CFP Race 2024

[GRM]

I expect ND to roll over Indiana although on paper this looks like a tough matchup for ND. IU has the nation's top run defense but that's against their joke of a schedule. Forcing Riley Leonard to beat you would likely spell trouble for ND but I don't think Indiana can stop the ND run game with the 1-2 punch of Love and Price plus Leonard's running ability. I think ND will have a tough time with Georgia.

It will be interesting to see how Indiana fares. I think they fared well drawing ND. IU's margins of victory were impressive but not great opponents and they played 8 home games. Only OSU finished better than 6-6. IU was only down 14-7 at halftime @OSU, they had a great opening drive (70 yards, TD) but only 71 total yards for the rest of the game. OSU's D shut them down. OSU broke the game open early 3rd with a punt return for TD. Being a visitor in a big game with a hostile crowd could be uncharted territory for IU, Cig is a great coach though.

 

[BlackNGold]

Oregon did not realized that Penn State won the B1G. They thought the Scoreboard mattered. Anyone else think the right side of the bracket got a raw deal.

 

[CarlB]

Oregon did not realized that Penn State won the B1G. They thought the Scoreboard mattered. Anyone else think the right side of the bracket got a raw deal.


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They need to figure out how to seed this playoff properly next year. Either get rid of the top 4 seeding requirements for the top 4 conferences, or reseed after the first round is played. Oregon in particular got a raw deal.

 

[Buffnik]

They need to figure out how to seed this playoff properly next year. Either get rid of the top 4 seeding requirements for the top 4 conferences, or reseed after the first round is played. Oregon in particular got a raw deal.

It almost feels like one of the reasons for setting up brackets this way was to put more pressure on ND to join a conference. As an independent they can never earn a bye.

 

[Agent Dave Kujan]

It will be interesting to see how Indiana fares. I think they fared well drawing ND. IU's margins of victory were impressive but not great opponents and they played 8 home games. Only OSU finished better than 6-6. IU was only down 14-7 at halftime @OSU, they had a great opening drive (70 yards, TD) but only 71 total yards for the rest of the game. OSU's D shut them down. OSU broke the game open early 3rd with a punt return for TD. Being a visitor in a big game with a hostile crowd could be uncharted territory for IU, Cig is a great coach though.

Notre Dame didn’t play anyone either. Make mine the Hoosiers!

 

[Alfred91]

It almost feels like one of the reasons for setting up brackets this way was to put more pressure on ND to join a conference. As an independent they can never earn a bye.

And the result is a bracket that has me putting them into the title game, and oh BTW they get to get economic boon of a home playoff game. Pretty sure it backfired.

 

[Alfred91]

They need to figure out how to seed this playoff properly next year. Either get rid of the top 4 seeding requirements for the top 4 conferences, or reseed after the first round is played. Oregon in particular got a raw deal.

I don't really give a **** about whether Oregon got screwed or not, but I do find it ridiculous that they probably are going to face the team most capable of beating them in their first game.

 

[Boulder]

Keeping a bye for conference champions is needed. They have to mean something and keep the playoff field from merely being based on power rankings. Reseeding after the first round is the solution.

 

[skibum]

It almost feels like one of the reasons for setting up brackets this way was to put more pressure on ND to join a conference. As an independent they can never earn a bye.

That was a reason. It was also a reason that they wanted to make sure that winning your conference meant something.

They did not think through the seeding implications of the bracket in terms of "what happens if the top 4 conference champions are not in the top 5 or 6 best teams?"

Re-seeding after the first round might help a little bit, but that'd also "punish" underdogs for winning the first round. "Congratulations 12 seed for going on the road and upsetting a top 5 team, now you get to go play #1!"

I mean, we're all fine with that happening to Clemson, but there a number of potential 12 seeds where folks would find that a little unfair. You upset them, you get their path to the championship, not the most difficult one we can arrange.

 

[Medford M.]

Notre Dame didn’t play anyone either. Make mine the Hoosiers!

ND is going to board race then.

 

[Trogdor]

Keeping a bye for conference champions is needed. They have to mean something and keep the playoff field from merely being based on power rankings. Reseeding after the first round is the solution.

Utter nonsense. There's no reason the 11th and 12th best teams in the field should be seeded 3rd and 4th. It's the OPPOSITE of valuing the regular season. Guarantee a spot? Sure okay. Guarantee a bye? FOH.

 

[Trogdor]

Re-seeding after the first round might help a little bit, but that'd also "punish" underdogs for winning the first round. "Congratulations 12 seed for going on the road and upsetting a top 5 team, now you get to go play #1!"

That's WAAAAAY better than punishing the #1 and #2 seeds while 5 and 6 get an absolute cakewalk to the semis.

 

[hawg1]

Oregon did not realized that Penn State won the B1G. They thought the Scoreboard mattered. Anyone else think the right side of the bracket got a raw deal.


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Re-seed after the first round.

 

[Trogdor]

Re-seed after the first round.

The problem with giving undeserving teams what is effectively a free win, is that it also undermines the entire side of that bracket. It gives OTHER less deserving teams an easier path. Get the 6 seed and play SMU and BSU or get the 1 and play Ohio State? It's a no brainer.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

If the goal is to reward great teams with better playoff positioning then reseeding should happen. Cinderellas will have their chance but they still need to beat a great team to do it. Btw, Cinderella isn’t happening often in CFB so let’s stop thinking about this as some March madness opportunity because it isn’t. The G5 or big P4 underdogs will lose in the first round most of the time.

 

[Trogdor]

If the goal is to reward great teams with better playoff positioning then reseeding should happen. Cinderellas will have their chance but they still need to beat a great team to do it. Btw, Cinderella isn’t happening often in CFB so let’s stop thinking about this as some March madness opportunity because it isn’t. The G5 or big P4 underdogs will lose in the first round most of the time.

We went from TCU losing to Georgia by sixty to giving a first round bye, and people complain that the big bad powers that be will never let the little engines that could have a chance! The system is rigged FOR the worst teams lol.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

We went from TCU losing to Georgia by sixty to giving a first round bye, and people complain that the big bad powers that be will never let the little engines that could have a chance! The system is rigged FOR the worst teams lol.

TCU beat Michigan that year. What else do you want? The system isn’t rigged at all, it’s just not what you like because your team is supposedly at a disadvantage because they are the 1 seed and might have a tougher second round matchup that the 5 seed IF they win

 

[Alfred91]

TCU beat Michigan that year. What else do you want? The system isn’t rigged at all, it’s just not what you like because your team is supposedly at a disadvantage because they are the 1 seed and might have a tougher second round matchup that the 5 seed IF they win

Yeah, I don't really give a **** if you have a "tough" draw if you're actually more interested in a title than a deep run. As you said, this isn't March Madness. Every team gets a week and a half of not more between games. Even if PSU destroys SMU and BSU, they're still going have to play a tough semis opponent and then a tough championshio opponent if they get there (I don't think they will, btw).

I think Oregon fans are a little afraid of OSU, and I get that. OSU had a good chance to beat them. But the thing is this - to win it all, you probably have to play then sometime, because they're one of the best teams in the tournament, if not the best team. So really you're just worried about how deep your run is, nothing else.

 

[Trogdor]

TCU beat Michigan that year. What else do you want? The system isn’t rigged at all, it’s just not what you like because your team is supposedly at a disadvantage because they are the 1 seed and might have a tougher second round matchup that the 5 seed IF they win

I want a meritocracy that doesn't devalue the regular season. What is the point of ranking all the teams just to undermine the entire system because Boise State beat UNLV?

UNLV's wins were over
4-8 Houston
1-11 FCS
5-7 KU
6-6 Fresno
4-8 Utah St
5-7 OSU
5-7 Hawai'i
3-9 SDSU
7-5 SJSU
3-10 Nevada

and they were a broken finger or a sprained ankle on Ashton Jeanty away from a 4 seed and first round bye in the playoffs.

Come_the_****_on.

 

[Buffs35]

I don't really give a **** about whether Oregon got screwed or not, but I do find it ridiculous that they probably are going to face the team most capable of beating them in their first game.

 

[Highlander]

 

[Denver_sc]

So people are really mad on behalf of lil' old Oregon, Texas, Clemson, and OSU because big bad SMU and BSU have an easier path to the semis?

I'm much more intrigued by the current bracket than a seeding by rank (which we have discussed AT LENGTH is a self-licking ice cream cone favoring the SEC and B1G).

 

[CarolinaBuff]

I think that will all depend on how much UGA can get the backup QB into a semblance of a starting QB. There is no doubt in my mind that Texas choked that game away more than Georgia won it. The backup had one good drive and was absolutely dreadful the rest of the game. If they can make him a decent starter, then their defense might be able to win it for them in a low scoring game. If they can't, and ND has 10 days or so to prep for him, I can't see Georgia doing much if anything on offense, and eventually even Georgia's defense is going to break.

Definitely a big concern for Georgia but the good news for them is they have over 3 weeks to get him ready for being on another big stage. If ND has good success running the ball and controlling the clock then Georgia will be in trouble for sure.

 

[CarolinaBuff]

It almost feels like one of the reasons for setting up brackets this way was to put more pressure on ND to join a conference. As an independent they can never earn a bye.

The flip side is that ND doesn't have to play on CCG weekend so that's effectively their bye, just a week earlier. Whereas the 4 teams that end up with a bye obviously have to play on CCG weekend.

The only way for the CFP to force them to join conference is to effeively shut them out of the playoff if they're not in a conference and I don't see them doing that. Hell, the 14 team proposal guarantees them a spot if they're ranked in the top 14.

 

[Alfred91]

The flip side is that ND doesn't have to play on CCG weekend so that's effectively their bye, just a week earlier. Whereas the 4 teams that end up with a bye obviously have to play on CCG weekend.

The only way for the CFP to force them to join conference is to effeively shut them out of the playoff if they're not in a conference and I don't see them doing that. Hell, the 14 team proposal guarantees them a spot if they're ranked in the top 14.

I think the only way they'll ever join any kind of conference or league is if the mythical superleague comes about and they'll risk being shut out. Even then I think they'll try to get special treatment and they'll have to be shut down.

As long as the current system exists, they have too much money and too much clout to be forced into anything. I mean, entire conferences are being pushed around by the Big Ten and SEC, and they can't get ND to budge.

 

[GRM]

Utter nonsense. There's no reason the 11th and 12th best teams in the field should be seeded 3rd and 4th. It's the OPPOSITE of valuing the regular season. Guarantee a spot? Sure okay. Guarantee a bye? FOH.

I agree with that. I want the CFC's to mean something, but this was not a great result. As much as I would hate seeing the B1G/SEC (this year ND) dominate the byes, even for Boise and ASU, I think a hosting a home game makes more sense invigorating their programs. Clemson does not need invigorating, they won the CFC, so they actually deserve a home game. If Clemson won the home game they are rolling into the next game. For all three of these teams winning that home game as an underdog and the playoffs are wild success.

The other argument is re-seeding, however if a team earns a BYE, I do think they deserve the advantage of knowing the bracket to prepare for the teams that they play. They earned it.

The only thing that I sort of liked with the BYE system was that 4 CCG champions play less games to win the title. Yet this really assumes the P-4 CFC games are won by the Top-6 teams in the rankings. The extra CFC game takes a toll, however 3 of the 5 were great games and I do not want that to be diminished. I think the CFC Saturday is one of the best weeks of football the whole season. The SEC, B1G and ACC games were all close hard hitting slobber-knockers. Agree, Oregon got royally screwed.

 

[hokiehead]

assuming we have to keep them, the best change to the playoffs would be to only allow conference champs into the CFP

 

[GRM]

The flip side is that ND doesn't have to play on CCG weekend so that's effectively their bye, just a week earlier. Whereas the 4 teams that end up with a bye obviously have to play on CCG weekend.

The only way for the CFP to force them to join conference is to effeively shut them out of the playoff if they're not in a conference and I don't see them doing that. Hell, the 14 team proposal guarantees them a spot if they're ranked in the top 14.

I would seeing ND poke the B1G in the eye by joining the ACC. The ACC would stabilize, but probably not get TV revenue $$ on par with the SEC/B1G. I think the ACC/ND would be open to scheduling with the B12 thereby keeping the P-4 competitive. IMO, this would sort of end the B1G/SEC super-conference bantering or their dominance. ND has always been about playing anyone everywhere in the country, so the B12 enhances this to a degree. The Big10/ND bad blood/history is explained well in this article, it goes back a century!

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4670414/2023/07/13/notre-dame-big-ten-jim-delany/

 

[GRM]

Notre Dame didn’t play anyone either. Make mine the Hoosiers!

I like people backing the Hoosiers. Schedule comparison is apples to oranges in ND's favor:

ND played a tougher schedule and had better wins: A&M (8-4), Ga Tech (7-5, a play from beating @GA) , Louisville (8-4), Navy (8-3) & undefeated Army (10-1). Not the best, but they beat 4 ranked teams at the time they played. Not ND's fault that FSU and USC stunk this year, however @USC would be considered a good B1G road win. NIU loss was a bad one.

I love the Hoosiers story. 11-1, a true Cinderella. However, they were blessed with a great schedule. 8 home games. They beat 3 conference teams with 6-6 records all at home and played decent losing @OSU. All of the other wins were over sub .500 teams. They do not have a road win comparable to @USC. Only ranked team they played was OSU. They do not have a bad loss and their margin of victory is impressive.

 

[CarolinaBuff]

Lol