Teams punished for playing in Championship games

[auskull 239]

5 minutes ago, Indy said:

My thoughts exactly. I cannot understand how any team can back their way into this playoff by virtue of NOT making their conference title game. Alabama sat around all week, risk-free, while Auburn and Wisconsin, both having already accomplished more than Alabama, worked their tails off knowing what was at stake if they lost: 

That a team with no division crown, no championship game appearance, and no game to be played on Championship Saturday would most likely back into the Top 4. Yes, they would be rewarded for not having to play that extra game.

 

If this is the way the system is going to play out then screw it.  Bring back the days of the Blue Bonnet Bowl and kill the playoff.

 

I say they just come up with a point system.

- 1 point per victory

- 3 points for beating a Top 25 opponent 

- 5 points for beating a top 10 opponent

- 7 points for winning your division/conference championship

 

Add them up and teams stop getting penalized for losing that 13th game because they still have more points.

 

 

The best team may just have the weakest schedule. There is not necessarily a correlation and a team with the least points might be the best team. Scheduling involves a lot of luck especially if your team plays in a middle of the road conference. A big name scheduled 5 or 10 years in advance may just be on the skids when game day arrives. The conference championships should count. This fluke with UAT and subsequently leaving the Big Ten and PAC 10 Conference Champions out will ultimately result in the expansion of the playoffs. Much like the demise of the BCS. Money will drive an expansion. This has already been worked out in the lower Divisions of NCAA football and a true champion is determined.

[1856 136]

1 hour ago, AU-24 said:

What Top 10 team did the turds beat this year?

FSU was a top ten team when they played them. 

[WeagleAU 594]

5 minutes ago, 1856 said:

FSU was a top ten team when they played them. 

That’s exactly why I don’t think there should be preseason rankings.  Ranking a team based on projection?  How did that work out for FSU?  In my opinion they need to at least get halfway through their conference play to determine how good they are.

[1856 136]

Just now, WeagleAU said:

That’s exactly why I don’t think there should be preseason rankings.  Ranking team based on projection?  How did that work out for FSU.  In my opinion they need to at least get halfway through their conference play to determine how good they are.

I agree.  At least 3 games in to conference play. 

[AU-24 3,063]

11 minutes ago, 1856 said:

FSU was a top ten team when they played them. 

FSU is .500 and barely bowl eligible. Let me ask another question. What top 15 team did Alabama play and beat this year?

 I’ll help you out with this one. Zero top 15 team wins. No conference title, nor did they even play for the conference title. Oh, but they’re in the playoffs. REC

[ltlgas321 4]

2 hours ago, bigbird said:

Truth is if we take care if business in Baton Rouge, then we are in no matter yesterday's outcome.

Truth!!!

 

Damn cajuns. Only thing I like about em is their food. 

[Mims44 1,864]

12 hours ago, bigbird said:

Truth is if we take care if business in Baton Rouge, then we are in no matter yesterday's outcome.

I dunno man, AU was #2 with the loss to LSU, and would have been #2 even if we beat them.

We would have dropped out with a loss to UGA either way, and they would have used a "2 loss" line for why Bama went in ahead of us.

[bigbird 60,368]

44 minutes ago, Mims44 said:

I dunno man, AU was #2 with the loss to LSU, and would have been #2 even if we beat them.

We would have dropped out with a loss to UGA either way, and they would have used a "2 loss" line for why Bama went in ahead of us.

If we hadn't lost to LSU we would've been 1st even though Clemson beat us

[jAUSon 2,836]

13 hours ago, bigbird said:

Truth is if we take care if business in Baton Rouge, then we are in no matter yesterday's outcome.

"It's not the end of the world!"

[AU64 10,122]

4 minutes ago, jAUSon said:

"It's not the end of the world!"

and it wasn't ....we had a beautiful sunrise this morning over upstate South Carolina....gorgeous fall day ahead of us.

And the LSU loss did not keep us out of the playoffs.....either way...we lose the second Ga game and we were out.

AND....some people are making a huge and unfounded assumption in my view:  

There is no credible case to be made that Auburn's season following an LSU win would have unfolded the same way it did after that gut wrenching loss.   Recall, that from that point forward we had a revitalized offense and a rededicated team that achieved tremendous wins over two top ranked teams.....and that we  ended up with a chance to play for the championship of the SEC and the national championship. 

If you had the power to go back into history and change one event.... the outcome of the LSU game for example....there is no logic that says the rest of the season would have turned out the same.....and those tough wins would still have occurred.   

JMO....but in some ways the LSU game turned the season around for the better.     A three point win over LSU and likely AU and the coaches would have continued down the same path and style of play.....and would eventually end up losing to TAMU or maybe UGa the first time and probably bama.  . 

I'm arguing the loss saved the season more so than a win would have...and left us with the chance to win it all.  A great teaching moment perhaps....JMO.

[McLoofus 35,182]

11 minutes ago, AU64 said:

I'm arguing the loss saved the season more so than a win would have...and left us with the chance to win it all.  A great teaching moment perhaps....JMO.

And many of us are holding out hope that such losses will never again be necessary to shock our coach into using basic logic and reason to win games. 

[eibua12 81]

What people should be upset about is the fact that Auburn isn't ranked 5th, with a SOS of what 1-5 and 2 wins over 2 teams in the top 4 and solid game at Clemson even with 3 loses we should be ahead of OSU and Wisky especially if you put Bama in!

How many SOS pts equal a win?  If I am 11-1 and your 11-2 your SOS is 25 and mine is 50, is that equal?  

USCw should be pissed off their SOS is better the OSU and they also won their conference championship. 

UCF didn't play 1 team in the top 30 depending on which system you look at in fact USF is around 45 with a SOS of 103, so there is that.  I really wish they would have played GA Tech even though they aren't in the top 30 as either.

For grins:  Sagarin has Auburn as a 5.94 pt favorite so that seems like a bettors paradise. The Over/Under is 57 that is insanely low.  Vegas has Auburn in the 8 to 9.5 pt range with I think the O/U at 110. 

He also has Alabama a .87 favorite and Georgia as a 3.07 favorite

[Plainstalk 32]

17 hours ago, AuMarine said:

What the committee said today was: 

SOS does not matter

Conference Championships do not matter.

Losing late in the season does not matter. (unless you are Wisconsin and your only loss was in the Conference Championship game.. then that matters.) 

 

 

It seems like we have a committee that looks for ways to get the updykes in the playoffs.  The criteria changes from year to year.  All these people say that Alabama is for sure one of the best four teams in the nation have no basis for that claim.  They lost to only top 10 caliber team they played and were rewarded for their loss.   Their players have an extra week and they get to play in New Orleans.  Meanwhile the conference champion has to travel to Pasedena.  

[tigernt'town 4]

I have been worried about this scenario for years, knowing eventually we would have to play our rivalry games in Nov.and have to wind up playing Georgia again in the title game.  I feel like even if we had beaten Clemson and LSU, and lost to Georgia in the SEC championship game, the committee would still have taken Alabama over Auburn despite the head to head win.  I have watched over the years as our rankings have been influenced by what we did on the field, the problem is that some of those opinions were formed by games played a year, sometimes two years before.  also, I have watched in the past as Oklahoma was completely dismantled and blown off the field by Kansas State in their title game and still played for a National Championship!

what the committee showed me yesterday is that the good ole boy system is alive and well, and their are rules for some schools that traditional powers do not have to abide by.  I hope that Clemson beats the updykes 77-0!!!!

[1856 136]

4 minutes ago, tigernt'town said:

I have been worried about this scenario for years, knowing eventually we would have to play our rivalry games in Nov.and have to wind up playing Georgia again in the title game.  I feel like even if we had beaten Clemson and LSU, and lost to Georgia in the SEC championship game, the committee would still have taken Alabama over Auburn despite the head to head win.  I have watched over the years as our rankings have been influenced by what we did on the field, the problem is that some of those opinions were formed by games played a year, sometimes two years before.  also, I have watched in the past as Oklahoma was completely dismantled and blown off the field by Kansas State in their title game and still played for a National Championship!

what the committee showed me yesterday is that the good ole boy system is alive and well, and their are rules for some schools that traditional powers do not have to abide by.  I hope that Clemson beats the updykes 77-0!!!!

This is an awful situation we have on our hands.  I despise all four teams in the playoffs.  I wanted Ohio State in so bad so that I could actually pull for a team that I don't loathe.

[tigernt'town 4]

Let me be clear, I hate all the teams in the playoff!  The deciding factor for me was who could hand Alabama their next loss!!!

[AU64 10,122]

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

And many of us are holding out hope that such losses will never again be necessary to shock our coach into using basic logic and reason to win games. 

Somebody is betting give or take $20M that such is the case...

[Big Dog 6]

Some food for thought.  On the one hand, there's this - When we beat Georgia this year, it was the first time since 2014 we'd beaten a team finishing with 9 or more wins. Even now, after those two wins, Gus is 33% against Georgia and 40% against Bama. He's 25% in bowl games. Gus also owns the majority of all the bad second half collapses in Auburn history. And that's with the SEC being down this last couple years. Once Jimbo takes over at Texas A&M and Mullen at Florida, and who knows what other changes, it will be an absolute meatgrinder. After LSU it looked like Gus changed, and I believe that was due to pressure from all us "fairweather" fans. Unfortunately, the pressure of playing in the SEC championship with injuries to key players caused Gus to go back in his shell - the absolute worst thing to do and at the worst time. All that professional growth we'd seen during the year seemed to just evaporate. I just still have reservations, that's all - and I LIKE Gus

On the other, other hand - This year's AU team would have won the SEC outright in years past before the championship game.  We need to be realistic about our schedule. Getting to the playoffs for AU required three consecutive wins against top 5 teams, and we "only" got two of them - still more than anyone else in the country! Getting an NC would have required five consecutive wins against top 5 teams! No one has to go through that kind of schedule but Auburn. I've always thought Amen Corner needed adjusting once the championship game was instituted, regardless of who we have as coach. And there needs to be a week off before the SEC championship game, for the sake of all the teams. It appears Auburn refuses (erroneously in my opinion) to "play the game", thinking we can just win out and everything will take care of itself. Just my two cents. 

[Tiger 8,817]

We REALLY need Tennessee and Florida to wake the hell up.

[McLoofus 35,182]

5 minutes ago, Tiger said:

We REALLY need Tennessee and Florida to wake the hell up.

I think Florida just did. I'm not sure if Tennessee ever will. 

[Tiger 8,817]

Just now, McLoofus said:

I think Florida just did. I'm not sure if Tennessee ever will. 

Right, I like Mullen to UF. He will give Kirby a fight I think. As far as UT I think their best days may be behind them, unfortunately for us. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Right, I like Mullen to UF. He will give Kirby a fight I think. As far as UT I think their best days may be behind them, unfortunately for us. 

Can you imagine a day where we lose to bama and still make it to Atlanta? Like, we are seriously getting zero help from the rest of the conference. 

[Tiger 8,817]

3 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Can you imagine a day where we lose to bama and still make it to Atlanta? Like, we are seriously getting zero help from the rest of the conference. 

Right!!! TAMU/Ole Miss looked like they had a thing going but Hugh couldn't keep it in his pants and Sumlin was letting the players do whatever they wanted.

[Mims44 1,864]

5 hours ago, bigbird said:

If we hadn't lost to LSU we would've been 1st even though Clemson beat us

Is there precedent for that?

Admittedly I don't watch how these decisions are made often unless AU is in the running for it usually.

But with both of us being 1 loss teams and us losing to them, you think we would have been put ahead of the only team to beat us? I get the logic is we beat two top teams, but reversely that would mean Clemson beat a top team (AU). They stomped every ranked team they faced all year and only lost when their QB took a injury.

[ikubak 4]

Looking at end of season USA Today rankings, strength of schedule doesn't seem to matter much, unless you are a non-P5 team (think Central Florida).  Iowa, even though they lost 5 games had the #4 hardest schedule and they finished ranked #36.  OSU laid an egg losing to Iowa but what about Clemson losing to the #94 team in the country, Syracuse.  Iowa, even though they lost 5 games had the #4 hardest schedule and they finished ranked #36.  Alabama's best win was against #16 LSU, next best was a squeaker over #31 MSU. bama played one top ten team and lost by two touchdowns.  OSU beat two top ten teams as did Auburn.  For some reason, this season the focus of the committee wasn't quality wins, strength of schedule or conference championships, it was who you lost to....unless you lost to #94 Syracuse and your name is Clemson.