Conference Championship Discussion

[Chip Douglass]

I remember the very first year of the playoffs (2014) when TCU won their final game by over 50 points and the committee still dropped them out of the top 4 (they were #3 at the time) in favor of Ohio State. I absolutely think they're vulnerable if they lose to Kansas State.

[Caulfield]

Quote: Originally Posted by BigDofBA

I’m not going to pile on because I’m an OU fan but this is my honest opinion after watching OU’s former coach. Riley has USC ahead of schedule and had a great year. He is going to win a ton of games and his players are going to win a ton of rewards. Watching USC get wore down by a more physical team in the second half gave me flashbacks though. It’s year one so he gets a pass but I still want to see if he can win a playoff game with his style of play. Obviously he couldn’t do it with a ton of NFL talent at OU. Also, the PAC-12 can’t seem to get out of their own way. They looked like they were surely going to get a playoff team this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if K-State wins tomorrow too so we might still get Ohio State and Bama…

and when USC starts Big10 play, all those long road trip conference games
are going to grind the Trojans down physically even further

USC in the Big10 makes about as much sense as West Virginia in the Big12

maybe Hawai‘i will consider joining the Sunbelt lol

[LowerWolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chip Douglass

I remember the very first year of the playoffs (2014) when TCU won their final game by over 50 points and the committee still dropped them out of the top 4 (they were #3 at the time) in favor of Ohio State. I absolutely think they're vulnerable if they lose to Kansas State.

True. But there were a couple of other factors then as well.

Ohio State jumped TCU after beating Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten championship game. Alabama isn't going to get a chance to make that kind of statement.

Baylor jumped TCU after beating a Top 10 Kansas State team. Baylor beat TCU earlier that season, so I think the committee felt compelled to put Baylor ahead of TCU. There would have been a lot of questions about a one-loss TCU going in over a one-loss Baylor when Baylor owned the head-to-head. Easier for the committee to just leave them both out. There would be questions about a two-loss Alabama going in over a two-loss Tennessee when Tennessee owns the head-to-head as well.

I won't be surprised if Alabama leaps a one-loss TCU. But penalizing one-loss TCU for playing a conference championship game while two-loss Alabama sits at home won't be the best look.

Weird, BTW, that we've completely flipped positions from last week.

[KSUowls]

Really is a terrible system when teams who don't have to play a 13th game can sneak through the back because someone loss who had to play an extra one. Not that I'm a fan of CCG Week only determining seeding or the system that CFB will have in 2024. The current one is really flawed though.

[LowerWolf]

While they can be fun in the right circumstances, I really hate the conference championship games. I wish there was a way to go back to 10-team conferences with nine-game conference schedules.

Think about how absurd this is:

TCU, which played - and beat - every single team in the Big 12, now has to play Kansas State again. And if it loses, it could be out.

Meanwhile Alabama, which avoided the best team in the SEC (Georgia) and lost to the other top two teams (Tennessee and LSU) could sneak in.

[TripleCrown9]

If we somehow end up with Ohio State-Michigan for the national championship, the world may implode.

[Amoo316]

The conference leaders themselves were the ones that set the "conference championship winner means more" in their playoff criteria. Like it or not they wanted that bag for the extra game.

[canes21]

If today goes as expected, just throw Clemson in. They'll at least have played for and won a conference championship making them more deserving of a spot than Bama or *.

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