. The last 15 years have been dominated by the SEC. Prior to that champions were coming from all over the country - USC, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, etc. The sport is better that way.
 

Captaincoop

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True, although imagine a world where the top six conference champs got in this year, and SDSU had won their game on Saturday. With Cincinnati already getting one spot, we'd have to choose between three-loss Utah and one-loss SDSU, where SDSU holds a head-to-head victory over Utah.
That's a good point. Top 6 conference champions makes more sense.
 

snowmanny

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That's just incorrect. The last 15 years have been dominated by the SEC. Prior to that champions were coming from all over the country - USC, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Michigan, Texas, etc. The sport is better that way.
And there's a reason why Lincoln Riley went to USC and not LSU. He thinks he can have a top 4 team there.
 

snowmanny

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So a 12-team tourney this year would have given us something like -

(12) Pitt @ (5) ND winner plays Cincinnati
(11) Utah @ (6) Ohio State winner plays Georgia
(10) Michigan State @ (7) Baylor winner plays Michigan
(9) Oklahoma State @ (8) Ole Miss winner plays Alabama

This year at least there would be the potential for some rematches in the quarterfinals.
 

Deathofthebambino

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And there's a reason why Lincoln Riley went to USC and not LSU. He thinks he can have a top 4 team there.
I plan to put a not insignificant wager on USC making the BCS playoff next year, once we found out who their QB will be. If Caleb Williams goes there, it'll be a very large wager. With the commits they are getting, and the schedule they have, they should steamroll the PAC-12 if Williams goes.
 

snowmanny

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I plan to put a not insignificant wager on USC making the BCS playoff next year, once we found out who their QB will be. If Caleb Williams goes there, it'll be a very large wager. With the commits they are getting, and the schedule they have, they should steamroll the PAC-12 if Williams goes.
Their out of conference next year is Notre Dame and junk iirc. But they do get LSU in a couple years!
 

Deathofthebambino

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Their out of conference next year is Notre Dame and junk iirc. But they do get LSU in a couple years!
You know who is going to be junk next year?

Notre Dame. I'm not a Brian Kelly fan, but it's going to take some time for that program to recover.
 

Captaincoop

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You know who is going to be junk next year?

Notre Dame. I'm not a Brian Kelly fan, but it's going to take some time for that program to recover.
Agreed. This early signing period needs to be rethought. Not only are teams firing coaches early to prepare for the December NLI period, they're now making short-sighted coaching hires to keep one recruiting class together.
 

Captaincoop

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Their out of conference next year is Notre Dame and junk iirc. But they do get LSU in a couple years!
Look at Georgia's schedule this year. If USC runs the table in the Pac-12 and beats Notre Dame, Fresno State, and Rice (that's their non-conference schedule - which is better than 90% of P5 teams, btw) they're 100% in.
 

mauf

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Agreed. This early signing period needs to be rethought. Not only are teams firing coaches early to prepare for the December NLI period, they're now making short-sighted coaching hires to keep one recruiting class together.
I think rolling the dice on Freeman rather than throwing a bunch of money at whoever the hot G5 or low-end P5 coach is this year makes sense. ND will still be a marquee coaching job two years from now; they can move on from Freeman if it doesn’t work out. This gives them a chance to hold together the program ND built, which is probably their best-case scenario.
 

Captaincoop

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Sure, but only if ND is made to join a conference. Otherwise, they’ll always be one of the two wild cards.
Just to see how this would play out, I looked at the 5-year period starting with 2015 and applied the 8-team system we were discussing (Top 6 conference champions + two highest-ranked runners up/independents). Notre Dame would have made the playoff once, in 2018, when they made the actual 4 team playoff anyway. You can quibble with the seeding, but the tournaments would have looked something like this (p.s. sign me up).

2015 Quarterfinals:
Houston @ #1 Clemson
Ohio State @ #2 Alabama
Stanford @ #3 Michigan State
Iowa @ #4 Oklahoma

2016:
Western Michigan @ #1 Alabama
Penn State @ #2 Clemson
Michigan @ #3 Ohio State
Oklahoma @ #4 Washington

2017:
UCF @ #1 Clemson
Auburn @ #2 Oklahoma
USC @ #3 Georgia
Ohio State @ #4 Alabama

2018:
Washington @ #1 Alabama
Georgia @ #2 Clemson
UCF @ #3 Notre Dame
Ohio State @ #4 Oklahoma

2019:
Memphis @ #1 LSU
Florida @ #2 Ohio State
Oregon @ #3 Clemson
Georgia @ #4 Oklahoma
 

luckiestman

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I don’t want to watch a shitty team with a good record get smoked by Bama when the only newsworthy event would be a good Bama player getting hurt.

What is the point of Memphis/LSU is 2019?

4 is fine, who is being hurt here?
 

Captaincoop

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I don’t want to watch a shitty team with a good record get smoked by Bama when the only newsworthy event would be a good Bama player getting hurt.

What is the point of Memphis/LSU is 2019?

4 is fine, who is being hurt here?
The 85% of college football fans who are locked out of ever playing in a meaningful game?

I mean, there is no other sport in the United States that limits access to the playoffs to a degree even close to this. It's ridiculous. if the 16-0 Patriots could put Tom Brady out there to play a Divisional Round game, I think Alabama football can manage playing three postseason games to win a title.
 

luckiestman

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The 85% of college football fans who are locked out of ever playing in a meaningful game?
Going from 4 to 8 changes this how many percentage points since we're just making up stats? Each week matters a lot in college ball and many games are meaningful.
 

CFB_Rules

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Got to love end of season rule interpretations. The NCAA has determined that any player “faking a slide” should end the play immediately. The rule stating such will come out next year, but will be in force for bowl season.
 

BaseballJones

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Got to love end of season rule interpretations. The NCAA has determined that any player “faking a slide” should end the play immediately. The rule stating such will come out next year, but will be in force for bowl season.
I think it's a good rule actually. If players aren't allowed to hit a QB once he starts his slide, given the speed at which these guys move, a QB faking a slide necessarily causes a defender to stop or risk a major penalty. It's an unfair taking advantage of a rule designed to protect them.

As for the 4 vs 8 team playoff situation....there's a lot of things to play for besides the national championship. The conference championship being the main thing.
 

thehitcat

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Got to love end of season rule interpretations. The NCAA has determined that any player “faking a slide” should end the play immediately. The rule stating such will come out next year, but will be in force for bowl season.
Honestly I would have been OK with them both stopping the play and assessing the offense an Unsportsmanlike Penalty complete with 15 yard walk off. That should put an end to these before they really get started.
 

Senator Donut

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Got to love end of season rule interpretations. The NCAA has determined that any player “faking a slide” should end the play immediately. The rule stating such will come out next year, but will be in force for bowl season.
Did the NCAA do the same for fake kneel downs (e.g. WKU or the Patriots against the Falcons) or fake fair catches (North Texas against Arkansas)?
 

CFB_Rules

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Did the NCAA do the same for fake kneel downs (e.g. WKU or the Patriots against the Falcons) or fake fair catches (North Texas against Arkansas)?
Fake kneel downs are dead by rule and have been for some time. Much to the chagrin of many officials, the North Texas play has been deemed completely legal by the NCAA.
 

Awesome Fossum

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Fake kneel downs are dead by rule and have been for some time. Much to the chagrin of many officials, the North Texas play has been deemed completely legal by the NCAA.
Oh wow, I didn't know that. A bush league team I played on once got burned on a fake kneel right before halftime. As the other team broke the huddle, the referee told us that the team was kneeling and to not come off the ball. Instead they threw a go down the sideline for a touchdown. I can't remember if they actually faked the knee or just took advantage of the ref's warning. I do remember the ref saying he would never do that again. But that was like a decade ago.
 

CFB_Rules

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Oh wow, I didn't know that. A bush league team I played on once got burned on a fake kneel right before halftime. As the other team broke the huddle, the referee told us that the team was kneeling and to not come off the ball. Instead they threw a go down the sideline for a touchdown. I can't remember if they actually faked the knee or just took advantage of the ref's warning. I do remember the ref saying he would never do that again. But that was like a decade ago.
This is a pretty frequently discussed topic among officials. I don't tell teams anyone is taking a knee. I might come in tighter to the formation in order to more quickly get in between players but I don't want to tell anyone what to do.

If you as an official issue a warning to the defense then I think you need to flag the offense if they don't go down.
 

CFB_Rules

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Would it be unsportsmanlike conduct?
Yes but I wouldn't charge it to anyone, just the team. But like I said I wouldn't have it in one of my games because I wouldn't tell anyone anything.

There are a lot of state high school associations that have made the kneeldown a mandatory procedure. If a team declares they will take a knee, the defense can't rush and the play is blown dead and the clock runs. But for me, if you are going to do all that then you might as well just end the damn game.