College football playoffs

[jayshum]

Top 4 seeds all lost in the quarterfinals. None were actually favored in their games so maybe not too surprising.

[Shoeless Moe]

3-1/2 weeks off for a team is ridiculous, they lose all their end of season momentum.

So many things to fix and hopefully they will.

8 Playoff games so far and only 1 of 8 was close late in the 4th.

7 of 8 games were over with 5 minutes to play.

The highest seeded team left (8) is the favorite to win it all. Yep, they got some fixing to do.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

3-1/2 weeks off for a team is ridiculous, they lose all their end of season momentum.

So many things to fix and hopefully they will.

8 Playoff games so far and only 1 of 8 was close late in the 4th.

7 of 8 games were over with 5 minutes to play.

The highest seeded team left (8) is the favorite to win it all. Yep, they got some fixing to do.

The Penn State - Boise State game was closer than the final score indicated, but overall I agree that most of the games were non-competitive. Hopefully the semifinals and championship will be better.

[Balticfox]

Interesting! This could be Notre Dame's year.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I am rooting for Notre Dame at this point, but if I had to bet, would take Ohio State much as I dislike them. Man, what happened to the days where the best teams in the SEC were better than everyone else?

[esd10]

This could be a all big ten national championship game possibly

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I am rooting for Notre Dame at this point, but if I had to bet, would take Ohio State much as I dislike them. Man, what happened to the days where the best teams in the SEC were better than everyone else?

The SEC has only won 13 of the last 18 championships, so it's not like this hasn't happened before. SEC Champion Georgia lost their starting QB for the season in the SEC Championship Game. Otherwise, we probably have 2 SEC and 2 Big 10 teams in the final four.

The biggest reason for the drop in SEC dominance is the retirement of Nick Saben. In this year's recruiting rankings, Notre Dame had the 12th rated class. The 11 teams above them are 7 from the SEC and 4 from the Big 10. So, don't worry, the SEC will be back.

[TUM301]

NIL and newer portal rules have had as much to do with college football as anything. Conferences, with all the movement it’s become the “Wild West” out there.

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

I am rooting for Notre Dame at this point, but if I had to bet, would take Ohio State much as I dislike them.

I was rooting for the Ducks, Broncos and Sun Devils so I was left disappointed.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

3-1/2 weeks off for a team is ridiculous, they lose all their end of season momentum.

So many things to fix and hopefully they will.

It's not really the long layoff that is noticeable to me, since that historically has been true-- all teams end their regular season or conference championship the end of November or early December than play the "big" games around January 1st.
Instead it seems that a team with a game under its belt a week or so prior is more tuned to go than one that had a bye. Kind of a rhythm thing. We of course have a small sample size since this is the first year, but as I posted before, it seems better if there are no byes and we move to 16 teams. You know they are going to expand this thing at some point anyway.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

It's not really the long layoff that is noticeable to me, since that historically has been true-- all teams end their regular season or conference championship the end of November or early December than play the "big" games around January 1st.
Instead it seems that a team with a game under its belt a week or so prior is more tuned to go than one that had a bye. Kind of a rhythm thing. We of course have a small sample size since this is the first year, but as I posted before, it seems better if there are no byes and we move to 16 teams. You know they are going to expand this thing at some point anyway.

None of the top 4 seeds were favored in the quarterfinals. Seeding played a part in that since many didn't think Boise State and Arizona State deserved to be seeded high enough to earn byes. Georgia was playing without their starting quarterback. Oregon was playing the team, Ohio State, many considered to have a good chance to win the championship before they lost to Michigan. In reality, none of the 4 "upsets" were really upsets based on the odds, just on the seeds.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by jayshum

None of the top 4 seeds were favored in the quarterfinals. Seeding played a part in that since many didn't think Boise State and Arizona State deserved to be seeded high enough to earn byes. Georgia was playing without their starting quarterback. Oregon was playing the team, Ohio State, many considered to have a good chance to win the championship before they lost to Michigan. In reality, none of the 4 "upsets" were really upsets based on the odds, just on the seeds.

I would disagree somewhat. Georgia being a 1 point underdog was primarily due to their starting QB being out, and to a lesser extent because of ND's first-game dominance--not because those teams were incorrectly seeded. Ohio State would never have been a favorite over Oregon at all if it were not for their first game dominance over Tennessee, so seeding wasn't the issue there either-- no one was going to take away the #1 spot from Oregon when they were the only undefeated team. As for ASU and Boise State, I mentioned in my prior post, if you eliminate the byes and give conference champs an initial home game, the seeding can return to "normal". But it remains that three of the four teams that received byes got off to very poor starts, and the fourth--Georgia- at best played even early.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

I would disagree somewhat. Georgia being a 1 point underdog was primarily due to their starting QB being out, and to a lesser extent because of ND's first-game dominance--not because those teams were incorrectly seeded. Ohio State would never have been a favorite over Oregon at all if it were not for their first game dominance over Tennessee, so seeding wasn't the issue there either-- no one was going to take away the #1 spot from Oregon when they were the only undefeated team. As for ASU and Boise State, I mentioned in my prior post, if you eliminate the byes and give conference champs an initial home game, the seeding can return to "normal". But it remains that three of the four teams that received byes got off to very poor starts, and the fourth--Georgia- at best played even early.

Sorry if I wasn't clearer in my post. My comment about seeding was in reference to Boise State and ASU only. I wasn't saying Oregon shouldn't be the number one seed. However, because of the other seedings, Ohio State and Oregon, 2 teams many people thought would win the championship, ended up playing each other in the quarterfinals which shouldn't have happened.

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Sorry if I wasn't clearer in my post. My comment about seeding was in reference to Boise State and ASU only. I wasn't saying Oregon shouldn't be the number one seed. However, because of the other seedings, Ohio State and Oregon, 2 teams many people thought would win the championship, ended up playing each other in the quarterfinals which shouldn't have happened.

I guess so but how big a deal is that? Looking at the above 16 team scenario I posted, assuming all of the games were decided according to chalk, Ohio State would have won its first-round game (which it did) and lost in the second round to Georgia, playing the number 2 seed instead of the number 1.
Again, if the higher seeds all held serve, the final four would be:
Oregon
Georgia
Notre Dame
Texas

Seems pretty close to where we are, no?

[ClementeFanOh]

Both semis are compelling on paper. Great to see 3 Northern teams in it. Re: the banter above about SEC, they are realizing it isn’t as easy to win when every team pays their players too Trent King

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by ClementeFanOh

Both semis are compelling on paper. Great to see 3 Northern teams in it. Re: the banter above about SEC, they are realizing it isn’t as easy to win when every team pays their players too.

Ugghhh!!! American "college sports" are such a sham.

[nolemmings]

Just for the fun of it, here's how the first round would have been set under the 16 team format if conference champs were given home games:

Miami at Oregon
Ole Miss at Georgia
South Carolina at Notre Dame
Texas at Clemson
Penn State at SMU
Alabama at Tennessee
Ohio State at ASU
Indiana at Boise State

Some interesting matchups and home field scenarios. Does Penn State dominate SMU if the game is in Dallas? Same result if Texas travels to Death Valley? I am quite confident the Buckeyes do not roll over ASU in Tempe, coming off their loss to Michigan and the Sun Devils thrashing of Iowa State. SEC gets two put up or shut up games between their conference powers. This would have been a very compelling schedule IMO.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Just for the fun of it, here's how the first round would have been set under the 16 team format if conference champs were given home games:

Miami at Oregon
Ole Miss at Georgia
South Carolina at Notre Dame
Texas at Clemson
Penn State at SMU
Alabama at Tennessee
Ohio State at ASU
Indiana at Boise State

Some interesting matchups and home field scenarios. Does Penn State dominate SMU if the game is in Dallas? Same result if Texas travels to Death Valley? I am quite confident the Buckeyes do not roll over ASU in Tempe, coming off their loss to Michigan and the Sun Devils thrashing of Iowa State. SEC gets two put up or shut up games between their conference powers. This would have been a very compelling schedule IMO.

16 teams is too many. 8 is fine IMO, forget conferences which mean very little any more, just go by rankings.

[nolemmings]

Oops, my bad. Penn State would still have been at home, so that one likely plays out the same.