Official College Football Championship Week Thread

[molson]

Originally Posted by mauboy1

Gus Johnson should stick to basketball -- ripping on Wisconsin for running up the score when all they've been doing is running the ball.

I think there's really people that think teams should just kneel the ball 20-30 times at the end of a game if they're winning by a lot. And I think someday we're going to get there.

Even though, I haven't heard any reports of Nebraska players' feelings being SO hurt by giving up a lot of points that any medical intervention or anything has been required.

[Ben E Lou]

Right. I just meant in general that there's a very good chance that you either win the game on that play or get one more shot.

[molson]

Boise St. at 15 and NIU at 16 in the new coach's poll - I don't think that'll be enough for either to get to the top 16 of the BCS.

[Young Drachma]

Projected BCS: NIU yo-yos back out of BCS bowl spot ... for now - CBSSports.com

UPDATE (12:45 p.m. ET): The coaches poll is out and it's bad news for NIU. Kind of. The current BCS projection has them 17th, but only .005 behind No. 15 UCLA. Yes, you read that right. No. 15. Nebraska has fallen to 16th, wedged in that tight space between the two.

The Huskies only had a 95 point lead over UCLA. That means to catch UCLA, based on my current computer ranking projections, they would need to have a 291 point lead over the Bruins in the Harris poll to pass them. That's an average of a 2.5 spot difference per voter.

Passing Nebraska might now be easier. Again, based on my current computer projections, NIU would need a 394 point margin over the Huskers to pass them in the BCS.

And if the computers projections are closer for NIU, then they need less juice in the polls. One spot in a computer that matters, going either direction, is the equivalent of 29 Harris poll points.

NIU is either going to narrowly make or narrowly miss getting a spot. Of course, under the new system in a few years, they'd get that Group of Five autobid that the "Big East" now gets.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

NIU is either going to narrowly make or narrowly miss getting a spot. Of course, under the new system in a few years, they'd get that Group of Five autobid that the "Big East" now gets.

Under the new system, there would be 4 playoffs teams, right? If the Group of Five gets one, who gets the others?

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Under the new system, there would be 4 playoffs teams, right? If the Group of Five gets one, who gets the others?

Five at-large teams selected by a committee. They don't know what that committee will look like yet.

[Young Drachma]

Six bowls in pool for college football semifinal games - ESPN

The national semifinals will rotate through the six bowl games, setting up two playoff games and four major bowl games each season. The national title game will be bid out each year through a separate process similar to the Super Bowl.

The six games will include three "contract bowls" and three "host bowls." The spots in the contract bowls are reserved for teams that have deals with those bowls.

The contract bowls are: Rose (Pac-12 versus Big Ten), Sugar (SEC versus Big 12) and Orange (ACC versus Big Ten, SEC or Notre Dame).

While a Big Ten or SEC team could be selected to the Orange Bowl, the commissioners have agreed that when the Rose and/or Sugar bowls are hosting the semifinals, the Big Ten or SEC champion will not be placed in the Orange Bowl. Instead, it would have to be placed in one of the three other access bowls to increase the worth of that bowl, sources told ESPN.

Those remaining three access or "host" bowls still must be determined, but the leading candidates are the Fiesta, Cotton and Chick-fil-A, sources said.

With the "Group of Five" earning an automatic bid, that will lock up seven of the 12 berths in the six access bowls. The other five berths will be filled with at-large teams chosen, based on their final rankings, by a yet-to-be-formed selection committee.

[Buccaneer]

I still don't quite follow that. Regardless of where they play, isn't the point to have four semi-finalists? What does the contract bowls and six access bowls have to do with picking four teams for the playoffs or are there more teams than that in the playoffs? I think I need a picture.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

I still don't quite follow that. Regardless of where they play, isn't the point to have four semi-finalists? What does the contract bowls and six access bowls have to do with picking four teams for the playoffs or are there more teams than that in the playoffs? I think I need a picture.

SI did a mock selection committee. Lots of graphics and pictures.

College football playoff mock selection committee-Oregon, Florida in - NCAA Football - SI.com

Access bowls versus contract bowls determine what conferences have access to the big dollars. This isn't about titles, it's about access to piles of monies for your league. The crystal ball at the end is just incidental in all of this.

But yes, the selection committee picks the four semi-finalists for the playoffs. The other bowls go on like normal. Just who gets picked for those bowls is different. Right now, the BCS uses polls + computers. Starting in 2014, the top four (and the five at-large bowl teams, presumably) will get picked by a human committee a la the NCAA tournaments.

[Swaggs]

I love a good Cinderella story, but I think it's pretty tough to justify NIU being one of the best 16 (or top 25, really) teams in the country.

They lost to a 4-8 Iowa team and beat a 1-11 (and 0-11 vs FBCS teams) Kansas by 7-points at home. They had a great season and it is cool to go undefeated in your conference (against your peers), no matter the situation, but the one-loss makes their season much less remarkable (and it was to a bad team) to me and puts them a significant step below teams that played 8-10 quality games and lost once or twice.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

I love a good Cinderella story, but I think it's pretty tough to justify NIU being one of the best 16 (or top 25, really) teams in the country.

They lost to a 4-8 Iowa team and beat a 1-11 (and 0-11 vs FBCS teams) Kansas by 7-points at home. They had a great season and it is cool to go undefeated in your conference (against your peers), no matter the situation, but the one-loss makes their season much less remarkable (and it was to a bad team) to me and puts them a significant step below teams that played 8-10 quality games and lost once or twice.

Ya, you can't argue they belong anywhere near a big bowl game, let alone a BCS bowl game. In the current setup at least, which lasts I think just one more year, the non-BCS conferences have probably too much access to the BCS bowls. Kent St, who I think we can say now absolutely would have gotten to the orange bowl if they won, lost to Kentucky by 33. We're a long way from the days when Boise St. would steamroll through an undefeated season and still be a borderline BCS team. The fact that a one-loss NIU team and a two-loss Boise St team got this close is pretty crazy.

[Young Drachma]

Maybe Boise State should've joined the Big East a year early. Could've been in a BCS bowl.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by molson

We're a long way from the days when Boise St. would steamroll through an undefeated season and still be a borderline BCS team. The fact that a one-loss NIU team and a two-loss Boise St team got this close is pretty crazy.

The Top-16 at-large bid is different from how Boise State and Hawaii and those teams qualified. Those teams got in via automatic bid awarded to a non-AQ school that finishes in the Top 12.

This Top-16 clause is for a non-AQ conference champion that that finishes in the Top 16 of the BCS standings AHEAD of an AQ-conference champion. (In this case, they'll finish ahead of both the Big East and Big Ten champs.)

3. The champion of Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, or the Western Athletic Conference will earn an automatic berth in a BCS bowl game if either:

A. Such team is ranked in the top 12 of the final BCS Standings, or,
B. Such team is ranked in the top 16 of the final BCS Standings and its ranking in the final BCS Standings is higher than that of a champion of a conference that has an annual automatic berth in one of the BCS bowls.

No more than one such team from Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Sun Belt Conference, and the Western Athletic Conference shall earn an automatic berth in any year. (Note: a second team may be eligible for at-large eligibility as noted below.) If two or more teams from those conferences satisfy the provisions for an automatic berth, then the team with the highest finish in the final BCS Standings will receive the automatic berth, and the remaining team or teams will be considered for at-large selection if it meets the criteria.

That's why the money has to be shared with the other non-AQ conferences (and their schools) because it's not an automatic bid, clarifying conversations earlier. So this isn't the same qualification method that got those old WAC/MWC teams into the BCS as automatic teams or at-large picks by the bowls themselves.

It's essentially the only way a Sun Belt/MAC team would ever really have a shot at qualifying for a BCS bowl and probably why they agreed to it back in the day.

In the new system, it'll actually be EASIER for them to qualify, but the difference is that they're all competing with each other (which should quell lateral move realignment) for a spot.

Via the BCS selection process: http://www.bcsfootball.org/news/story?id=4819597

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by molson

Ya, you can't argue they belong anywhere near a big bowl game, let alone a BCS bowl game. In the current setup at least, which lasts I think just one more year, the non-BCS conferences have probably too much access to the BCS bowls. Kent St, who I think we can say now absolutely would have gotten to the orange bowl if they won, lost to Kentucky by 33. We're a long way from the days when Boise St. would steamroll through an undefeated season and still be a borderline BCS team. The fact that a one-loss NIU team and a two-loss Boise St team got this close is pretty crazy.

I guess part of the problem is that more of the AQ conferences are play 9-game schedules and/or playing conference championships than when the BCS first originated. The Big Ten, ACC, and Pac12 have all began playing championship games since the BCS began, while the Big12 and Pac12 both play 9-game conference schedules. Nebraska, UCLA, and Oklahoma have all been directly impacted by those factors this season.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

Starting in 2014, the top four (and the five at-large bowl teams, presumably) will get picked by a human committee a la the NCAA tournaments.

If I understand it right, the non-semifinal bowls will have slots determined by the committee but quite a few of those are also covered by contracts (aka the three "contract bowls"). The other three are "access bowls"; i.e. those without contracts but one of those spots is guaranteed to belong one of the so-called "Group of Five" (Big East/CUSA/MAC/Mtn West/Sun Belt).

Seems to me the bowl rotation is going to become part of the story, as the matchups are going to get rather screwy some years depending upon who has the semifinals.

If I had to take a wildass stab at it I'd figure the semis will be 1 contract + 1 access each year. I'll take a further WAG and guess they start with the Sugar since Rose & Orange had hosted the final two BCS NCG's. And further WAG that they'll try to mix up the regions with the access bowls.

With that I'll guess it's
Semi 2014 Sugar & Fiesta
Semi 2015 Orange & Cotton
Semi 2016 Rose & CFA
-------

Which would make this year's pairing something like
Sugar: Alabama (#2) vs Florida (#3)
Fiesta: Notre Dame (#1) vs Oregon (#4)
--------
Orange: FSU (ACC) vs Georgia (highest ND/SEC/B1G available)
Rose: Stanford (Pac) vs Wisconsin (B1G)
Cotton: K-State (2nd at-large) vs Texas A&M (3rd at-large)
CFA: LSU (1st at-large) vs NIU (4th at-large)


Yeah yeah, I know. The at-larges are numbered out of sequence because I've flip-flopped LSU & KState. But I have to think the committee would try to avoid an LSU vs A&M rematch in the first year of the new system.

edit to add: I'm sure all those who hate the BCS are really going to be pleased with seeing 5 of the 12 slots taken by SEC teams, including 2 of the semifinals. Again, as I understand it, the committee is to give weight to conference champions but not required to exclude non-champs from the semifinals. I don't believe they'd jump a 1-loss KState into the final four over either Florida or Oregon, nor a 2-loss Stanford.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

edit to add: I'm sure all those who hate the BCS are really going to be pleased with seeing 5 of the 12 slots taken by SEC teams, including 2 of the semifinals. Again, as I understand it, the committee is to give weight to conference champions but not required to exclude non-champs from the semifinals. I don't believe they'd jump a 1-loss KState into the final four over either Florida or Oregon, nor a 2-loss Stanford.

If Lou Holtz had his way they would.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

SI did a mock selection committee. Lots of graphics and pictures.

College football playoff mock selection committee-Oregon, Florida in - NCAA Football - SI.com

Access bowls versus contract bowls determine what conferences have access to the big dollars. This isn't about titles, it's about access to piles of monies for your league. The crystal ball at the end is just incidental in all of this.

But yes, the selection committee picks the four semi-finalists for the playoffs. The other bowls go on like normal. Just who gets picked for those bowls is different. Right now, the BCS uses polls + computers. Starting in 2014, the top four (and the five at-large bowl teams, presumably) will get picked by a human committee a la the NCAA tournaments.

Thanks DC, that help a lot.

[sterlingice]

I appreciate that many of the Wisconsin-Nebraska stories had a line similar to this:

Ball helps Badgers rush past No. 14 Nebraska 70-31 - Yahoo! Sports

"Nebraska hadn't allowed 70 points since a 76-39 thrashing by Kansas In November 2007. The loss ended the Cornhuskers six-game winning streak, which began after a 63-38 loss to Ohio State, and the 'Huskers simply had no answers."

Sadly, one of my favorite memories of the 2007 season. I tend to think of myself as someone who delights in my team doing well much more than in my "rivals" or "opponents" teams doing poorly but that was a sweet game to be at. I was on the hill overlooking the stadium and the crowd was mad when the Fat Man let up a little and didn't go for 80. Keep in mind, over about a 30 year stretch from the early 1970s to early 2000s, Nebraska had beaten Kansas by an average- AVERAGE, mind you- of something like 48-7. OVER 30 YEARS. And I think the Kansas faithful wanted Mangino to make up the difference all in one game.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

I don't see a thread for this slow college football week so I'll just tack this on here for now.

ODU basically implodes in the 4th quarter. Trailing 35-21, Georgia Southern scores four times in the final period:
-- once early to cut the margin to 7
-- then following an ODU fumble inside the GSU 20 that led to a 12 play 79 yard drive to tie it up,
-- then ODU apparently went for it and 4th & 6 inside their own 40 with less than four minutes to play ... and the Eagles need only 3 plays to rush for 39 yards and the 42-35 lead with 2:36 to play.
-- ODU throws an INT on their first play after that
-- GSU kills more clock, eventually punching it in from the 1 yd line with 0:46 left and a 49-35 lead.

[kingfc22]

Has Navy used these helmets all year? They are pretty sweet.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Has Navy used these helmets all year? They are pretty sweet.

I was asking the same thing, talk about awesome helmets!

Wish I could get them in my NCAA'11 dynasty!

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by kingfc22

Has Navy used these helmets all year? They are pretty sweet.

I don't like most of the gimmicky helmets over the past several years but I have to admit that these Navy ones are cool.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

-- then ODU apparently went for it and 4th & 6 inside their own 40 with less than four minutes to play ... and the Eagles need only 3 plays to rush for 39 yards and the 42-35 lead with 2:36 to play.

That was an interesting call. I guess they figured giving Georgia Southern the ball anywhere with less than 4 minutes to go in a tie game guaranteed they would lose. And seeing how things went for them in the quarter, maybe that was true.