Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

[DonJonpin]

There are 9 teams that have the record and resume to be in this playoff.

Here is my current estimation of where I would have them ranked right now, but I want your guys Input before I go through with it.

Team 1.
12-0 Record
3 top 10 wins over Team 6, 8, and 9... 5 top 25 wins. Clearly the top team.

Team 2.
12-0 Record
1 top 10 win over Team 4... 3 top 25 wins.

Team 3.
11-1 Record
Lost to #11 team, has two top 25 wins. Good resume gives them the nod above Team 4.

Team 4.
11-1 Record
Only loss is a very close game to Team 2. No top 25 wins. But beat some teams on the cusp of the top 25. Resume not quite as good as Team 3, but some impressive wins over winning record opponents. Team 4 given the nod over Team 5 because opponents were better overall.

Team 5.
12-0 Record
Resume is comparable to Team 4. No top 25 wins, a handful of winning record wins. Overall, definitely a playoff team, but ranked below Team 4 and 5 because schedule not as strong.

Team 6.
10-2 Record
Two losses were to Team 1, and another top 25 team. They beat Team 8 and 9... Total of 4 Top 25 wins.

Team 7.
10-2 Record
Team 7, 8, and 9 are razor thin in my eyes.
Team 7 lost 2 games to un ranked opponents, but has 4 top 25 wins.

Team 8.
10-2 Record
Team 8 and 9 have essentially the exact same resume barring minor differences.
Team 8 lost to Team 1 and Team 6 (both close losses). They have two top 25 wins.

Team 9.
10-2 Record
Only losses were to Team 1 and Team 6, just like Team 8. Only difference is Team 9 got destroyed by Team 1 by 40 points. Team 9 also has 2 top 25 wins, but they have more winning record wins than Team 8. So from one standpoint Team 8 has the better losses because they were close games but you could argue Team 9 has a better schedule with more winning record wins.

Basically in my eyes Team 1-6 are in. But Teams 7, 8, and 9 is a discussion... Team 7 has more top 25 wins with 4... But Team 7 also has 2 un ranked losses... Teams 8 and 9 basically have the exact same resume with 2 great losses but only 2 top 25 wins each.

So do I leave out Team 8 or 9? When they basically have the same resume? That wouldn’t be fair to one of them? Or do I say to Team 7 there 4 top 25 wins aren’t enough to overcome there 2 bad losses?

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[hardcor2]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I'd say no to team 9. The blowout loss is too much to overcome for me.

[bigbad25]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I would vote to leave out team 7. Losing twice to unranked teams is more unexcusable than losing by 40 to a playoff team.

[sherrane]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I would vote to leave out team 7. Losing twice to unranked teams is more unexcusable than losing by 40 to a playoff team.

This is my thinking as well, although I'd examine the ESPN -> Championship Contenders (?) to get the actual ranking of the unranked losses. If the unranked teams were 26--35 they'd be in the received votes category and might be ranked in the final poll. If one or more is ~50 or lower, then these losses are bad ones for a playoff team.

[nofx94]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I'd leave out nine. Less valuable wins and blown out in the loss.

[DonJonpin]

Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I did some more digging...

Team 5’s best win is actually only against the 40th ranked team at 7-5. The rest of their wins are teams ranked under 60. Is there a possibility we could leave out a 12-0 Team 5? Their strength of record is very weak.


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[nofx94]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I did some more digging...

Team 5’s best win is actually only against the 40th ranked team at 7-5. The rest of their wins are teams ranked under 60. Is there a possibility we could leave out a 12-0 Team 5? Their strength of record is very weak.


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It's your dynasty, so you can. But if I saw a playoff in real life that left out a 12-0 mid major in favor of multiple two-loss P5 teams, I'd think it defeated the purpose of the expanded field. It's hard to go undefeated under any circumstances and I think it should be rewarded. But again, it's your playoff.

[DonJonpin]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

It's your dynasty, so you can. But if I saw a playoff in real life that left out a 12-0 mid major in favor of multiple two-loss P5 teams, I'd think it defeated the purpose of the expanded field. It's hard to go undefeated under any circumstances and I think it should be rewarded. But again, it's your playoff.

True that.


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[NolesFanatic17]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I’d leave out Team 9. That Blowout Loss by 40 (albeit to #1) would be the nail in the coffin for me. Can’t leave out a unbeaten and the team team 9 is in Direct competition with in team 8 didn’t get blown out by 40 by a team they have in common


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[DonJonpin]

Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

Ok.

So teams are as follows

Team 1. Ohio State (12-0) B1G
Team 2. Texas A&M (12-0) BIGXII
Team 3. South Carolina (11-1) SEC
Team 4. Texas (11-1) BIGXII
Team 5. Louisiana (12-0) Sunbelt
Team 6. Nebraska (10-2) B1G
Team 7. USC (10-2) PAC12
Team 8. Mich St (10-2) B1G
Team 9. Michigan (10-2) B1G

I decided to give Louisiana the boot because I discovered that every single win they had, was against a team ranked below 60, except for beating 7-5 Boise State. They literally didn’t even have a team on their schedule with more than 7 wins. They beat a few 7-5 Sunbelt teams, but I found out that none of those 7-5 teams even cracked the top 60. The rest of their schedule were 4-8 teams, and even an 0-12 team.

It proved to be the right choice because Louisiana got beat by Oregon State in their Bowl game and finished the year 12-1.

I SEEDED THE PLAYOFF AS FOLLOWS

I seeded Michigan and Mich St above USC because they’re resumes were basically identical and USC had two bad losses. But clearly, USC is a good football team. I also didn’t want a rematch in the playoff. Seemed stupid to have Ohio State play Michigan again when they already played them.

1. Ohio State (12-0) vs 8. USC (10-2)
2. Texas A&M (12-0) vs 7. Michigan (10-2)
3. South Carolina (11-1) vs 6. Mich St (10-2)
4. Texas (11-1) vs 5. Nebraska (10-2)

Ohio State narrowly beat USC by 3 points, USC had the lead late but Ohio State scored a game winning touchdown... USC deserved to be in the playoff.

Texas A&M beat Michigan by two touchdowns.

Mich St defeated South Carolina in a defensive battle.

Texas squeaked by Nebraska in a close finish.

THE FINAL FOUR
1. Ohio State (13-0) vs 4. Texas (12-1)
2. Texas A&M (13-0) vs 6. Mich St (11-2)

Ohio State beats Texas by 20.

Texas A&M beats Mich St by a touchdown.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Ohio State (14-0) vs 2. Texas A&M (14-0)

Ohio State defeats Texas A&M by over 30 points.

So, looking back. The question should have been between Michigan or Louisiana. USC proved to be a quality team by literally almost beating Ohio State. Michigan State advanced to the Final Four and put up a good fight. The knock on Michigan was the 40 point loss to Ohio State. But Ohio State went on to beat the #2 team Texas A&M by over 30 in the National Championship. So how could you hold it against Michigan? While Louisiana got beat by Oregon State. I don’t think Louisiana would have fared any better against a playoff team than Michigan. In the end, I think I made the right choice.

Disclaimer. I’m also not pleased with “conference domination” by any means. I don’t like the fact that the B1G supplemented 4 teams into this years playoff. Also the ACC was left out because their best team was Georgia Tech (10-2). The difference was Georgia Tech had 2 decent losses, but only 1 top 25 win. Michigan and Mich St both had marque non conference ranked wins against Notre Dame and Oregon respectfully. Florida was another contender at 10-2 very similarly to GT. They lost 2 decent games but only had 1 top 25 win. Just sucks to see because I would have loved to have put Georgia Tech or Florida in at 11-1, but they both lost late in their annual in state rivalry games. They just didn’t have those key ranked wins to overcome their 2 losses, that was the difference between them vs USC, Michigan, and Mich St.
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[sherrane]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I did some more digging...

Team 5’s best win is actually only against the 40th ranked team at 7-5. The rest of their wins are teams ranked under 60. Is there a possibility we could leave out a 12-0 Team 5? Their strength of record is very weak.


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OK, I peeked at your reveal and #5 is Louisiana. The Sun Belt and MAC are considered the two weakest conferences in FBS. I tend to follow the way the polls work in real life (not EA's) when evaluating playoff teams.



12-0 Sun Belt / MAC is roughly equal to:

• 11-1 C-USA / AAC / MWC
• 10-2 P5

In EA's version, a 12-0 team is always ranked higher than an 11-1 team even if the 12-0 team played 12 FCS while 11-1 played a "murderer's row" type schedule. I agree with your decision to leave Louisiana out.



I had a dynasty where I took the ECU head coaching job after being the OC for Illinois. I had several undefeated seasons and only put myself in the playoff as the #4 seed (EA ranked me #1) in a season where several P5 champions had two or three losses.

[nofx94]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I still think Louisiana was a more deserving choice, but I obviously don't hold it against you and I appreciate your reasoning. What I want to ask: how come no one played 13 games? What happened to the conference championships?

[DonJonpin]

Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

I still think Louisiana was a more deserving choice, but I obviously don't hold it against you and I appreciate your reasoning. What I want to ask: how come no one played 13 games? What happened to the conference championships?

It’s always intrigued me to be able to adjust conferences and such in this game. I actually just found out that if all 10 conferences have 11 teams. With 26 independents. Each conference plays 8 conference games with 4 non conference games... its actually quite amazing and I was blown away when I discovered it at how it balances college football and makes resumes and records much more balanced and meaningful. So I also like not having conference championship games because in NCAA 14 for some weird *** reason. Let’s say an 8-4 #20 ranked Florida loses to #1 12-0 Alabama in conference championship week. Because no other teams are playing it’s always bugged me that they would drop all the way down to damn #45 at 8-5... really EA???

So on top of that I play a 8 team playoff and I’d rather have a team play 15 games than 16

Also note! The cool thing about moving some P5 teams to independent. I usually move the ****iest ones to start. EG Indiana our of the B1G started off my Dynasty as independent along with Kentucky out of SEC. the cool thing is, if a team as an Indy has a good year and finishes in the top 25. I just moved Indiana back to the B1G in exchange for the weakest one Minnesota. Having 11 teams per conference with all the independents actually works as its own relegation system where you can swap some out for the worst team currently in the P5 conference. I also did it with Colorado because they finished #15 and kicked Washington St to Indy for the time being. Just fun to be able to see the teams kind of fight their way back into the conference and get that security blanket back

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[DonJonpin]

Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

OK, I peeked at your reveal and #5 is Louisiana. The Sun Belt and MAC are considered the two weakest conferences in FBS. I tend to follow the way the polls work in real life (not EA's) when evaluating playoff teams.



12-0 Sun Belt / MAC is roughly equal to:

• 11-1 C-USA / AAC / MWC
• 10-2 P5

In EA's version, a 12-0 team is always ranked higher than an 11-1 team even if the 12-0 team played 12 FCS while 11-1 played a "murderer's row" type schedule. I agree with your decision to leave Louisiana out.



I had a dynasty where I took the ECU head coaching job after being the OC for Illinois. I had several undefeated seasons and only put myself in the playoff as the #4 seed (EA ranked me #1) in a season where several P5 champions had two or three losses.

Exactly!!. I agree on everything but I still bunch CUSA with Mid Majors Sunbelt and MAC. Except my order would be this.

12-0 P5
11-1 P5
12-0 AAC or MWC
10-2 P5
11-1 AAC or MWC
12-0 MM
9-3 P5
10-2 AAC or MWC
11-1 MM
8-4 P5
9-3 AAC or MWC
10-2 MM
7-5 P5
8-4 AAC or MWC
9-3 MM
And so on.


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[nofx94]

Re: Help Me Seed My 8 Team Playoff

That's an interesting way to do relegation. I like it.

I'd be a bit bothered by non-round-robin conference schedules (8 out of 10 possible opponents) without conference championships but I like some of what you have going on.

I definitely get why you put the MWC and AAC in a different category than CUSA/MAC/SBC.