Official College Football Thread - Championship Week
 

Pretty interesting start this week. The Big Ten is using a Craigslist ad through a third party to quietly pay people $75/person to go to the Big Ten Championship game.

The Big Ten Championship is Looking for ‘Event Seat-Fillers’ | Kegs 'n Eggs Blog

No. It's not. That's already been exposed as a hoax.

A source close to the Wiscy AD told me that they are planning on using mannequins and ballistic dummies to "enhance" the look of the crowd.

Ah, just saw the description of how they pulled it off. Pretty funny stuff.

There are conference championships, so that's accurate.

Of course, winning or even playing for your conference championship doesn't matter in the broad sense to the outcome of the national title, but I guess it's good for bragging rights.

I'm sure Brad Edwards or someone has already mathematically proven even this won't matter, but the only interest I have in this weekend, aside from hoping for some good football games, is seeing LSU lose and OK State beat OU by 3 TDs. That would at least generate some potential for movement and controversy.

I still can't believe that out of 60 AP voters, 20 have OK State ranked 5th or lower, several outside the top 10 (as low as 14). That's a total screw job. They might not be better than Alabama, but on total body of work, I think they're probably more deserving than Alabama (assuming they beat OU). The only hope I'm holding out is many skeptical voters are keeping them back waiting to see what happens against OU, and then will move them up if they impress. Otherwise... total screw job.

Question: If Georgia wins the SECCG, they get an automatic BCS bowl bid.
Each conference can only send 2 teams, maximum to the BCS Bowls.

So, would a Georgia win mean that LSU and Alabama cannot both go to the Title game? Or can the SEC somehow get 3 teams in the BCS bowls by having 2 of them in the title game?

The rule was changed in 2007 to allow 3 teams. Prior to that the conference champion would have been left out.

This article has a discussion about the possibility of three teams from the SEC.

MrSEC.com

The only way 3 teams make it is in this exact scenario - two of them would have to make the title game for the third, which would have to be the conference championship game winner, to also make it.

That may be more of a reason for voters to make sure Alabama and LSU play in the NCG than any unfairness to OK State or another team, because if UGA wins and voters want to put OK State against LSU, then Alabama cannot play in a BCS bowl (or, if LSU gets blown out somehow, and OK State would play Alabama for the title, LSU gets left out of the BCS).

A guy in my class said he and some buddies are going and fillers are paid $9.

You know, thinking through my last post, college football is so screwed up, that there is LESS of a chance for OK State to play for the title if LSU LOSES than if they win. Think about that.

If LSU loses, UGA is automatically in, and the only way both LSU and Alabama get to play in a BCS bowl is if they both are in the title game. And so my guess is voters would not move OK State (or Stanford, or VT, etc.) up, becacuse then either LSU or Alabama is totally out of the BCS, which I don't think anyone thinks would be right.

But if LSU wins, and OK State beats OU by 3 TDs, then I could see a slim chance that OK State moves to #2, Alabama drops to #3, but Alabama still gets an at-large bid, which would be fair.

So OK State should be rooting for LSU to win. Otherwise, they are likely locked out of the title game.

Bizarre.

OSU needs to beat the living hell out of OU for a chance. I still think OU wins, but I don't think the margin is that big either way.

A practical thought that won't go anywhere, if the Big 12 was done last week like other conferences, OSU and 'Bama could spend this week playing for a spot against LSU. The "And 1" could be dealt with even after the conference championships so the bowls games have everything sit up from the get go.

Seems surprising to me I guess. Wisky travels very well usually and Id assume the same from Michigan St. I guess the fans just arent as excited about this B10 championship as they are bowl games.

I think you're giving the voters way to much credit in going to the second or third level of thinking this would require.

Basically it sounds like Okie St has no chance. I didnt even think of it from this angle but you are absolutely correct.

It's also overthinking it.

I believe the voters have made it pretty clear what the top two teams are, and even a fluke loss by LSU to UGAg isn't likely to do anything more than flip which order they consider them.

It's not overthinking it from a theoretical standpoint. If, for some reason, OK State had a better than slim/none chance of leapfrogging Alabama, I would expect someone to point this out.

I'm not really thinking about it from an LSU perspective, but a "what if OK State does the improbable and blows out OU?" perspective. I think LSU is in, win or lose, but I'm just thinking through scenarios where OK State could jump Alabama. The only way I think voters would allow that is if LSU wins. If LSU loses, they wouldn't give in to the temptation to jump Alabama, if it meant Alabama was out of the BCS entirely.

But yeah, I guess I agree with your general thought that I'm giving the voters way too much credit to think it through like this. But still, I'd expect there to be a few twitter/internet folks who would point this out Saturday night into Sunday, so that some voters would be aware of it.

Oh no, that's fine, it's a valid hypothetical/theoretical. I was just trying to say that it isn't going to get that far.

Wisconsin gave back 2K in tickets.

http://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1301085

Crazy. If Michigan had made it, I would have really wanted to go to the first Big Ten Championship Game ever.

Except OSU hasn't played the second best (or best in a lot of people's minds) team in the conference yet.

I thinnk Matthean's assumption for his comment is that OK State and OU would have played before this week, and OK State would have won. Obviously, a 2-loss OK State is out of the title game picture.

+1. Hence the comment "if the Big 12 was done last week."

I couldn't convince my wife to let me take a 7 hour road trip to Indianapolis to watch the first ever B1G Championship to watch the Badgers take on MSU.

Game time getting closer.. getting pumped up now.

Right but that is a huge assumption. Its not like OSU is playing Kansas. So to say this would be a good week for the playoff is completely ignoring that the big 12 saved some of its better games for the final weekend of the season. I am not against a playoff but sometimes the arguments for playoffs (or "+1's") take a lot of liberties with assumptions.

I think he's talking not only theoretically with respect to this particular season, but in general going forward. Basically, if the Big 12 ended its season a week early, and some team was 11-1 and fighting for a spot in the NCG, then this would be a good weekend for a playoff match-up. But as it stands, the Big 12 season is extended, and that match-up can't occur.

I'm not sure he was expressing any particfular confidence in OK State, other than for this season, if they beat OU and ended up 11-1, they'd be the Big 12's entry in a possible playoff. I don't think this is really about OK State at all, other than they happen to be the team this year (if they beat OU), but what the Big 12 could/should do to facilitate a playoff.

oh dabo. (skip to 1:47).

What the heck, do they randomly interview coaches in the Clemson parking lot after practice or something?

My other initial reaction is that for a question that he said he didn't like, he sure had a long answer.

He mentions he had heard about what was said so he might have prepped for it, or just knows his history. SoCar has been vastly a nobody before Holtz showed up.

What, no talk about the expected brawn versus brute force matchup of UCLA-Oregon tonight? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Odds that Chris Petersen's name is mentioned as many times as UCLA's #1 running back Franklin. I'll say it's even odds.

BEST REGULAR SEASON IN SPORTS.

eyeroll.

I see your eyeroll & raise you one.

What else compares, the NB ... oops, nevermind ;)

WVU, with a last second FG win last night over USF, earned a share of the Big East championship.

If Cincy can beat UConn at home on Saturday (Cincy is favored by 10 points), WVU will likely get a shot at the Orange Bowl (and quite possibly vs our old friend Virginia Tech). :)

Seriously.

I love MLB, NFL and NCAA basketball, but I'd give them up in a second to have college football year round.

I think the Dabo/Spurrier "controversy" is a fine example of the stupidity of reacting to something you were told about second-hand, and/or the dangers of reading into something written what clearly wasn't there when spoken.

In writing, it looks like Todd Ellis was giving a full Spurrier quote. When you hear him saying it, it's obvious Ellis himself added the "we ain't Clemson" part. Which, IMO, is standard rivalry smack talk, anyway.

Your regular season isn't shit if all of the games boil down to I WONDER HOW THE POLLSTERS WILL VOTE. It's like an election where the results are decided by a three legged race. Each week. Blindfolded. Into a canyon.

Dabo Swinney's rant over misattributed Steve Spurrier quote creates Twitter stir - Page 2 - ESPN

edit to add: Here's the real telling thing about all this I think

Your not-rivalry with South Carolina is more interesting than the ACC title game ... I'm pretty sure that says something about the state of the landscape in college football.

Now if OU would beat OSU and WVU beats VT, we get to see what people would do trying to decide between 'Bama and Stanford who gets to go to the title game when neither won their conference. :lol:

I'm sure the block was scheduled for no matter who got there. What would you prefer they do? Just run 30 min of ads? An hour-long Stanford special? P0rn?

Also, isn't that the beauty and magic and grandeur of what makes this sport so fantabulous? That on any given Saturday or Thursday or Friday that someone might beat someone else with a clever title attached to the game like The Hateful Family Reunion or some such? I mean, it's these money grabs sacred events that protect us from an educationally degrading playoff, right? Let us herald those South Division champions of the Pacific-12!

I don't think you'll find many college football traditionalists that will argue in favor of "conference championship games".

That said, this game would have looked far more appealing had USC not been on probation...

I dunno, then people would be screaming because this game was already played 2 weeks ago.

I wouldn't put anything beyond Fox for a pre-game. You saw their Champions League final pre-match last year, right?

Worst pre-game in the history of sports, ever.

You'd prefer more commercials in-game? That's probably the option in lieu of the additional inventory that the pregame provides.

I imagine you're right about that.

UCLA plays really well on downs 1-3 and then decides to put 6 defenders out on fourth down and gives up the easiest 40 yard run I've ever seen. This could get ugly.

lol, or not

Or still yet...

Fox has AWFUL college football coverage. Good Lord. It's like watching Versus' first broadcast. The announcer pre-game intro/discussion was like watching something on public access TV or a sports reporters class at the local community college.

They're giving Mickey Tettleton Mrs. Kurt Warner screen time.

I guess I don't get what these lackluster championship games are proving for the playoff proponents. If there were a playoff with any significant number of teams (8-12-16-etc) there would just be more of these games late in the regular season where an elite team has already clinched a berth and can afford a loss.

It also proves the allure of each individual "minor" game - did anyone before the season have Oklahoma State/Iowa State, OU/TT, VT/Clemson or even Boise/TCU circled as elimination games? (maybe the last 2) Because that's essentially what they ended up being. In a world where any BCS team can afford 1 loss and make the playoffs, they wouldn't have been.

Could be a good ending for the MAC championship, for those watching the blowout in the PAC. Northern Illinois down 20-13 and getting the ball back with about 4 minutes left in the game.

You still get those so called elimination games. Give playoff births to the conference champions and it makes every in conference game meaningful and the conference championship games. Fill in the last few teams with at large bids and it still makes every game meaningful as teams can't afford to risk being a one loss team and potentially missing that bubble if they don't win their conference.

There is nothing lost. The rivalries remain, the intensity remains and is turned up to 11 when the playoffs begin.

This MAC championship game, which is already a good finish tied 20-20 with about a minute left, would be that much more intense with a playoff birth at stake.

More icing of the kicker.

Couldn't it actually be better to not take that timeout at some point. Everyone is waiting to hear the whistle blow and the play to stop. Couldn't it mess with them more if the timeout doesn't happen? After the back to back timeouts the kicker knows that the play is definitely happening now as there are no timeouts left. He can be completely focussed for that kick that actually happened. Don't take that second timeout and now the play has to start while the kicker could have been in the mental state that he wasn't actually going to have to kick it yet.

Every other college sport has some type of playoff system, from NCAA hockey (Frozen Four) to baseball (College World Series). All professional leagues have playoffs in the United States, and as far as I know, in other countries as well (i.e., soccer and hockey in Europe).

The proponents of the BCS baffle me sometimes. I just don't get the love for it at all. :confused:

Not to mention that one half of Division I college football has a playoff system...

Well, we didnt totally embarrass ourselves

No, you didn't. Under the circumstances I'm not sure how much more could have been expected from the Bruins.

Which is a sad state of affairs for our athletic department.

On the bright side, Neuheisel his gone!

Thought this number was interesting. Fox paid $14 million to carry the P-12 title game. They paid $10.5 million to carry 6 P-12 games on Fox Sport Net.

The proponents of it are Fiesta Bowl Inc, Sugar Bowl Inc, etc. Companies that buy off ADs and other vested interests and get them to take less money for their schools to run some sham system. You have a postseason that forces schools to lose actualy money.

And there doesn't need to be some elaborate playoff concocted. It's done in every major professional sport. It's done in every other level of college football. This isn't rocket science to put together. So the logistics argument is laughable. And don't even get me started on those pretending this is about tradition.

That really isn't that bad considering the implications that game can have. They got a dud this year with UCLA getting in and Oregon having no shot at the NC game, but there are a ton of scenarios where that game could have huge implications.

Oh, I get the playoff argument, and I'm somewhere between agnostic and agreeing with it, but I just don't see how a playoff proponent can use the lackluster championship game weekend due to LSU/Alabama as an argument. LSU (and Alabama) wouldn't have needed to win the last two weekends. OK State wouldn't need a win.

And teams like OK State, OK, UGA, Clemson, and even UCLA have a shot this weekend at winning their conference, (and presumably a playoff berth) proving all those teams could afford 1 (or more) losses and still have a playoff berth. Look at the FCS system - there's a whole lot of 3 loss teams and even past champions.UCLA won their division, played in the title game, and thus could have won the PAC-12 conference. Almost every proposed playoff system would have automatically included them as a BCS conference champion (if they had won). Being mad that instead they had an equal chance to play in the 5th highest rated consolation/exhibition game under this system is just weird. Maybe JIMGA or some Pac-12/Big-10 fans will argue with you about the tradition of the Rose Bowl, but that's certainly not what I like about the current system, or why I defend it. I'd also argue that certain teams (Stony Brook, Albany, Tennessee Tech, etc) are quite obviously inferior to the ~15 FCS schools that deserve to compete for the title year in and year out. (I also find it amusing when people constantly claim a playoff system (like in FCS!) would be so much fairer - despite at least 3 conferences having never been selected for an at-large berth and thus never had a playoff team.)

imo, the biggest problem with a playoff system is that it would need to be agreed upon before the season, and in actuality the number of teams that deserve to play for it changes from season to season. This year you could argue either 3 (OK St/Bama winner plays LSU) or 5-7 (those 3 + Stanford, Boise, possibly VT and Houston depending on tomorrow's results) unless you want to get crazy and argue the 3rd best team in its division (Arkansas) deserves to go. Some years it would be as few as two (Texas/USC, Miami/Ohio State), some years as many as 12, but where that tier breaks off changes year to year, and no NCAA system could be flexible enough to address that.

Why exactly does the BCS need access to these formula? If they knew how to or wanted to create formulas they would just do it themselves.

They use 6 computer rankings from respected sources. They throw out each teams highest/lowest computer ranking. Im not seeing the "complete fraud/joke on every conceivable level" that you are.

I love how you go around throwing out WAR and xFIP in every possible baseball debate but cant grasp the concept of computers doing a decent job in college football.

No I didnt read it. Getting harder to find reading material that is trustworthy these days. Ill take a look at it again.

Depends on the number of teams. 16+ and OK State is easily in already. Even a 12-team one and they're in. Who are the at-larges ahead of 2-loss OK State? Alabama, Stanford, (Houston and Boise if they're not in automatically), maybe Arkansas? I don't see South Carolina, Michigan or Kansas State beating them out. Again, there are plenty of valid reasons for a playoff system - I just don't see any way this weekend would be more meaningful with one.Yeah, but that's you proposing a rule. I'm sure if you were in charge of the BCS qualifying criteria you'd also propose a win threshold.

Or really, this year, a playoff isn't even necessary, you could argue LSU should just be the champion. I realize in other sports, Arkansas would still have a chance to be national champion at this point, but that's never been a compelling argument for me. College football is different. The games are more important. There is a lot less randomness in the outcomes. Arkansas should not have a chance for the championship at this point and I'd oppose any system in which they would (or for that matter, I'd oppose any system where the Sun Belt or Big East Champion still has a chance for the championship)

I am not going to debate you on this other than to mention that Jeff Sagarin is respected and this was an obviously very bias article with no proof of any of their claims.

Yahoo isnt exactly cutting edge information.

molson is correct, why would Arkansas or Alabama get to have another shot? Those were two of the biggest games this regular season and why make those meaningless? The NFL is paid to produce a slick product, college football has a lot of tradition, rivalries and simply fun gameday experiences that makes their place in the bigger picture somewhat irrelevant. I think most Georgia fans cared much more about its games with Auburn and GT than the upcoming LSU game or whoever they would play in a hypothetical playoffs.

Look at the list of rivalry games. That's what makes college football unique and special. Playing the rivalry game again in the same season would be silly and redundant. If a team does good in the regular season, just send them to a bowl game as a reward. If there are those that can't live without whose #1 (or how your team ranks), just go by the subjective AP poll as they have done for years. Do away with the BCS nonsense and any thoughts of a superflous playoffs.

It was nationally noted last year that they found entry errors in the one computer poll they got to look at.

Then there's the fact that one human poll is from coaches who often have a staffer fill it out, because they don't get to actually watch the games, plus the bias of humans tending to rate things the same outside of a loss, meaning it's hard to move up into the top if you don't start there unless everyone ahead of you loses no matter how well you play. So your odds of making the championship game are based on how you START the year, not how you actually play out the year.

Have verification of the computer data, and don't do a poll until the end of the season, and maybe you've got something. But the system right now is full of biases and problems.

I think one of the big differences of opinion on the playoff thing is whether you have the mindset that the singular championship is all that matters in sports, and if a game doesn't have some implication towards that final championship, it's meaningless. That mindset has led to expanded playoffs in most other sports to try to create more meaning - even if it's just the Seahawks v. Eagles. Even though crappy, that game still has some "meaning" because both teams still were in contention for the playoffs, and could, possibility, be champions.

College football is much less like that though, as you point out. Even with no championship, some fans still find huge meaning in rivalries, conference games, or even non-conference head-to-head matches (Boise St. v. Georgia, for example, had meaning beyond the eventual national championship - it was SEC v. dominant small-conference team). I think other sports USED to have that kind of thing (pre-baseball playoffs, when most teams were never in contention for a championship, I'm sure the games themselves had meaning.)

I agree on the human poll part. I think that is a joke.

I believe that they found clerical errors but I guess why I claimed "no proof" was did these errors actually mess something up? Its possibly that after week 8 they may have had some errors but by the time the final results are completed you would think that they were all checked out.

I just dont like articles that are obviously bias. They only mention partial facts. Like in that article they mention a computer generated average score but they fail to mention the highest/lowest rankings are thrown out.

Wouldn't that be a wonderful playoff where OK State is out and Big East Champion Louisville plays for the championship.

In that scenario, it would be to the Big East's advantage to keep their core 5 and find the crappiest 3 teams possible to join them.

Crazy wind in this SMU/Houston game.

Yeah I butchered it, it's USM. I'm just used to watching SMU when its one because I love the June Jones offense. Same diff anyway, fuck 'em.

So seeing as how it's likely neither Sumlin or Fedora will be back at their current schools next year, which one do you all think will be more successful at its next stop?

Except for the fact that it has regularly done a darned good job matching up the two best teams in the country, fulfilling it's mission quite well.

Because "anyone who understands math" realizes the sample size is much too small to get a great indicator of the results. They can mock the system all they want but what the hell are they going to do to create a larger data size? It is the best they can do under the situation they have.

Its not rocket science on why Bill James hates the BCS. He loves years of data to conclude his findings which is IMPOSSIBLE in a 11-12 game format.

The obvious answer to keeping a Big East or Sun Belt champion out is to require the conference champion to be ranked in the top 10-20 in a 6-12 team system (adjust as necessary), or require a conference to have a rating over a certain amount to receive an autobid that season, while leaving their top teams eligible for at-large spots.

Esp. in a 11-12 game format where there are very little commonality compared to the NFL.

This fucking game is going to end at like 4:30-5.

14-0 USM over Houston early Q2

This wind is going to make it tough on Houston.

Yep.

Thats the thing. The FBS clearly has different conference tiers while the FCS has more balance so something that works well for the FCS isnt going to work exactly the same for the FBS.

I know people have different opinions on what the playoff should be but I have no desire to see LSU kick the crap out of Arkansas St in a playoff game. Of course if people are looking for teams that deserve the shot based on performance and eliminating computer/human biases a team like Arkansas State should be in for winning the Sun Belt.

This is the part I am confused about. Do people want the 8/16 best teams in the playoff or the teams that won the most games?

And just like that Houston ties the game up. Case Keenum started out 4 for 10, but has now hit 11 passes in a row.