🏈 Playoff Sections for 2018 -- 1) CU, 2) OU, 3) UGA, 4) BAMA
- Thread starter SnakeFan
- Start date
Not sure we win the game but we damn sure would give them a hell of a better game than the Suckeyes.
I've been trying to not be pessimistic about this but I honestly just do not see Bama getting in. The committee kind of screwed themselves last year because they set the precedent of a non-conference champion getting. That so happened to be a team that then got molly wopped in the semifinals. They also dont want to set the precedent of not having two teams from the same conference getting in, now.
The problem with all of that is there isn't a rule that you have to be a conference champion, nor is there one about not having two teams from the same conference. If you are going to use those two things as criteria or let it bias your vote, then make the shit a rule or do what you're supposed to do. Put the top 4 teams in, we thought this would help with some of the politics of the National Title but honestly it's making it worse, and i think this going to end with a ton of backlash (no matter which way they lean) and we will eventual expand to eight teams and the rest of the Bowl Games dying a very slow and painful death.
Ultimately, I think we will see #1 Clemson, #2 Oklahoma, #3 Georgia and #4 Ohio State. Alabama on the outside looking in and with the risk of having a flat, unmotivated Alabama team tanking yet another BCS/New Year Six Bowl. I'm not trying to be critical with that last comment, it's hard for anyone with hopes of a National Championship, and having lost just one game, watching a 2-loss team (that got blown the hell out in both losses, one against an unranked team) get in ahead of them. It would be very hard to get up for a New Years Bowl Game against UCF or Miami. Honestly, only way I could see one of those bowls motivating Bama is if somehow the Cotton Bowl managed to get an Iron Bowl rematch. I think the Orange Bowl has first pick, though, so its probably going to be Bama vs. Miami. We can take solace in knowing that Ohio State is going to be prison raped by Clemson yet again.
The problem with all of that is there isn't a rule that you have to be a conference champion, nor is there one about not having two teams from the same conference. If you are going to use those two things as criteria or let it bias your vote, then make the shit a rule or do what you're supposed to do. Put the top 4 teams in, we thought this would help with some of the politics of the National Title but honestly it's making it worse, and i think this going to end with a ton of backlash (no matter which way they lean) and we will eventual expand to eight teams and the rest of the Bowl Games dying a very slow and painful death.
Ultimately, I think we will see #1 Clemson, #2 Oklahoma, #3 Georgia and #4 Ohio State. Alabama on the outside looking in and with the risk of having a flat, unmotivated Alabama team tanking yet another BCS/New Year Six Bowl. I'm not trying to be critical with that last comment, it's hard for anyone with hopes of a National Championship, and having lost just one game, watching a 2-loss team (that got blown the hell out in both losses, one against an unranked team) get in ahead of them. It would be very hard to get up for a New Years Bowl Game against UCF or Miami. Honestly, only way I could see one of those bowls motivating Bama is if somehow the Cotton Bowl managed to get an Iron Bowl rematch. I think the Orange Bowl has first pick, though, so its probably going to be Bama vs. Miami. We can take solace in knowing that Ohio State is going to be prison raped by Clemson yet again.
You just said you don't care about anything that isn't Bama. You sound like damaged goods. It's the playoffs or bust and I don't give a tinker's dam about an orange bowl.
I have no clue what you're talking about or what the point of it is.
If we do get relegated to a NY6 bowl game, then we just need to play Sparty. It cures what ails ya.
Rolltide24
Member
BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
All is right in college football, so long as playoff committee doesn't screw it up
If you don’t think the College Football Playoff is the best thing to happen to the sport since homecoming was invented, consider where we would be without it.
Namely, there would be no Ohio State vs. Alabama, Urban Meyer vs. Nick Saban, Big Ten vs. Southeastern Conference debate for the last spot in the four-team field. Which is about as good as sporting debates get.
The playoff has delivered yet again. It has delivered a budding dynasty in defending champion Clemson, which almost assuredly will be the No. 1 seed when the bracket is revealed Sunday afternoon. Go ahead and slot the Tigers for the Sugar Bowl, their third straight playoff berth.
It has delivered a boost to the beleaguered Big 12, which has missed two of the first three iterations of the playoff, but this time will almost assuredly be represented by high-octane Oklahoma and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Baker Mayfield. The Sooners, if they get the No. 2 seed, seem headed to the Rose Bowl semifinal.
And it has delivered the possibility of the SEC claiming half the bracket, which will absolutely infuriate a large percentage of the nation. Georgia is in, after winning the league title, and probably would face Oklahoma in Pasadena. Which would leave Alabama against Clemson for the third straight year in a playoff game.
Unless of course the selection committee chooses Ohio State. Doing so would give the Buckeyes the benefit of substantial doubt for the third time in four years, and would create major controversy. But so would snubbing Ohio State in favor of Alabama.
Controversy is unavoidable, this year and most years. And that’s fine. A debatable path to the national title has been part of the sport’s fabric forever.
The playoff committee’s charge is to select the four best teams. Inevitably, two or more of them were going to come from the same conference (ironically, they could come from an SEC that is, top to bottom, far from what it used to be). To react as if this is some grave injustice is silly and provincial.
But there will be a lot of backlash if it comes out that way. One of the main reasons we have a playoff is because everyone lost their minds when SEC powers LSU and Alabama met for the national title in the 2011 BCS championship game.
Picking the four best teams sounds so simple, yet the task becomes muddied by disparate schedules and subjective appraisal. Do football politics come into play? We’re about to find out, because excluding the Big Ten champion in favor of a second SEC team would be the ultimate political football.
These are the two most accomplished, profitable and traditional conferences, and the power struggle between them boils down to the two programs that have been their flagships in the 21st century — and much of the 20th century.
The two leaps of faith that are required to move Ohio State into the playoff are these:
1) Assuming that Wisconsin is something more than a previously untested paper tiger. The undefeated Badgers came into the weekend with the worst strength of schedule of any team in the Sagarin Top 15, having methodically plowed through a succession of weak opponents. Their road schedule was particularly soft, and they couldn’t pass their first major test outside the jump-around comfort of Camp Randall Stadium.
So, was that a huge win for Ohio State, or merely exposing Wisconsin for what it is?
2) The amnesia necessary to get over the 11-2 Buckeyes’ 31-point loss to an Iowa team that finished 7-5 and lost at home to Purdue. They have better wins than 11-1 Alabama, but nobody in the brief playoff history has made the field with anything close to that blowout defeat in Iowa City. Or with two losses, period.
Then there is this: The Big Ten has utterly flopped the past two years in the playoff. The league’s representative hasn’t score a point since Ohio State won the first playoff title three years ago. Michigan State was blown out 38-0 by Alabama two seasons ago, and Ohio State was embarrassed 31-0 last season by Clemson.
That shouldn’t be a contributing factor in the committee’s deliberations, if they’re going to view each season in a vacuum. But don’t be surprised if those past mismatches are lodged in the backs of their minds.
So it is advantage Alabama. At least on this scorecard. We’ll see if the committee agrees.
But understand this: A playoff tussle between those two teams is further proof that we are living in a golden postseason era in college football. Eventually we will get six or eight teams involved, but for now this is all good.
All is right in college football, so long as playoff committee doesn't screw it up
If you don’t think the College Football Playoff is the best thing to happen to the sport since homecoming was invented, consider where we would be without it.
Namely, there would be no Ohio State vs. Alabama, Urban Meyer vs. Nick Saban, Big Ten vs. Southeastern Conference debate for the last spot in the four-team field. Which is about as good as sporting debates get.
The playoff has delivered yet again. It has delivered a budding dynasty in defending champion Clemson, which almost assuredly will be the No. 1 seed when the bracket is revealed Sunday afternoon. Go ahead and slot the Tigers for the Sugar Bowl, their third straight playoff berth.
It has delivered a boost to the beleaguered Big 12, which has missed two of the first three iterations of the playoff, but this time will almost assuredly be represented by high-octane Oklahoma and Heisman Trophy frontrunner Baker Mayfield. The Sooners, if they get the No. 2 seed, seem headed to the Rose Bowl semifinal.
And it has delivered the possibility of the SEC claiming half the bracket, which will absolutely infuriate a large percentage of the nation. Georgia is in, after winning the league title, and probably would face Oklahoma in Pasadena. Which would leave Alabama against Clemson for the third straight year in a playoff game.
Unless of course the selection committee chooses Ohio State. Doing so would give the Buckeyes the benefit of substantial doubt for the third time in four years, and would create major controversy. But so would snubbing Ohio State in favor of Alabama.
Controversy is unavoidable, this year and most years. And that’s fine. A debatable path to the national title has been part of the sport’s fabric forever.
The playoff committee’s charge is to select the four best teams. Inevitably, two or more of them were going to come from the same conference (ironically, they could come from an SEC that is, top to bottom, far from what it used to be). To react as if this is some grave injustice is silly and provincial.
But there will be a lot of backlash if it comes out that way. One of the main reasons we have a playoff is because everyone lost their minds when SEC powers LSU and Alabama met for the national title in the 2011 BCS championship game.
Picking the four best teams sounds so simple, yet the task becomes muddied by disparate schedules and subjective appraisal. Do football politics come into play? We’re about to find out, because excluding the Big Ten champion in favor of a second SEC team would be the ultimate political football.
These are the two most accomplished, profitable and traditional conferences, and the power struggle between them boils down to the two programs that have been their flagships in the 21st century — and much of the 20th century.
The two leaps of faith that are required to move Ohio State into the playoff are these:
1) Assuming that Wisconsin is something more than a previously untested paper tiger. The undefeated Badgers came into the weekend with the worst strength of schedule of any team in the Sagarin Top 15, having methodically plowed through a succession of weak opponents. Their road schedule was particularly soft, and they couldn’t pass their first major test outside the jump-around comfort of Camp Randall Stadium.
So, was that a huge win for Ohio State, or merely exposing Wisconsin for what it is?
2) The amnesia necessary to get over the 11-2 Buckeyes’ 31-point loss to an Iowa team that finished 7-5 and lost at home to Purdue. They have better wins than 11-1 Alabama, but nobody in the brief playoff history has made the field with anything close to that blowout defeat in Iowa City. Or with two losses, period.
Then there is this: The Big Ten has utterly flopped the past two years in the playoff. The league’s representative hasn’t score a point since Ohio State won the first playoff title three years ago. Michigan State was blown out 38-0 by Alabama two seasons ago, and Ohio State was embarrassed 31-0 last season by Clemson.
That shouldn’t be a contributing factor in the committee’s deliberations, if they’re going to view each season in a vacuum. But don’t be surprised if those past mismatches are lodged in the backs of their minds.
So it is advantage Alabama. At least on this scorecard. We’ll see if the committee agrees.
But understand this: A playoff tussle between those two teams is further proof that we are living in a golden postseason era in college football. Eventually we will get six or eight teams involved, but for now this is all good.
All is right in college football, so long as playoff committee doesn't screw it up
Max
Member
Alabama vs. Ohio State: Who Gets the Fourth Playoff Spot?
The top three in the playoff will be 1. Clemson 2. Oklahoma 3. Georgia and either 4. Wisconsin or Alabama or Ohio State
(This column is being written before Wisconsin vs. Ohio State is over and under the presumption that Ohio State, presently up double digits in the second half, will actually win the Big Ten title.)
Before I get into the breakdown between the two teams here’s the way the fourth team will be picked, just ten committee members will rank the teams from 4-6. There will only be ten committee members ranking the teams because three of the 13 committee members will have to recuse themselves from voting — Ohio State and Clemson’s athletic directors because their two teams will be ranked inside the top six and former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer because his son is on the Georgia coaching staff.
This means there is the distinct possibility that the committee could split, with five voting for Ohio State and five voting for Alabama in the fourth spot. If they split like this do you know how the tie is broken? THEY SIT IN THE ROOM AND ARGUE UNTIL SOMEONE CHANGES THEIR MIND.
Seriously, this is the brilliant method we’ve selected to choose four playoff teams. One person could literally just change their mind and that’s how the playoff gets picked.
And if you think that’s crazy here’s something else that’s crazy — the ballots of the voters aren’t made public. Yes, you heard that correct — the ten voters never have to allow their ballots to be seen publicly by college football fans across the country. So there is an incredible amount of corruption that could be in play here. Because we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars to the conference that makes the fourth playoff — either the SEC or the Big Ten.
This is a recipe for disaster.
Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, how would you assess Alabama vs. Ohio State.
First, and I’ll get to more on the Las Vegas front in a moment, but it’s important to realize that Vegas would favor Alabama by 5.5 over Ohio State on a neutral field. If the goal of the committee is to pick the best teams for the playoff — that’s literally their charged goal — shouldn’t the fact that Alabama would be nearly a touchdown favorite over Ohio State break any close tie?
Second, 11-1 Alabama has the same number of wins against teams with winning records as Ohio State, two more wins against teams going to bowl games, and its single loss will be demonstrably better than Ohio State’s two losses. Bama lost on the road to Auburn, a bitter conference rival, who is undoubtedly a top ten team. Ohio State lost to likely #2 seed Oklahoma at home by 15 and lost by 31 on the road to 7-5 Iowa.
Presently Ohio State has five wins against teams with winning records: Army, Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Alabama also has five wins against teams with winning records right now: Fresno State, Colorado State, Mississippi State, LSU, and Texas A&M. (Florida State also finished 6-6, but what would the Seminole record have been without Deondre Francois’s injury? Since the committee considers quarterback injuries for Clemson, shouldn’t they also consider FSU with Francois? Remember, Alabama played FSU with Francois until late in the fourth quarter. FSU with Francois definitely finishes with a winning record, right? They lost games by 6, 4, and 3 this year with a true freshman quarterback. Plus, is it Alabama’s fault that a top five preseason FSU team ended up losing several tight games after their quarterback was injured? The Tide scheduled a challenging neutral site game, which the committee wants to encourage. So it’s not like Alabama dodged anyone on this schedule. In fact, they tried to challenge themselves, which is a clear directive from the committee).
Right now both teams also have three top wins against top 25 teams.
So Alabama has the same number of wins against winning teams as Ohio State and fewer losses. Plus, their loss comes against a better team by fewer points.
Breaking down the numbers more fully, Alabama went 7-1 against bowl teams while Ohio State went go 5-2 against bowl teams. So Alabama played more bowl teams than Ohio State did and won more games against those bowl teams.
How about FBS teams in big five conferences with .500 or better records? Alabama went 5-1 against these opponents while Ohio State went 4-2.
Okay, how about records against FBS teams from big five conferences with winning records? Bama went 3-1, Ohio State went 4-2.
Finally, Ohio State lost by 15 to Oklahoma and 31 to 7-5 Wisconsin while Alabama lost by 12 at Auburn.
Put simply, Alabama’s record at the top is better and its record at the bottom isn’t as bad as Ohio State’s.
But Alabama didn’t even win its own division or its conference!
Good luck trying this argument, Ohio State fans. Last year you argued the committee should take the better team in this exact same situation.
And the committee agreed with you.
Passing over a two loss Penn State team WITH A HEAD TO HEAD WIN over your Buckeyes. The committee neglected to take the team that won Ohio State’s division and Ohio State’s conference, 11-2 Penn State, in favor of 11-1 Ohio State.
Why did the committee do that? Because they believed 11-1 Ohio State was better than a two loss conference champion, that, may I remind you, had beaten Ohio State head to head. What was one of the reasons the committee cited? Penn State’s getting blown out in a road conference game. Last year 11-2 Big Ten champ Penn State lost 49-10 to a top ten Michigan team and the committee considered that to be a disqualifying loss. So suddenly this year 11-2 Ohio State lost by 31 to a mediocre 7-5 Iowa team and suddenly it isn’t a disqualifying loss?
The same logic should apply this year as applied last year.
Finally, let’s look at Vegas again to compare the strength of the respective conferences. Because, after all, Ohio State fans are going to cite their wins over Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan State as huge wins. But are those teams really very good?
In a top to bottom 1-14 match up the SEC would be favored in 10 games, the Big Ten in three games, and one would be a pick’em.
Included, as noted above, is the fact that Alabama would be favored by 5.5 over Ohio State on a neutral field.
Auburn -5 vs. Wisconsin
Alabama -5.5 vs. Ohio State
Georgia -3 vs. Penn State (assumes Joe Moorhead remained as Penn State OC)
LSU -11.5 vs. Michigan State
Northwestern -2.5 vs. South Carolina
Mississippi State -1 vs. Michigan (assumes a healthy Nick Fitzgerald)
Missouri -6 vs. Purdue (yes, we know they played already spare us the rant)
Iowa -3.5 vs. Kentucky
Texas A&M -10 vs. Nebraska
Ole Miss -9.5 vs. Rutgers
Florida -7 vs. Maryland
Indiana -5 vs. Vanderbilt
Arkansas PK vs. Minnesota (assumes Brett Bielema as head coach)
Tennessee -8 vs. Illinois
When you actually look at all the data, there is no way to favor Ohio State over Alabama.
So will the committee pick the best team or will they pick Ohio State?
We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to know for sure. But here’s a final thought for you, would you rather see Clemson against Alabama for a third straight scintillating contest? Or would you rather see a rematch of last year’s 31-0 pasting of Clemson over Ohio State?
Surely, you want the better game against the better team, right?
If you do, that’s Alabama.
The top three in the playoff will be 1. Clemson 2. Oklahoma 3. Georgia and either 4. Wisconsin or Alabama or Ohio State
(This column is being written before Wisconsin vs. Ohio State is over and under the presumption that Ohio State, presently up double digits in the second half, will actually win the Big Ten title.)
Before I get into the breakdown between the two teams here’s the way the fourth team will be picked, just ten committee members will rank the teams from 4-6. There will only be ten committee members ranking the teams because three of the 13 committee members will have to recuse themselves from voting — Ohio State and Clemson’s athletic directors because their two teams will be ranked inside the top six and former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer because his son is on the Georgia coaching staff.
This means there is the distinct possibility that the committee could split, with five voting for Ohio State and five voting for Alabama in the fourth spot. If they split like this do you know how the tie is broken? THEY SIT IN THE ROOM AND ARGUE UNTIL SOMEONE CHANGES THEIR MIND.
Seriously, this is the brilliant method we’ve selected to choose four playoff teams. One person could literally just change their mind and that’s how the playoff gets picked.
And if you think that’s crazy here’s something else that’s crazy — the ballots of the voters aren’t made public. Yes, you heard that correct — the ten voters never have to allow their ballots to be seen publicly by college football fans across the country. So there is an incredible amount of corruption that could be in play here. Because we’re talking about tens of millions of dollars to the conference that makes the fourth playoff — either the SEC or the Big Ten.
This is a recipe for disaster.
Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, how would you assess Alabama vs. Ohio State.
First, and I’ll get to more on the Las Vegas front in a moment, but it’s important to realize that Vegas would favor Alabama by 5.5 over Ohio State on a neutral field. If the goal of the committee is to pick the best teams for the playoff — that’s literally their charged goal — shouldn’t the fact that Alabama would be nearly a touchdown favorite over Ohio State break any close tie?
Second, 11-1 Alabama has the same number of wins against teams with winning records as Ohio State, two more wins against teams going to bowl games, and its single loss will be demonstrably better than Ohio State’s two losses. Bama lost on the road to Auburn, a bitter conference rival, who is undoubtedly a top ten team. Ohio State lost to likely #2 seed Oklahoma at home by 15 and lost by 31 on the road to 7-5 Iowa.
Presently Ohio State has five wins against teams with winning records: Army, Penn State, Michigan State, Michigan and Wisconsin. Alabama also has five wins against teams with winning records right now: Fresno State, Colorado State, Mississippi State, LSU, and Texas A&M. (Florida State also finished 6-6, but what would the Seminole record have been without Deondre Francois’s injury? Since the committee considers quarterback injuries for Clemson, shouldn’t they also consider FSU with Francois? Remember, Alabama played FSU with Francois until late in the fourth quarter. FSU with Francois definitely finishes with a winning record, right? They lost games by 6, 4, and 3 this year with a true freshman quarterback. Plus, is it Alabama’s fault that a top five preseason FSU team ended up losing several tight games after their quarterback was injured? The Tide scheduled a challenging neutral site game, which the committee wants to encourage. So it’s not like Alabama dodged anyone on this schedule. In fact, they tried to challenge themselves, which is a clear directive from the committee).
Right now both teams also have three top wins against top 25 teams.
So Alabama has the same number of wins against winning teams as Ohio State and fewer losses. Plus, their loss comes against a better team by fewer points.
Breaking down the numbers more fully, Alabama went 7-1 against bowl teams while Ohio State went go 5-2 against bowl teams. So Alabama played more bowl teams than Ohio State did and won more games against those bowl teams.
How about FBS teams in big five conferences with .500 or better records? Alabama went 5-1 against these opponents while Ohio State went 4-2.
Okay, how about records against FBS teams from big five conferences with winning records? Bama went 3-1, Ohio State went 4-2.
Finally, Ohio State lost by 15 to Oklahoma and 31 to 7-5 Wisconsin while Alabama lost by 12 at Auburn.
Put simply, Alabama’s record at the top is better and its record at the bottom isn’t as bad as Ohio State’s.
But Alabama didn’t even win its own division or its conference!
Good luck trying this argument, Ohio State fans. Last year you argued the committee should take the better team in this exact same situation.
And the committee agreed with you.
Passing over a two loss Penn State team WITH A HEAD TO HEAD WIN over your Buckeyes. The committee neglected to take the team that won Ohio State’s division and Ohio State’s conference, 11-2 Penn State, in favor of 11-1 Ohio State.
Why did the committee do that? Because they believed 11-1 Ohio State was better than a two loss conference champion, that, may I remind you, had beaten Ohio State head to head. What was one of the reasons the committee cited? Penn State’s getting blown out in a road conference game. Last year 11-2 Big Ten champ Penn State lost 49-10 to a top ten Michigan team and the committee considered that to be a disqualifying loss. So suddenly this year 11-2 Ohio State lost by 31 to a mediocre 7-5 Iowa team and suddenly it isn’t a disqualifying loss?
The same logic should apply this year as applied last year.
Finally, let’s look at Vegas again to compare the strength of the respective conferences. Because, after all, Ohio State fans are going to cite their wins over Wisconsin, Penn State, and Michigan State as huge wins. But are those teams really very good?
In a top to bottom 1-14 match up the SEC would be favored in 10 games, the Big Ten in three games, and one would be a pick’em.
Included, as noted above, is the fact that Alabama would be favored by 5.5 over Ohio State on a neutral field.
Auburn -5 vs. Wisconsin
Alabama -5.5 vs. Ohio State
Georgia -3 vs. Penn State (assumes Joe Moorhead remained as Penn State OC)
LSU -11.5 vs. Michigan State
Northwestern -2.5 vs. South Carolina
Mississippi State -1 vs. Michigan (assumes a healthy Nick Fitzgerald)
Missouri -6 vs. Purdue (yes, we know they played already spare us the rant)
Iowa -3.5 vs. Kentucky
Texas A&M -10 vs. Nebraska
Ole Miss -9.5 vs. Rutgers
Florida -7 vs. Maryland
Indiana -5 vs. Vanderbilt
Arkansas PK vs. Minnesota (assumes Brett Bielema as head coach)
Tennessee -8 vs. Illinois
When you actually look at all the data, there is no way to favor Ohio State over Alabama.
So will the committee pick the best team or will they pick Ohio State?
We’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to know for sure. But here’s a final thought for you, would you rather see Clemson against Alabama for a third straight scintillating contest? Or would you rather see a rematch of last year’s 31-0 pasting of Clemson over Ohio State?
Surely, you want the better game against the better team, right?
If you do, that’s Alabama.
Cecil Hurt
Without knowing the winner, remember this. If there is a debate, there is no way of knowing precisely what the committee will do, because they make up the rules as they go from year to year. The image of the hard-working committee burning the midnight oil and poring over every result is as warm and fuzzy as a Hallmark movie, and about as real. Criteria are used to justify selection, not the other way around. If you want Ohio State (if the debate materializes) in this year’s field, then conference championships matter.
If you wanted Ohio State in last year’s field, then conference championships don’t matter and neither does head-to-head competition. If you want Ohio State in, then Auburn’s loss to Georgia “hurts” Alabama but somehow, as Iowa sits in the snow and contemplates corn futures, the Hawkeyes’ five losses don’t hurt anyone at all. How convenient that a team that makes it to a championship game can “hurt” you while a 7-5 team that beat you by five touchdowns can be locked away like a crazy uncle that no one talks about in polite company or on a Fox football broadcast.
Without knowing the winner, remember this. If there is a debate, there is no way of knowing precisely what the committee will do, because they make up the rules as they go from year to year. The image of the hard-working committee burning the midnight oil and poring over every result is as warm and fuzzy as a Hallmark movie, and about as real. Criteria are used to justify selection, not the other way around. If you want Ohio State (if the debate materializes) in this year’s field, then conference championships matter.
If you wanted Ohio State in last year’s field, then conference championships don’t matter and neither does head-to-head competition. If you want Ohio State in, then Auburn’s loss to Georgia “hurts” Alabama but somehow, as Iowa sits in the snow and contemplates corn futures, the Hawkeyes’ five losses don’t hurt anyone at all. How convenient that a team that makes it to a championship game can “hurt” you while a 7-5 team that beat you by five touchdowns can be locked away like a crazy uncle that no one talks about in polite company or on a Fox football broadcast.
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