Playoff poll discussion here (merged threads)

[FootballFanatic 4]

When LSU replayed alabama it was a joke because LSU already won the SEC now they needed to beat another conference to prove they were the best. It was pure stupid incest to see that rematch.

That would seem to be the most glaring argument against your premise instead of a good one to support it.

Winning a conference championship in no way demonstrates that you are any better than any team other than the ones in your conference.

What if Auburn, Miss State and Kansas State win out? That would mean that both KSU and MSU are conference champions and Auburn is not, but it would also mean that Auburn is better than KSU, because we beat them. But KSU still deserves to go and not Auburn?

Doesn't matter how good you really are. You play football on a field for 60 miniutes and if you win you win. During that 60 miniutes you have to be the best team on the field. Not the other 6.9 days of the week. LSU won the SEC and the West. They shouldn't have played another team they already beat on the road again to win a title. The winner of that NC didn't prove much to anyone that they were the best team in the counrty because they never beat anyone outside their division to prove that it wasn't a fluke.

It would be much like crowning the Big 10 champs the national champs every year because 25 years ago they were big time in football and you don't need to see them beat anyone else to win.

A straight play to win scenario should be instituted like every other damn sport in NCAA. Div 2 football has a championship and playoffs set up much like the NFL. Same with div 3. Theres no arguing who is or isn't this or that because teams play onthe field and the best team wins the games on the field to move up and prove their mettle against teams from other areas in the country.

At least with this format the top 4 will have at least 2 teams from other conferences in to prove the winners are capable. If they always pit the teams from the same conference against each other in the first rounds I would even be somewhat okay with it. The title game shouldn't ever be an interconference game.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Doesn't matter how good you really are.

Could not possibly disagree more.

[FootballFanatic 4]

Doesn't matter how good you really are.

Could not possibly disagree more.

Why because you trade in what ifs and imagination? Football is played on a field. If you lose you lose. You don't get points for maybe being good or possibly in the future being good. In the NFL there is no arguments. Teams have to win on the field to win the super bowl and the best teams sometimes fall short because they have to play it on the field against a team and come out with a win.

[AUcivE09 582]

I think UGA is the biggest threat. Always a tough game. Ole Miss could very well beat us this weekend, but with their O-line we may actually get a pass rush sealing their fate. When it comes to bama - stop cooper and you win. That is what Ole Miss did. 9-90-0 with a long of 30. The 8-60 tells you they didnt let him get loose on the screen pass.

Oh, I think UGA is a big threat. But I still think we match up better with them than we do with Bama. Ole Miss has a pass rush, which helped them stop Cooper.

:dunno:/>

All it takes is one loss. Our secondary can't cover Amari consistently. If we don't find some semblance of a pass rush we will lose one game at least. I'm not convinced the offense has fixed their issues either. South Carolina will make a lot of offenses look great.

Sure, one more loss; I was just suggesting a ranking in terms of the toughness of games remaining. To me, it goes like this (ranking from toughest to easiest, without claiming that any of them are necessarily easy):

Bama

Georgia

Ole Miss

aTm

Samford

I agree that we almost certainly need to win them all to even have a chance of making the playoff.

I realize bama is a tough opponent - especially at home. Their problem is a shaky O-line with only 1 real threat on the offense. Ill give our secondary some credit and assume we can hold Sims only target to a similar stat line as Ole Miss. Their defense is not what it use to be, in fact, their secondary is not even close to ours. Keep in mind they do not have much of a pass rush either. This is why I would put the UGA game ahead of the Iron Bowl. No doubt (in my best Gus voice) we have a monster of a schedule left. It is all splitting hairs. I just think this is Saban second worst team (a compliment) since he landed in that toilet bowl.

[FootballFanatic 4]

I think UGA is the biggest threat. Always a tough game. Ole Miss could very well beat us this weekend, but with their O-line we may actually get a pass rush sealing their fate. When it comes to bama - stop cooper and you win. That is what Ole Miss did. 9-90-0 with a long of 30. The 8-60 tells you they didnt let him get loose on the screen pass.

Oh, I think UGA is a big threat. But I still think we match up better with them than we do with Bama. Ole Miss has a pass rush, which helped them stop Cooper.

:dunno:/>

All it takes is one loss. Our secondary can't cover Amari consistently. If we don't find some semblance of a pass rush we will lose one game at least. I'm not convinced the offense has fixed their issues either. South Carolina will make a lot of offenses look great.

Sure, one more loss; I was just suggesting a ranking in terms of the toughness of games remaining. To me, it goes like this (ranking from toughest to easiest, without claiming that any of them are necessarily easy):

Bama

Georgia

Ole Miss

aTm

Samford

I agree that we almost certainly need to win them all to even have a chance of making the playoff.

I realize bama is a tough opponent - especially at home. Their problem is a shaky O-line with only 1 real threat on the offense. Ill give our secondary some credit and assume we can hold Sims only target to a similar stat line as Ole Miss. Their defense is not what it use to be, in fact, their secondary is not even close to ours. Keep in mind they do not have much of a pass rush either. This is why I would put the UGA game ahead of the Iron Bowl. No doubt (in my best Gus voice) we have a monster of a schedule left. It is all splitting hairs. I just think this is Saban second worst team (a compliment) since he landed in that toilet bowl.

Id agree with that. If Cooper can get open and Sims has time they can torch a team. If not its a struggle. For us if a team can seal the middle and tackle on the edge we are toast.

[WarEagle123 28]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

[FootballFanatic 4]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

Cause losing is counter intuitive to being a great team? Thats like giving out trophies for coming in 10th out of 11.

[McLoofus 35,182]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

[The Freak 2,528]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

But it doesn't necessarily mean you're not one of the best four teams if you lose to two top 4 teams. It just means your schedule sucks.

[AU-24 3,107]

As a fan I may be one of a few but I don't think Auburn has played well enough to be in that top 4. It doesn't matter either way as there are games to play but like bama, we haven't played very well this year and have a few more losses ahead if we don't get a lot better and figure out how to generate a pass rush.

Bama will light us up with Amari Cooper if we let sims relax in the pocket.

What games are you watching? Auburn has beaten everyone played to this point, except for the #1 team in the country on in their home field! Auburn has beaten K-State on their field and we are K-States only loss and they are leading the Big 12.

Bamma lost to Ole Miss and beat Arky by all of one point with shady officiating.

Some of you are more worried about bama than the playoff committee. Did you see bama against West Virginia, Ole Miss, and Arky. For that matter the second half of the Tenn. game?

Stop worrying Y'all and bring them on!

[cooltigger21 0]

As a fan I may be one of a few but I don't think Auburn has played well enough to be in that top 4. It doesn't matter either way as there are games to play but like bama, we haven't played very well this year and have a few more losses ahead if we don't get a lot better and figure out how to generate a pass rush.

Bama will light us up with Amari Cooper if we let sims relax in the pocket.

What games are you watching? Auburn has beaten everyone played to this point, except for the #1 team in the country on in their home field! Auburn has beaten K-State on their field and we are K-States only loss and they are leading the Big 12.

Bamma lost the Ole Miss and beat Arky by all of one point with shady officiating.

I'm watching an Auburn d line that cannot get pressure on the qb. A receiver is going to get open eventually if you give the quarterback all day to sit back and look.

[WarEagle123 28]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

You're right. A 2nd loss confirms you're not the best. But it doesn't mean that you're worse than the teams behind you because you lost to teams ahead of you

[McLoofus 35,182]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

You're right. A 2nd loss confirms you're not the best. But it doesn't mean that you're worse than the teams behind you because you lost to teams ahead of you

But it means that you've had a chance to prove it and failed. Those 1-loss teams behind you haven't.

[AUcivE09 582]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

You're right. A 2nd loss confirms you're not the best. But it doesn't mean that you're worse than the teams behind you because you lost to teams ahead of you

But it means that you've had a chance to prove it and failed. Those 1-loss teams behind you haven't.

LSU has 2 losses (to #1 and #3) and check out the teams ahead of them even after beating #4. The committee basically ordered the teams based on W-L record and then sorted. Lose 2 and you will need lots of help getting back into the top 4 even with our schedule.

[AUbritt 611]

Everyone assumes that the loser Saturday between us and ole miss drops one out of the top 4. Why do we assume the committee still doesn't see the loser of that game as one of the best 4? They think they are top 4 now. Just because they lose to another top 4 means they are not one of the best 4 teams in the country?

1 loss suggests that you might not be the best team in the country; a 2nd loss confirms it.

You're right. A 2nd loss confirms you're not the best. But it doesn't mean that you're worse than the teams behind you because you lost to teams ahead of you

But it means that you've had a chance to prove it and failed. Those 1-loss teams behind you haven't.

LSU has 2 losses (to #1 and #3) and check out the teams ahead of them even after beating #4. The committee basically ordered the teams based on W-L record and then sorted. Lose 2 and you will need lots of help getting back into the top 4 even with our schedule.

Yep -- this is probably the only beef I have with their rankings so far. I think LSU should be ranked above some of the 1-loss teams (I posted a link earlier in the thread to an article that makes a good argument).

[WarEagle84 0]

The committee is tasked with identifying the 4 best teams. Right now, 3 of those are from the SEC west. That can't last, and one of the criteria they are supposed to factor in, conference championships, can't be included until the final rankings cone out. If Auburn and MSU win out, will be interesting to see how they rank AU relative to the other conference champs. I don't know that we have a guaranteed in.

[aubfaninga 16]

The committee is tasked with identifying the 4 best teams. Right now, 3 of those are from the SEC west. That can't last, and one of the criteria they are supposed to factor in, conference championships, can't be included until the final rankings cone out. If Auburn and MSU win out, will be interesting to see how they rank AU relative to the other conference champs. I don't know that we have a guaranteed in.

No guarantees at all but I like our chances if Auburn and MSU win out.

Let's assume Florida State and Miss St win out and win their respective championships. Hands down you have #1 and #2 right there.

Now we will assume Auburn wins out and ends the season with 1 loss. Let's put them at the number 4 spot just to keep them on the bubble.

I will start with possible 1 loss teams that I feel CANNOT knock Auburn out of the last slot and work down from there.

Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Baylor, Kansas State, Utah, East Carolina, Duke (scratch them off the list)***If one of these teams make the playoff, Auburn will go back up to #3***

So now we assume that the Pac 12 champ wins out. (pick Oregon, Arizona, Arizona St) If one of the 3 wins out I say they get the #3 slot

So we have #1 Miss St. #2 Florida State #3 1 loss Pac champ

Here is the nightmare... Both TCU (especially if they soundly whip KSt) and Notre Dame could burst our bubble.

You also could have Notre Dame beat Arizona St and Arizona St win the PAC but we still stuck watching TCU

(This is not how I see the season playing out, just an "imagine if")

[alexava 6,973]

Here's my theory. Auburn wins out 11-1. Miss st loses one 11-1 plays uga and loses seccg to uga who is now 12-2. Is auburn ranked higher than uga?

[CallingSaul 0]

Here's my theory. Auburn wins out 11-1. Miss st loses one 11-1 plays uga and loses seccg to uga who is now 12-2. Is auburn ranked higher than uga?

Definitely. If Auburn finishes 11-1, their only loss would be to a highly ranked MSU team. UGA would have dropped a game to a mediocre USC and to Auburn. On top of that, Auburn's schedule in the west is much more intense.

If we beat UGA in their house, they could still drop a few spots because of the second loss. And their schedule from here on out (other than us) is laughable. Assuming a few teams get pushed out of the top 10 over the next few weeks, I see UGA still sitting around number 10 if we beat them. I can't see, especially with 2 losses, UGA jumping 6 teams just by beating MSU and winning the conference.

[CallingSaul 0]

The committee is tasked with identifying the 4 best teams. Right now, 3 of those are from the SEC west. That can't last, and one of the criteria they are supposed to factor in, conference championships, can't be included until the final rankings cone out. If Auburn and MSU win out, will be interesting to see how they rank AU relative to the other conference champs. I don't know that we have a guaranteed in.

No guarantees at all but I like our chances if Auburn and MSU win out.

Let's assume Florida State and Miss St win out and win their respective championships. Hands down you have #1 and #2 right there.

Now we will assume Auburn wins out and ends the season with 1 loss. Let's put them at the number 4 spot just to keep them on the bubble.

I will start with possible 1 loss teams that I feel CANNOT knock Auburn out of the last slot and work down from there.

Michigan State, Ohio State, Nebraska, Baylor, Kansas State, Utah, East Carolina, Duke (scratch them off the list)***If one of these teams make the playoff, Auburn will go back up to #3***

So now we assume that the Pac 12 champ wins out. (pick Oregon, Arizona, Arizona St) If one of the 3 wins out I say they get the #3 slot

So we have #1 Miss St. #2 Florida State #3 1 loss Pac champ

Here is the nightmare... Both TCU (especially if they soundly whip KSt) and Notre Dame could burst our bubble.

You also could have Notre Dame beat Arizona St and Arizona St win the PAC but we still stuck watching TCU

(This is not how I see the season playing out, just an "imagine if")

I highly doubt any team could burst the Auburn bubble if we win out.

With the toughest schedule in the country, beating 3 top 10 teams on the road would not allow any team to jump us. Period.

The committee has already proven that who you beat and who you play matters. And winning out with a remaining schedule like Auburn has would make a conference championship the equivalent of the potato bowl.

But, of course, none of this matters unless we take care of business in Oxford.

[lemonade_drinker 1]

Of all the hundreds of scenarios out there, Could the SEC get two teams into the playoff with Auburn as the conference champ? No

[lemonade_drinker 1]

Ole miss must have been number 1 on the theoretical committee pole before they lost. 1>4 after a road loss at night in BR makes sense. I don't see MSU staying in the top 4 with any loss.

[AUsince72 11,084]

Here's my theory. Auburn wins out 11-1. Miss st loses one 11-1 plays uga and loses seccg to uga who is now 12-2. Is auburn ranked higher than uga?

That is my hope actually. I'm one of the VERY few who actually didn't mind "back in the day" when the real goal was to win your conference championship and the bowl games were meant as "rewards". I don't argue that I'm right...just my opinion.

So, with that said, I believe it's absolutely LUDICROUS to have a 4 team playoff. This should have been MIN 6 teams and probably 8.

I would love to see the madness that ensues should MSU lose 1 game before the SECCG and then lose to thUGA, who lost to Auburn who, in turn, runs the table. Thus Auburn would finish the season not only with a better record but actually won H2H and be higher ranked than the SEC champ. Talk about the chaos of message boards and media...

[FootballFanatic 4]

Here's my theory. Auburn wins out 11-1. Miss st loses one 11-1 plays uga and loses seccg to uga who is now 12-2. Is auburn ranked higher than uga?

That is my hope actually. I'm one of the VERY few who actually didn't mind "back in the day" when the real goal was to win your conference championship and the bowl games were meant as "rewards". I don't argue that I'm right...just my opinion.

So, with that said, I believe it's absolutely LUDICROUS to have a 4 team playoff. This should have been MIN 6 teams and probably 8.

I would love to see the madness that ensues should MSU lose 1 game before the SECCG and then lose to thUGA, who lost to Auburn who, in turn, runs the table. Thus Auburn would finish the season not only with a better record but actually won H2H and be higher ranked than the SEC champ. Talk about the chaos of message boards and media...

Which would all be resolved by a 5 team conf champ + 3 at large bid playoff. Win your conference and your in. End up second best and have a bad game against the eventual winner of your conference and still have a shot.

[Mikey 16,649]

Which would all be resolved by a 5 team conf champ + 3 at large bid playoff. Win your conference and your in. End up second best and have a bad game against the eventual winner of your conference and still have a shot.

Everybody wanted a playoff instead of the BCS, which did a pretty good job, year after year, of matching the two best teams. Now there is a playoff and before the first season is over people and griping about the playoff not being big enough!

There is no need to expand. If CFB goes to an 8-team setup, the howls will be that eight is not enough, we really, really needed 16! Because, you know, that 11-1 team from the MAC got shut out of the 8 team playoff.....

It looks like the committee and their method of ranking is doing a good job so far. Let's give it a few years before we go scrapping this setup for something that's equally questionable.