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CFP thoughts from a retired (for now) coach

umgrad92

Second Team QB
Gold Member
The 12 teams for the CFP have been selected, for better or worse. I will make a brief (for me) post and share some thoughts/reactions that I had after the teams were selected. This will be random and lack a chronological thought process.

1. I thought the sequence of events (except Ole Miss being shafted with the Miami selection in front of them, but not Alabama) was glorious/hilarious. The committee (whatever...what a joke of a process...) painted themselves in a corner with the publicized reasoning they gave for selecting the order of teams in those ridiculous made-for-TV productions they had throughout the month of November. The committee chair, Warde Manuel, made a couple of statements that left little wiggle room if the worst-case scenario, which happened, happened:
A. The statement that teams would not be penalized for playing in conference championship games and losing. While I agree with this in principle, SMU is not better than any of the 3 bubble teams from the SEC. Also, what if Georgia had not outlasted the 8 OT GT game...or what if they had been destroyed in the 2nd half against Texas after Carson Beck's injury? They have shown in the past that losing your QB is a disqualifier (FSU last season).
B. The order of teams would not be altered once their season was completed. Ole Miss would have no path to jump Alabama. Again, while I agree with this in principle, what if conference championship games provided unequivocal evidence that one team's path to their finish was significantly easier than another team's? Wouldn't a huge SMU win over Clemson devalue Georgia's and USCe's win over Clemson? There was considerable swell for USCe to be placed ahead of both Alabama and Ole Miss due to the recency bias. It didn't happen, but a large Clemson loss would have devalued such a thought process.

2. Why did the committee seed the 2 ACC teams (really 3, as Notre Dame plays 5 ACC games per year) where they did? SMU, which lost to Clemson, was seeded above the Tigers at 11, while Clemson took the 12 spot. This got my conspiracy theory brain to spinning. Texas, for whatever reason, seems to get an extra quality point, favoritism, whatever (what a path the Longhorns had to the SECCG, no ranked wins. We can't say Texas A&M didn't warn us, or that there was evidence of others disdain for Texas...Nebraska says hello). I am sure Texas was not, would not, be excited about a playoff matchup, even at home, with SMU. I mean, Texas' hypocrisy in continually reporting SMU to the NCAA is a big reason SMU got the death penalty in 1987. Watch the 30 for 30, The Pony Express. Eric Dickerson expresses his thoughts about Texas in language that can not possibly be misunderstood. The bottom line, I don't understand how you could logically seed Clemson below SMU if both are getting in.

3. I was/am fine with Alabama being left out. Two things:
A. Alabama getting into the CFP does NOT help Ole Miss. I disagree vehemently with anyone who says otherwise. If Ole Miss benefited so much from Alabama's success, why don't we have at least a couple of appearances in the SECCG, an SEC championship, and at least one CFP appearance? The bottom line, the only team that benefits from Alabama's success is Alabama! I am glad that they didn't get ANOTHER break that isn't afforded to other teams.
B. Their resume is not any better than ours. I would argue that ours is better. We didn't lose by 21 points to a 5-5 (at the time) team in November, only scoring 3 points in the process. Our albatross, the Kentucky game, is bad. No spinning it. I wonder if Kentucky had pulled out the Vandy game on October 12 (20-13 Vandy win) and both Vandy and Kentucky finished 5-7, would that have put us ahead of Alabama in the pecking order? I bet not, but whatever. Their resume was not any better than ours.

4. My conspiracy mind operating again...the committee rewarded the BIG (Four) with home playoff games and made Indiana travel a couple of hours upstate to play Notre Dame. Why did Ohio State not fall any further than they did for losing at home to an unranked Michigan team? I know another team that was penalized much harder for losing by 3 points at home to an unranked team. Tennessee ( I can't believe I am typing this...I hate Tennessee) should have got the 8 spot and hosted Ohio State. That would have been a more equitable solution to the BIG (four) getting four spots to the SEC's three, even with their deplorable middle and lower conference teams.

5. The Notre Dame problem has to be rectified. If they won't join a conference, then their spot should go against the ACC spot or the top 5 conference winners getting an automatic bid. Translation: A Notre Dame team worthy of the CFP triggers a domino effect where either it takes the ACC spot or the 5th of 5 top conference winners spot. Notre Dame being given preference despite continuing to be uncooperative is just ludicrous.

These are my thoughts about the 2024 CFP process. Please share yours.

ETA: IMHO, If Ole Miss had taken care of business in any of the 3 one score games we lost, we would be a dangerous team in the CFP. I like our chances against any team in the bracket at home or on a neutral field. Oh well, maybe next year. I will write about some thoughts I have for improving the CFB offseason in my next post. I hope to have it up tomorrow or Thursday.
 
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