Same four teams I would have selected only mine would be under the assumption that Bama beats Georgia today. Reversing that would in my mind only change out Bama for Georgia. I would also pick them in the same order. More at link Mock Playoff Selection Committee
Classic case in point as to why it will remain a beauty contest with only 4 teams.....two of the teams selected in this case did not even win their divisions, much less their conference championships. I mean how in the hell can you have a playoff, not include the division champ but a runner up or wild card entry so to speak? Who in the hell ever heard of that? Why even play??? Perfect illustration of my view that the fewer teams in the mix, the less significant are on the field results... That said, this is the beginning and a few years like one described here will force an expanded field..... I'm not familiar with them, how many teams do they include in the other divisions playoffs and what is the criteria? It seems as if other smart guys have figured this thing out.....the only diff is the political influence of the bowls.
Notice in the article how the ND win over Stanford was controversial. It never stops. Here's what the NCAA coordinator of officials said about the final play: http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/football/la-sp-college-football-notes-20121017,0,4512789.story It seems to me that Stanford's winning TD against Oregon came on a replay reversal of a very close play. You could even call it controversal.....no wait.....that's only when they lose to ND.
I agree with BT, it's nuts to ignore the results of the season. I know everybody wants the "best" teams to play. You know settle it on the field. 4 is better than 2 but still doesn't really settle it, like MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS do. Certainly in the old days when there were no playoffs in MLB, just the winner of the 8 team NL and the 8 team AL in the World Series. No doubt there were years when the #2 team in the NL was probably better than the #1 team from the AL but tough noogies. You win your division or you are out, the whole season counts. None of this we were the best team by the end of the year. That of course is all out the window now in professional sports, it's all about 1) getting to the playoffs and 2) being the hot team at the end of the season. Which is why we've had a number of wild card teams win it all. I do think though that with 4 teams a couple of principles should be adhered to by the committee. 1) With regard to conference teams give the edge to the teams that played for and won their conference championship. 2) Try hard to justify not taking a 2nd team from the same conference. 3) if you feel you have to take a 2nd team match them against the 1st team in the semi finals so that we don't have a Conf Championship/National Championship game in the finals.
Sid, I apologize I missed what you posted. I don't know if we can merge the two topics or not. Maybe Tom or Terry knows how. Terry I agree with your thoughts.
No problem, Bill. Sniff, sniff. Don't worry about my hurt feelings. :lol: Seriously, don't bother. The important thing is the discussion. In this case, the timing favors a Saturday morning conversation. To me, it's immaterial who started the topic and when.