Ole Miss is so over rated its painful to even consider. FSU is there by the grace of god and a lenient criminal justice system. I think Notre Dame and Alabama are as good as anyone in the country. The Auburn. Then Miss State. Its a joke.
I agree to some degree George, especially about FSU. However Ole Miss beat Alabama and are ranked ahead of them. Notre Dame lost to FSU and I don't think belong in the top 4 at this point. So at this point I think the rankings, while subjective, are pretty fair. And there is a long way to go with a number of the top 10-12 teams still to play each other.
Well I don't agree with them, but at least now we have a starting point and a pecking order. There is a lot of football left to play, there will be upsets and teams in contention now will play other teams in contention and knock each other out. I'm predicting only FSU will go undefeated. Every week will be a little different based on upsets and one loss teams knocking each other out. Each team has to take care of business, it's a single elimination tournament from here on out.
RE FSU, still some advantage in playing in a weaker conference. I agree with Don. Any of those teams that you might think are ranked to low just need to keep winning and they will end up where they want to be.
:wink: I agree with George. Playoff games will be at neutral sites and I don't see anything on that list that Notre Dame and Alabama can't beat on a neutral field. There's still lots of football left to play, so let's see what happens...
They're pandering to the Power 5 conferences, hence ND as the highest ranked independent #10. That's OK. If we don't win out, we wouldn't be considered anyway. We just need to control what we can control and let the chips fall where they may.
Sid, Ditto. Funny moment today. We're driving to the birthday dinner for Brittney's sister listening to the rankings being announced and Brittney says (and mind you, she knew absolutely nothing about football before we started dating) "If there's 5 main conferences, why don't they just have an 8 team playoff with 5 conference champions and 3 wildcards made up of the best teams remaining? It would end all this drama, and you'd get the best chance at a national champion without cheating anyone." I laughed because, as you know, I've been championing the 8 team format for years now and have never expressed this to her in any way. Then I thought, if it makes that much sense to someone who really knows nothing about all the back history, why does it seem so difficult for those of us who 'know football' to comprehend?
So what impressed the committee about Mich. St? Their 19 pt. loss to Oregon or their victories over Jackson St., Eastern Mich. and Wyoming? Wow!
Here's a couple of articles from Sportsline about the first rankings. Might All Change By December Why Initial Rankings Might Matter No SEC Bias And I don't agree that the rankings are bad. Notice that in most cases when two teams that have played are in the top 10 with identical records the team that won is ranked higher. And in reference to the SEC teams ranked in the top 10, and Georgia, they play so many games amongst themselves that there will almost all of them have at least one more loss. Notre Dame fans have no worry if they win out. If they don't win out then they are likely out with two losses. Winning out almost guarantees them a spot in the top four.
Bill, I'm just taking a wait and see to all of this. I believe Scott and I last year talked about the playoff format. I see the 4 team format is a stop over to the 8 team, which will be the final form. I think the problem is that TV believes they need the drama to support their broadcast lineup, and perhaps that is true. The reality is that the game provides enough drama, we don't need to make this harder than need be.
I agree Corey. Hey I thought I remembered you wanting a 16 team playoff? Here's an interesting article about what would happen to FSU if they played in the SEC. The reason they didn't join the SEC in the first place is that Bobby Bowden thought their schedules would be to hard. FSU Would Lose Three Games If In SEC
I did, at one point in time, but the game changed. The problem is/was the BCS. That, in my opinion, was the cancer killing the game. However, we have to deal with what is left and what is left is perfect for the 8 team playoff. Think about it, 5 major conference champs and THREE wild cards. There's no room for substantive bitching. Everyone gets their shot.
As for the simulation, I don't know. While I love kicking FSU as much as the next guy with a soul, that's pretty fishy. You can simulate it all you want, but that doesn't account for the human element. Giving it the eye test, I believe they could beat Alabama. Alabama has some serious problems in their secondary. I watched Winston beat us all by himself. He could beat them all by himself. It's great that the SEC fans are back on the LSU bandwagon, but the truth is that's a team that is as one dimensional as Georgia Tech. Tech may have a better passing game. I have a very hard time seeing LSU beating FSU. Ole Miss, in terms of the matchup, I think would give them the most fits.. but that's assuming 'Bad Bo' doesn't show up. Lotta football left to play.
I agree a lotta football left to play. ND fans have to hope the Irish win out and win out with some style points. Close tough wins like we had vs UNC won't get us moving up in the polls. Not to worry though, kp has assured me that 'Bama has at least 1 more loss coming. So x them out. Either Ole Miss or Auburn is getting #2 this weekend so x out one of them. TCU will play KState so x out one of them. Miss State plays 2 current 1 loss teams in Bama and Ole Miss. I guess the question will be if Miss State stumbles vs either of those teams do they fall out of the top 4? Or do they just go to the head of the 1 loss teams? If they don't lose than both Alabama and Ole Miss will go to 2 losses. So for sure we will lose a couple of the top 10 1 loss teams just because they play each other. Then there is of course upsets, WVa is the hot team right now in the B12 they could take out both TCU and KState as they get them both in Morgantown. Irish will need Ohio State to beat Michigan State. It's going to be a fun finish to the season, crazy, frustrating but riveting.
I read the SEC-FSU article. It's self-serving bull crap. I have no use for FSU, but they beat the best the SEC had to offer in last year's championship game. I always have given the SEC its due and considered them for a number of years the best conference in the land. However, I think we've reached the point where the SEC is running on the fumes of past years' dominance. I don't see the same kind of across-the-board strength and speed among the SEC teams as in the past. I'm not sure they're even the strongest conference this year, but the pollsters are going to continue to reward them for past performance until proven otherwise. This may be the year when that happens. We'll see. Just my opinion.