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College Football Final Four

1) Should a team which doesn't participate in a conference championship game be part of the final four?

Don't see why not. Teams like 2001 Nebraska and 2011 Alabama that didn't win their divisions were deemed good enough to play for the title in the BCS era of only two teams, so why should that change now?

This obsession with conference championships is a very new phenomena -- and a weird one in football where you don't play teams home-and-home and conference schedules vary wildly.

2) If a team in the top four loses their conference championship game be bumped by a team not playing in a conference championship game or outside the top 4 (specifically, if Clemson or Washington were to lose, should Michigan or the winner of Wisconsin-Penn St. move ahead of them?)

It is a little bit weird. I guess the main argument I'd make in favor of a Clemson getting left out if they lost is it's their ninth conference game, whereas a Washington/Colorado and/or Penn State/Wisconsin would've played 10 and were able to make it through that gauntlet
 
6 teams. P5 champs + 1 wild card. Top 2 seeds get byes. Works for me.

Change the wild card to the top non-P5 regardless of ranking.
 
This year seems to be the perfect storm for the definitive four team playoff system to be as marred as anything else... just curious of some of the opinions of this group. Let me lay out a few questions to start the discussion (assuming it has not already been beat to death on a thread I've over looked for which accept my apologizes )

1) Should a team which doesn't participate in a conference championship game be part of the final four?
2) If a team in the top four loses their conference championship game be bumped by a team not playing in a conference championship game or outside the top 4 (specifically, if Clemson or Washington were to lose, should Michigan or the winner of Wisconsin-Penn St. move ahead of them?)

Look forward to your analysis and thoughts

One question 1 - It depends. When Alabama lost to LSU they were 1-2 in the nation and the game came down to the last play. After Bama lost a whole bunch of things then went "right" for them in terms of other teams losing. It made sense they were given another shot.

This year if Clemson, Alabama and UDub win they are locks. If Wisconsin wins there will be no controversy with OSU going to the playoff. If Penn State wins there will be some controversy if OSU gets the nod.

2 - If Clemson loses to Va. Tech they are done.

If Alabama loses to Florida I bet they still get the nod (but they are NOT losing to Florida so it is a moot point).

If UDub loses to Colorado they are done.

Michigan is DONE. They are no longer relevant in this discussion. They lost to OSU and they will be behind PSU or Wisconsin after this weekend. There is no way the Big Ten gets three teams even if Clemson and UDub lose.

Let's say there's a perfect storm. Alabama, Clemson and UDub all lose. In that instance your playoff will be:

Alabama
Colorado
Ohio State
Penn State/Wisconsin

Let's say Clemson loses and UDub and Bama both win. Your playoff will be:

Bama
UDub
OSU
Penn State/Wisconsin

The scenario that is a "nightmare" for a bunch of pundit talk is a Colorado drubbing of UDub and a Penn State drubbing of Wisconsin Your playoff then becomes.

Bama
Colorado
Clemson
A talk over OSU/Penn State - and I think OSU gets the nod.


Michigan is completely irrelevant. They lost two of their last three games.
 
Doesn't change your point, but Clemson was the #1 seed last year.

His point appears to be that someone in the playoff, won the playoff, so the committee clearly got it right.

The fact that a four seed, that almost got left out, ran the table in the first year of the playoff is a much better argument for expanding the playoff than it is for not expanding it.
 
One question 1 - It depends. When Alabama lost to LSU they were 1-2 in the nation and the game came down to the last play. After Bama lost a whole bunch of things then went "right" for them in terms of other teams losing. It made sense they were given another shot.

This year if Clemson, Alabama and UDub win they are locks. If Wisconsin wins there will be no controversy with OSU going to the playoff. If Penn State wins there will be some controversy if OSU gets the nod.

2 - If Clemson loses to Va. Tech they are done.

If Alabama loses to Florida I bet they still get the nod (but they are NOT losing to Florida so it is a moot point).

If UDub loses to Colorado they are done.

Michigan is DONE. They are no longer relevant in this discussion. They lost to OSU and they will be behind PSU or Wisconsin after this weekend. There is no way the Big Ten gets three teams even if Clemson and UDub lose.

Let's say there's a perfect storm. Alabama, Clemson and UDub all lose. In that instance your playoff will be:

Alabama
Colorado
Ohio State
Penn State/Wisconsin


Michigan is completely irrelevant. They lost two of their last three games.

In that case, Michigan would have beaten three of the teams (Penn State, Wisconsin, Colo) potentially in the Final Four and lost to OSU in Double OT at OSU.
 
Bottom line is - there's no reason I-AA teams can play a 16 team playoff and keep up with their classes but FBS can't play an 8-team playoff.

6 auto bids - champs of 5 power conferences and highest ranked group of 5 champ
2 at large bids

First weekend of December - conference championships / effectively round of 16 for the auto bids
Second weekend of December - quarterfinals at home stadiums of 1-4
New Years Day - semifinals at the current rotation of bowls
One week later - championship
 
Right. And Iowa, who is awful.

By 1 point at Iowa on a last second FG. Iowa actually was much better toward the end of the season. After the Michigan game, they beat Illinois 28-0 at Illinois and then beat 16th ranked Nebraska 40-10.

It's not like Michigan lost at home to a middling team like Clemson did with Pitt.
 
Oh, you mean Pitt who beat Penn State who's playing in the B1G Championship Game ?
 
What happens in a year where a P5 conference champ is only ranked #15?

I'm leaning towards the world not ending, but you never know. If the top seed gets an easy opening game, who the hell cares? If you know that the goal to start the season is to win your conference, then who is to blame if you don't do that?
 
By 1 point at Iowa on a last second FG. Iowa actually was much better toward the end of the season. After the Michigan game, they beat Illinois 28-0 at Illinois and then beat 16th ranked Nebraska 40-10.

It's not like Michigan lost at home to a middling team like Clemson did with Pitt.

I would certainly call Iowa a middling team.

Unfortunately for Michigan, if they can't beat OSU and make the playoffs with 43 seniors and a top 5 defense in the country, it might never happen, which is awesome. It will only be a matter of time before Harbaugh's whining, asperger-riddled shtick loses its luster, even in Ann Arbor.
 
Michigan has one win outside their state this year (Rutgers)
 
But there was an issue when Nebraska, who wasn't in their conference championship game , made it to the national title game (iirc Colorado upset Kansas State that year in the Big 12 championship or final game of the season). It was one of the reason cited for a playoff. So, here we have the same situation with OSU. Clearly a top team, but didn't win the B1G. Does this mean conference champions are irrelevant compared to opinions as to who the best team in the conference may be?

The issue in 2001 was somewhat about them not making their CCG, but also about them being smoked by a one-dimensional CU team. I think the "if you don't even make your CCG you shouldn't play for the NC" argument made a lot of sense in the BCS championship era, but if they had lost that game on a last second FG the talk may have been different. Instead, they lost 62-36. Oregon definitely should've faced Miami that year. Instead, Miami got to smoke Nebraska and Oregon got to smoke Colorado.
 
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