BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
You make a strong case that the four-team playoff field should not be limited to conference champions, but in my opinion, that doesn't mean the best set-up is always No. 1 versus No. 4 and No. 2 versus No. 3. Last year, for example, that would have meant No. 3 Alabama getting a second shot at a national title by playing in a semifinal game against No. 2 Auburn, which beat 'Bama in its regular-season finale. Would it have been a huge injustice if the committee excluded Alabama in favor of No. 5 Stanford (the Pac-12 champion) or No. 6 Baylor (the Big 12 champ)?
-- Greg Fisk, Birmingham, Ala.
The short answer is no, it would not have been an injustice if that happened. It's important to note the distinction between restricting the field solely to conference champions -- which could produce the scenario I described last week, in which a projected No. 13 team could secure a berth -- and leaving the field open but placing value on conference titles in the selection process. We'll have to see if the committee follows through on this, but playoff organizers have said league championships will be one of several unofficial tiebreakers, along with strength of schedule and head-to-head results, that distinguish between closely bunched teams.
With that in mind, it's plausible the committee might have picked Stanford, which went 11-2, won a tough conference and played a top-five national schedule, over Alabama, which went 11-1, did not win its league and played a schedule ranked closer to 50th. The Cardinal might not be the best example here because they suffered a bad loss to 5-7 Utah in October. And maybe the committee still would have felt that the Crimson Tide, whose sole loss came on an implausible last-second play, were the better team. But fans need to prepare for the inevitable scenario, possibly coming as soon as this season, in which a team ranked fifth or sixth in the AP Poll finishes fourth in the committee's eyes in part because it won its conference.
As for possible rematches, people really need to get over them. They happen all the time in every other postseason with almost no objection. For instance, the Carolina Panthers, the NFC South champion last year, beat the San Francisco 49ers, who entered the NFL playoffs in a wild card berth, during their only regular-season meeting last November. But when the teams met in the NFC divisional round, the 49ers won and advanced to the conference championship game, and no one blinked an eye. If that happened in college football, fans would have been outraged.
I'm not saying rematches are ideal in a four-team playoff. Still, I'd rather have them than manipulate seeds or selections expressly in order to avoid them.
Sports IllustratedāContinue reading...
-- Greg Fisk, Birmingham, Ala.
The short answer is no, it would not have been an injustice if that happened. It's important to note the distinction between restricting the field solely to conference champions -- which could produce the scenario I described last week, in which a projected No. 13 team could secure a berth -- and leaving the field open but placing value on conference titles in the selection process. We'll have to see if the committee follows through on this, but playoff organizers have said league championships will be one of several unofficial tiebreakers, along with strength of schedule and head-to-head results, that distinguish between closely bunched teams.
With that in mind, it's plausible the committee might have picked Stanford, which went 11-2, won a tough conference and played a top-five national schedule, over Alabama, which went 11-1, did not win its league and played a schedule ranked closer to 50th. The Cardinal might not be the best example here because they suffered a bad loss to 5-7 Utah in October. And maybe the committee still would have felt that the Crimson Tide, whose sole loss came on an implausible last-second play, were the better team. But fans need to prepare for the inevitable scenario, possibly coming as soon as this season, in which a team ranked fifth or sixth in the AP Poll finishes fourth in the committee's eyes in part because it won its conference.
As for possible rematches, people really need to get over them. They happen all the time in every other postseason with almost no objection. For instance, the Carolina Panthers, the NFC South champion last year, beat the San Francisco 49ers, who entered the NFL playoffs in a wild card berth, during their only regular-season meeting last November. But when the teams met in the NFC divisional round, the 49ers won and advanced to the conference championship game, and no one blinked an eye. If that happened in college football, fans would have been outraged.
I'm not saying rematches are ideal in a four-team playoff. Still, I'd rather have them than manipulate seeds or selections expressly in order to avoid them.
Sports IllustratedāContinue reading...
