Rich Eisen: What Penn State's SMU Rout Says about the CFP Selection Committee's Criteria

[@TheLoos3Goos33]

What did you expect? Blowouts happened when it was a 4 team playoff.

[@Al-Rudigor]

If twenty teams went, it wouldn't matter. The 21st and 22nd teams would be crying.

[@MichaelPetrone-ng5yx]

THEY HAD 12 SLOTS TO FILL NOT ONLY 4 - THE ONLY COMMITTEE THAT WOULD SCREW UP HOW TO BOIL WATER

[@kwilliams1958]

Yes, so many booy hoo about nothing. Win when you are supposed to win, and this nonsense stops.

[@MichaelPetrone-ng5yx]

@kwiliams1958 STOP REJECTING TEAMS THAT HAD A FEW LOSSES WHEN FANS IN THE STANDS WERE WEARING SHORT SLEEVES AND PICKING TEAMS IN DECEMBER WHO WERE OBVIOUSLY INFERIOR

[@horacewilliamsjr-Author]

There were often blowouts when only four teams made CFB playoffs. Let's not overreact after two games.

[@pcgod8256]

Thank you for providing some common sense

[@grandchampiii745]

While you are correct, the issue is South Carolina should have been in over either Indiana or SMU.

[@pretzelhunt]

@@grandchampiii745 what was SC's record?

[@frankleespeaking9519]

Agreed. If 11-1 Indiana or SMU was left out we would be “analyzing “ that.

[@RR64434]

Exactly. Who is he trying to suggest they put in? Don’t say Bama because they got blown out by Oklahoma. They didn’t deserve to make it. There was always gonna be a team who believe they should’ve gotten in, but they should’ve took care of business during the season.

[@ryankrause4880]

Over half of the 4 team playoff games were 3 score games

[@Al-Rudigor]

Thank you!

[@jpe5047]

Stop complaining and tell the SEC to not lose to bad teams

[@marcusreilly1011]

Bruh smu got beat by the crowd.

[@Handletaken4]

I love this comment

[@neilopfer5687]

AGREE!! Alabama should not lose to Vandy!! How many players in recruiting does Alabama lose to the Vanderbilts of the World??

[@PrimeTime3600]

No complaining it's just funny that Vandy and OU would give SMU run for their money. Let's stop acting like most SEC teams wouldn't run the other conferences tables.

[@OG1323]

“Stop Complaining” so U like the blowouts??? The SEC losing to bad teams doesn’t change the FACT that the SEC is the BEST.

[@bootsnframes7626]

There's not 12 teams worthy of playing for the national championship. It's just a money grab.

[@therealBocaStudios]

If it was 5 sec teams vs 5 B10 tams and ND and coach prime…you’d never hear a single gripe form anyone in the the legacy media

[@carlfrye1566]

​@@therealBocaStudios: Yes.

[@crob3094]

Don't watch

[@georgesealy4706]

I agree.

[@OvSpP]

Complain all y’all want, but with the size of these conferences softer teams with great records will continue to get in the playoffs. No way around it.

[@OvSpP]

Unless you bring it back down to 4 you’re gonna keep getting an SMU or an Indiana sneaking in.

[@scrumthebum2451]

& NIL is going to make it worse. There will be 10-16 super teams and the others in Big & Sec will get worse

[@calebrsmith95]

You lose 3 games you can’t complain about not making it

[@MrGNugget]

I don’t care if every playoff game is a blowout, we’re not rewarding teams with spots just for playing in the SEC. If your team plays well in the regular season, you deserve a spot in the College Football Playoff.

[@mikelong2499]

We're not rewarding teams just for playing in the SEC and punishing teams for playing anywhere else. You want in? Win. We dont argue that teams arent the best in the league and should be left out despite a better record in any other sport.

[@crob3094]

Straight facts

[@DATRUTH_19]

What's the point in expanding playoffs then. Go back to 4 or back to number 1 vs 2 then. Having a 12 team playoff is pointless when the lower teams are gonna just get blown out

[@opalrhudy2526]

Ain't no "we" to it. You have no say. Shyttee games= going broke. Woke. Outta here

[@xavierguy773]

Just get rid of the playoff and national title game and just have the committee tell us who number 1 is at the end of the season and give them the trophy.

[@antelopedon6341]

That is what they used to do. Worked well for over 100 years.

[@BiznizTrader]

The two games that happened aren’t supposed to be “close” if we go strictly by seeding. Take the same seeds in any other sport; a fair amount of the time, the higher seed will spank the lower seed.

[@stealthcavalier]

You keep laughing about the Michigan game, but as I write this OSU is “boat-racing” Tennessee while UM is sitting at home.

[@colonialstraits1069]

Remember when Georgia destroyed Michigan 34-11, in the 4 team 2021 CFP? How is this any different?

[@alissaferge2775]

Hell remember what they did to tcu lol

[@carlfrye1566]

It isn't, this is just the talking heads wanting to sound smart.

[@sourfrog]

This is easy. If the "better" teams with worse records want in to the playoffs....win your fucking games.

[@OnionReturns]

We had blowouts in the 4 team format as well, don’t forget. The new playoff allows for us to all watch more football, and potentially get a Cinderella team every few years- let the teams that earned the spot through their record play!

[@bmanbusee3812]

College football, the way it is structured now, there will never be a small school or Cinderella win the title.

[@ricovargas9775]

Score doesn't matter. All the teams in the playoff earned the right to prove or disprove it on the field.

[@DrStoned-t8z]

Scores might not matter, but the way they lost does matter Indiana and SMU were never in the game.

[@JesterDad6]

The selection committee needs to blow up their entire process and rethink how they seed these teams. These games are completely unwatchable. Add in ASU and Boise State getting byes into the 2nd round, and it’s almost a certainty we’re going to see 2 or 3 more blowouts in the next round.

[@McSomething15]

What did all the blowouts in the 4 team CFP say about selection criteria?

[@schultzywillpa26]

Tennessee just got blown out. Should they not have been in??

[@mbg1990]

Indiana and SMU still deserved to be in the playoffs. Blowouts happen in the NCAA basketball tournament. I guess you want changes to that Rich.

[@opalrhudy2526]

No. The Truth never lies. Try and spin it. It don't spin. Outta here

[@steelpookie7597]

This is the first freakin’ round and clearly the SMU QB is the sole reason this game wasn’t competitive. I swear in the first half it looked as if SMU grabbed some random PSU fan from the student section and put him in the game as QB. The run game and defense played competitive ball today. The QB gave it away…Merry Christmas PSU.

[@CombatIneffective]

Here's a thought! How about we also get rid of the ridiculous 4 teams that get a bye week simply because they won a conference championship. Those should go to the top ranked teams instead. And the CFP committee is not there to ensure exciting, close matched games. You can have 2 well matched teams and still have a blowout. Just look at the NFL.

[@randychester2754]

What if Tennessee gets blown out even worse than the other 3 games? It's happening midway through the 4th quarter.

[@ryanpac1243]

Your quip about Michigan at the end hits the nail on the head. What you do on the field has to matter, and so while Indiana and SMU (and as of this posting Tennessee) didn't look like they belonged 'today', Alabama never belonged (lost to Vandy and Oklahoma), Ole Miss never belonged - lost to Florida and Kentucky. Unfortunately South Carolina, probably had the best argument but they lost to the aforementioned Alabama and Ole Miss. So in light of that, you put in the teams that handled their business. Perhaps the best solution wasn't to triple the number of teams, perhaps it was to double it or go to 6.

[@BiscayneBeast]

These smaller schools getting blown out in the CFP are not making a case they should not be let back in next year.

[@GRITBONE]

Alabama at Penn St would have been a great game

[@MrCusefan44]

@@GRITBONEOklahoma 24, Alabama 3. The idea that Alabama would have 100% done better against Penn State, in PA, in late December when they got blown off the field by a mediocre Sooners team is just laughable. I know that all the SEC jock-sniffers want to make that argument - but it’s ridiculous. Wanna make the playoff? Don’t get blown off the field by a 6-6 Oklahoma team. Alabama had no business being in the playoff - and it’s only the SEC jock-sniffers who don’t realize and accept that.

[@kenyattaclay7666]

@@GRITBONEyeah okay🙄 first off 95% of the Gus on Alabama have never played in that kind of cold weather. It’s not something that you can just drop into and think you’ll be fine. Second, they got their doors blown off by a 6-6 Oklahoma team. Alabama played three games all year where they looked good the whole game & two of those were against UTEP & Mercer. Bama wasn’t going to do any better than SMU did.

[@nathanielduncan4692]

Yeah I agree they shouldn't.

[@nathanielduncan4692]

​@@GRITBONEYeah it would have.

[@dougsholly9323]

The Clemson game turned out to be the only game worth watching. On another note,tossing out record as the primary deciding factor for playoff births like is done in every other other level in every sport is just an insane suggestion.

[@egoraptorschin9412]

Remember when notre Dame got blown out by alabama in the national championship. It happens. Go overreact About NFL team's not developing quarterbacks. And when a team does it, you question why they drafted someone who's not gonna start year one and sit behind cousins

[@ConradIacobellis]

The issue is you can't have the argument be "a 3 loss SEC team deserves to be in it over a 1 or 2 loss other conference team." What's the point of having a CFB if it just turns into a SEC playoff format?

[@trevor3759]

Still more fun seeing more games played. Favorites are winning which happened before. Wait till we see an upset and everyone changes their tune

[@jesserp23]

Georgia vs TCU and that was highly anticipated. And that was a 4 team playoff. 65-7

[@grelgen]

alabama DIDN'T do better.

[@TheYabbayoo]

Home field advantage in these playoff games may also seem to be a factor, since that is a new wrinkle with this format. The SEC teams that were left out would not have done well in the cold at either Notre Dame or Penn State.

[@whydoineedachanneltocommen8755]

Mr. Eisen, I'd like to ask you to reflect on the score of the Ohio State v Tennessee game and remember that Tennessee comfortably beat Alabama. Penn State played Ohio State to a one-score game. They aren't too far apart. And Tennessee lost as badly to Ohio State as SMU did to Penn State - the margin of victory for the two playoff games was 25 and 28, respectively. It's not likely that Alabama, in spite of their strength of schedule, would've done any better than SMU in today's game against Penn State. That's just the reality of the matter. While these games were not very pretty, they demonstrated that the committee made the right call. The teams who were left out are very clearly below the teams who were let in. The victors (Ohio State, Penn State, and Notre Dame) were simply that much better than all of them.

[@edwinfolk8090]

SMU shouldn’t have even been considered. Can’t wait to see what PSU does to Boise State.

[@crob3094]

11-1 regular season teams never getting left out 😂😂😂

[@nathanbuuck7694]

Indiana Notre Dame was the closest game of the first round. Indiana was more competitive against Ohio State than Tennessee was so SOS is not an end all be all.

[@MNed1001]

Who says Alabama would not have been blown out. Oklahoma did it.

[@snerdterguson]

Thank you. Indy loses by 10 to a team much better than the Oklahoma team that rolled right over Bama, yet the SEC fanboys now say Indy losing by 10 proves Bama should have gotten in.

[@demarcusbarnard3308]

They lost by 10 but they scored two tds in the last 2 mins lol. It wasn't even that close

[@Ballin-97]

Why are 95% of college football games a blowout/joke?

[@clintfowler1526]

Bc the talent isnt spread out, teams don’t travel as well, teams aren’t as consistent, and the best teams continue to get better In the nfl, there’s more than enough talent, the best teams get punished, and there’s consistent scheduling College basketball differs bc it’s basketball. Sure the cream will rise to the top but teams sometimes just shoot the lights out and pull off crazy upsets that you’d never see in football or baseball

[@slwsnowman4038]

@@clintfowler1526 Oh come on, the best teams don't continue to get better. If that was true; Texas, Bama, USC, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Michigan, The U, FSU, Florida and who knows how many other schools would have undefeated or 1 loss seasons decades in a row at this point. FSU was left out of the dance last year, and look how this year went.

[@Wdf9500]

These arguments so stupid. Any football game could end up in a blowout.. that’s why you play

[@phishfoodnet]

People need to relax. I have lost count how many bowl games have been blowouts. And any fan of college football has watched college playoff games be one sided when there were only four teams. In my very humble opinion, this years college playoff bracket is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing. Giving all those one loss teams a shot. Before when there were only 4 spots you would have constant bickering by a bunch of one and two loss teams saying to give them a shot. Now they are getting a shot. SMU you want a chance... here is Penn State... good luck. Indiana and your "google me" head coach... get past Notre Dame to prove you deserve to get the championship game. It is the first year of the 12 team bracket. They might need to change who gets a bye or realign the rankings, but it is the first year. What i absolutely disagree with is people saying Bama should be in. Seriously... did we forget the games vs Oklahoma or Vandy. Every playoff in every sport has blow outs. There is nothing anyone could do to schedule every game in the college playoffs to be down to the wire, seconds remaining and a td, field goal, or defensive play seals the win. The goal in my view and again very very humble opinion is the next series of games are better than the first. The semi games are better than those and the Championship ends up with the best possible teams out of 12.

[@Rx79100]

As a Michigan fan , I still remember when Georgia Bulldozied us 3 years ago. It's common . I would rather see some underdogs got their chance to upset rather than see big brands "talk" their way in.

[@opalrhudy2526]

Michigan begging for Conner Scallops. He ain't coming back

[@swimnhawk]

This take aged poorly with the sec getting blown out by Ohio State in the fourth game.

[@kearseymorton2078]

indiana was always a mirage, but the autobys for conference champions are completely stupid

[@yankeeman311]

Rich with all due respect, this is not new. Alabama blew out Cincy and Washington when we still had the 4-team playoff. They were controversial inclusions at the time. I expected some blowouts in this expanded CFP considering we had them in the condensed versions. We CAN NOT reward teams that lose 24-3 TO OKLAHOMA and I say that as a Bama fan. Bama and Ole Miss had multiple bad losses that made it hard to overlook. It is what it is. They didn't earn it. But I think any intelligent college football fan saw Penn St and Notre Dame cruising coming

[@bluesdoggg]

Just let it play out, don’t overreact, Indiana lost by 10. If the committee starts cherry picking we will have a repeat of the BCS disaster

[@SeanLevens]

3 months ago “ we want Cinderella we sick of the same teams” now after 2 games we want Bama Auburn 6 loss Michigan in the playoff

[@markr8954]

Why play the regular season if the playoff committee chooses the 12 most talented teams? Also, the more teams like Indiana/SMU/Boise State make the playoff the more Talent is going to disperse to those schools, thus creating more parity across the sport/Conferences. Don't be surprised in the 1st year of a playoff that hasn't happened yet.

[@preiter20]

My Spartans were humiliated by Alabama 38-0 in the four team CFP. Are there 12 top tier college football teams? Doesn't appear to be.

[@BigHouse907]

Why does the NFL and just about every sport on the planet judge teams on win-loss records and yet we think college football should be judged on brand and potential? None of the three games were very close today. It’s going to happen. The hope is that there will be a couple competitive teams at the end of the road. (TCU vs Georgia not withstanding)

[@WMFrenzel]

Are we going to act like every NFL playoff game is tight? Blowouts happen all the time.

[@rhettdemille4404]

This isn't the NFL. You have super conferences and the rest. And ND who does whatever they want...

[@John_Hoover]

@@rhettdemille4404They don’t do “whatever they want”. They’re playing just as many games as everyone else. They’re scheduling real opponents. Not their fault USC was entirely meh, FSU is a dumpster fire, Miami backed out last minute, and TAMU couldn’t even finish the season ranked. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@rhettdemille4404]

@@John_Hoover Nahh. Notre Dame is the only D1 major refuses to join a conference. They do whatever they want.

[@John_Hoover]

@ So what? What does that mean? How does that benefit them?

[@Handletaken4]

Let's start the playoffs in Sept and only allow SEC teams in and televise them on ESPN and call them "Regular Season"

[@jaybird9988]

The important take away is the home team won in all of these. Clearly, that seeding matters significantly. However, I don't understand the BS panic. You're gonna get 4 really good teams facing off to decide the championship game.

[@NuRm69]

SEC teams cant play in cold weather. Tennessee is proving this

[@golfbuddy1969]

OSU just blew out Tennessee- did they belong? You have to make sure the best teams get in, so a few may get in that aren’t the best.

[@chrisuncleahmad666]

Alabama just had to beat Oklahoma and they would have been in But they didn’t There’s a difference between 10-2 and 9-3

[@joshuamulberger9112]

I agree, a 10-2 team can be easily compared to an 11-1 team with worse SOS. But 11-1 vs. 9-3, you almost have to put them in different tiers to compare when both played full power 4 schedules. Now the committee might change that and reward SEC and BIG10 SOS over BIG12 and ACC. Would it have been a better game if Ole miss, or SC, or Miami, or Alabama were in it? Probably but can't really say that when those teams didn't do what they were suppose to do during the season unfortunately...

[@opalrhudy2526]

Stupidity is the worst of all human conditions. Over it

[@rigothompsonthompson1328]

Not all 10-2 or 11-1 records are created equally. Strength of schedule. PEACE

[@snerdterguson]

No, but the teams people are whining should have been in weren't 11-1 or 10-2, were they? I swear, Bama could go 0-12 and the SEC fanboys would say they should be in the playoff.

[@brownsloyalist5417]

@@snerdtergusonIf all 12 games are relatively close and they pass the eye test then I don’t see why an 0-12 Alabama shouldn’t be in the playoffs. The goal is 12 best teams not 12 most deserving😊

[@mcallarse]

Talking about strength of schedule like ND wasn’t in the same ballpark as Indiana and SMU is disingenuous. The better teams won. Home field counts. Wins and losses should count.

[@bobwhitebread1887]

This Is just the first year of the playoffs so they will adjust next year, and it will get better

[@taihalpern7342]

remember last year when the committee put the better Bama in the playoff over the more “deserving” FSU and we got some of the best playoff games of all time and FSU lost to Georgia by 60? Thought we would’ve learned something after that

[@WheelhouseMike]

Really dude. FSU was missing 25 players. Pay attention.

[@taihalpern7342]

@ And Georgia played 3 quarters of that game with the backups and 3rd stringers. Georgia literally played the entire 4th quarter with the FOURTH string qb and still outscored FSU😂 You need to pay attention, that fsu narrative has been debunked for like a year now, FSU’s starters had more cumulative minutes played in that game than Georgias and that’s counting all the starters that opted out for FSU

[@slwsnowman4038]

The first weekend of March Madness isn't the greatest weekend of basketball either. Blowouts happen. This years NLCS was all blowouts, which is great if you aren't a Mets or Dodgers fan.

[@Xhoven]

Why are you surprised by this, Rich? The first playoff round in any sport is often a "weeding out the pretenders" round with some blowouts. Look at the NFL season last year, almost every wild card game wasn't close. If this is still happening in later rounds, then we can talk.

[@charlieyoung3616]

What do you want a Big Ten/Sec invitational tournament

[@Fred-t8q]

That’s where we are headed anyway. You think the sec and big 10 are going to be happy with the current set up. These two leagues can hold their own playoff. No body cares about the ACC , big 12 and mountain west.

[@gordonshumway5933]

If I’m incorrect I apologize, but I thought the playoffs expanded so these teams who had great years get an opportunity to showcase themselves, their teams, much like bowl games dod. Not so teams that lost 3 or 4 games get another opportunity to correct the season. Especially if they played 2 cupcakes as well as lost to the best teams. Also as much as I believe Alabama would put on a better performance, and possibly even win, their loss to Oklahoma on top of the other losses and their record says to me that they don’t deserve a spot. They either have a tournament playoff with more teams, they have two separate playoffs which would be awful, or we accept blowouts which happened in championship games and weren’t questioned, are going to happen no matter what. Maybe new rules for scheduling should be implemented, and conferences should have never grown the way they did, the conferences should be similar in size and all have a conference championship. I feel Texas and Penn State were rewarded for losing their conference championships, and have easy paths to the final four now. That to me is most egregious here, I’m sure ppl would feel the other way if they were left in the top four teams in the playoff, but they lost to each other and we know they’re the power conferences. Penn State (who I hate) should’ve been 3 or 4, Texas 5 with Arizona State getting the other 3 or 4 and Notre Dame getting 6. The first round would’ve likely been more competitive. But other than that, we would be punishing better seasons for not being in the SEC or Big 10 which are stacked against the rest of college football.

[@brucetucker4847]

Alabama might have done better than SMU did, but they would not have beaten Penn State in Happy Valley today. And it's not that Penn State and Texas were deliberately rewarded, the format stinks and the auto-byes guaranteed that the bracket would be very broken. If they had seeded teams according to rank Penn State would be facing Notre Dame or Texas next.

[@bighutch2202]

Perhaps Alabama should worry about beating Vanderbilt

[@enorth15]

Seeding is messed up. First round byes should have gone to Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State and Texas or Penn State. No more conference champ byes. In the first-round better games would have been Indiana vs. SMU and Boise State vs. Arizona State.

[@zTheBigFishz]

You have to use advanced metrics due to the disparity of schedule quality. Use the BCS or similar formula to set the tourney and the seedings.

[@smoothkid765]

you want an algorithm to order your dinner, too?

[@McSomething15]

They BCS fed us bullshit too. Why are people re-writing history on how people felt about "the computers" from that era?

[@zTheBigFishz]

@@smoothkid765 Any other nuggets of wisdom from the mouth breathers?

[@smoothkid765]

@@zTheBigFishz any other artificial intelligence from the bots?

[@bryancogswell636]

All 4 home teams covered their spreads. Perhaps the committee got it right - and Vegas didn't count on HOME teams to do as well as they did

[@adampender2482]

South Carolina played 8 top 25 teams on their schedule and went 5-3

[@snerdterguson]

Cool. So they lost 25% of their games.

[@Michael-ir8zs]

@@snerdtergusonokay smooth brain

[@michaelstuckey27]

@@snerdtergusonbut beat 500% more ranked teams than SMU

[@sdknorr99506]

Always fun to watch you

[@sagerolson5357]

NFL produces parity, College is much more difficult to produce. I personally have no problem with blowouts. The regular season 'should' matter. Let the playoffs expose the pretenders. The playoffs aren't about getting parity at ever level. ....dont lose 3 games to baaaaad teams and there won't be anything to complain about. C U next year 'Bama

[@crob3094]

Thank fucking God for this common sense post. There maybe hope after all.

[@uniphied3]

Just say what ESPN and Fox Sports want.....the CFP is only reserved for Big10 and SEC teams.

[@dannyschoe4874]

College football is just 99% bitching and complaining. Just shut up and watch football. Blowouts happen in all levels of football in the biggest of games to smallest of games.

[@browndogger32]

We have giant conferences where not everyone plays everyone. Notre Dame not even in a conference, SEC only plays 8 conference games, while others play 9. There’s no way to get it right. Throw out the records and just give them all the eye test?

[@user-bl6ne3hc6n]

Welcome to the big leagues SMU 😊

[@craigastor8182]

It’s all about the money. Can’t even listen to the team’s radio announcers unless you pay Siris.

[@snerdterguson]

So it is all about the money, and to make the money they left Alabama, probably the most popular team in the nation, out of the tourney? If that's true, someone needs to be fired, because any idiot would tell you that Bama would get better ratings than most of the field. Is it possible that it wasn't just about money, and perhaps losing by 21 to a bad Oklahoma team and ending with a .750 winning percentage is why teams other than Bama got in?

[@crob3094]

Iheart radio or Westwood

[@fstlnj29]

So glad expanding to 12 stopped all the bitching.....

[@charlestoddsullivanforpres6628]

There are generally only 1 or 2 dominant teams that are truly worthy of playing for a national title. Four team playoff had blowouts as well. We were told we would get better matchups in the 12 team playoff with more 'deserving' teams. All BS. Solution is simple: BCS formula, top 4 teams, semifinals hosted by #1 and #2.

[@todub781]

I agree! When they added more teams and said it would be better no one really believed it we just wanted to see more football. Oh, they also wanted to make more money!

[@dustinchambers5100]

There is a large discrepancy from the top 4 to other teams American people wanted expansion, this is what you get. This is not the NFL

[@hawx_23]

It's the first year of the 12 team, things will be fixed in the future and these kind of games are bound to happen no matter what

[@joshuabrown5123]

In college football, a 4 touchdown win isn't really a blowout. Decisive? Yes. Dominant? Sure. In the NFL, I'd say yeah, it's a blowout.

[@LuvtheJEm]

Stop trying to turn college football into college basketball, twelve is too many. If they want buys for the top teams, put six teams in the bracket and top two get a week off.

[@j27340]

How would So Carolina or Alabama do at Penn or Notre Dame?

[@RSeaker]

Penn Quakers!

[@brucetucker4847]

Penn State would have beaten either of them handily today. And if the Alabama team we saw against Oklahoma had shown up today it would have been even more lopsided than it was with SMU.

[@Halfhyde]

Rich: Hey, what about the Wolverines? They play a tough schedule and wait, I went there...

[@seananderson6384]

Under the new 64 team proposal Michigan could have made the tournament with their 7-5 record

[@Halfhyde]

@@seananderson6384 That's true. But, please imagine the transcripts of the players who "go deep" in the tournament. Maybe just playing football would get them college credits towards a degree...

[@ComedyJakob]

Rich watched Alabama have 3 super terrible embarrassing losses and thought oh yeah they would have become princes come playoff time. SMU just went toe to toe with Clemson in their conference championship, the ACC. Sorry but you can't mathematically ensure teenagers are gonna show up every game.

[@aintnofun...783]

DUMMY YOU JUST PROVED BAMA POINT 😂

[@aintnofun...783]

Going toe to toe with Clemson don't compare to beating Georgia either! So run along 🤡

[@michaelstuckey27]

Also went “toe to toe” with Duke in overtime and lost to BYU. Please tell me how great they are by playing hacks all season and being rewarded for it.

[@noone1704]

They're using the losses against the Sec teams cause they don't want to compare wins. Like Indiana or SMU would have won more than Bama with that schedule

[@crob3094]

They went off the actual data. Not fever dreams. 3 losses, coupled with them being to bad Sec teams, case closed. No 11-1 regular season teams is ever getting left out

[@kellycompton6481]

Is there an RPI opportunity included regarding the "strength of schedule"..? Because the competition may be dependent upon a 16 Team Tournament if not.

[@Thehobbes7]

They just need to change the way they seed the teams. Boise and Arizona state should not be the 3/4 seeds.

[@daddad4589]

At this point, I have to say 12 team format sux. Only 8 teams are needed. If you must do a 12 team round 1 please play on neutral field. The 9-12 slots giving away home field may as well just be dropped. WORST CFB weekend I've watched so far.

[@pastorearl1]

Don't forget to count FCS semi finals. The first one was excellent. We'll see about the second game

[@relativetimeworx8459]

16 teams and no byes with re-seeding fixes all problems

[@seananderson6384]

Why not 32 or 64 😂

[@relativetimeworx8459]

@@seananderson6384 because 16 would result in exactly the same number of weeks as current. Also, you have legitimate teams within 16 who could win a 1st round game on the road. Of course, even better would be to adopt the system used by Australian Rules Football... no byes but top 4 get double elimination for the first round. Great system.

[@Lt-Dan]

Should have stop at 8 teams

[@OutHereOnTheFlats]

maybe this is the answer

[@georgesealy4706]

I totally agree. Have the 5 conference champions and 3 at large teams. The seeding is based only on ranking.

[@jasonweaver6601]

Everybody keeps forgetting why they went to a 12 team playoff. It was to make sure no team had an argument that they were a top 4 team that didn’t get in. In a previous year you would have SMU, Indiana and Tennessee saying they deserved to be there. Now they know they were not one of the best 4. No one who didn’t make the playoff can claim they are a top 4 team. The 12 team playoff has accomplished what it was supposed to.

[@clumsysmurf8109]

If you didn't win your conference and got left out, too bad. You don't have a leg to stand on. Take care of your own business, win your games, you will be fine.

[@opalrhudy2526]

You apply that to your own life and get back at us. Oh wait.....

[@henrywallacesghost5883]

So far these games have gone not only how I thought they would but also by seeding. None of the games were very competitive but we have seen this in the BCS era and when it was just bowls. Just enjoy the extra football and the fact that more fans have hope a little bit longer.

[@garce7039]

There has always been a HUGE difference between top 5 teams and top 10-15 teams. There will be blowouts, but giving the underdog a shot is as American as apple pie.

[@opalrhudy2526]

I hate apple pie. How American is that?

[@lucasriley1968]

Please pay tribute to Rickey, Rich. I know it's not football, but we wanna hear your take on him. The passing of a man, and a record that will never be touched.

[@chrishendricks7362]

For those unaware, a seminole chief cast a curse on the football committee last year after the travesty that was committed against the university and his tribe, but this came at a cost of having a very bad season for the Seminoles. Yet the goal was achieved in humiliating the committee.the world now sees them for what they are, fools, good job chief.

[@jta1973]

This is partly why I was never able to follow college football to a close degree.

[@palpasheev]

😂 can’t wait for the boise game

[@adamplace1414]

I have a feeling most first round games will be a sloppy mess in this and any other year. You only need a maximum of about 6 teams a year - the rest aren't good enough to call themselves #1, but they fill the field to 12 for the money and the egos. I bet more than a few second round games will be clunkers too.

[@crob3094]

Don't watch. And same for college basketball. Access to all creates interest in the sport. Reminder rev next year, NIL, portal is flattening the sport. So its more than 6 teams capable of winning a natty. Sorry to disappoint

[@superyt4ever]

Oh, come now, folks! The only way to be truly fair in selecting the teams for CFP will be if EVERY NCAA D1 football team plays against EVERY OTHER NCAA D1 team, then go through the process of determining which team won more and which team beat which teams, regardless of the conferences, except that would take literally YEARS to complete. It's to be expected that weaker teams with great W-L records would be blown away and get eliminated by the stronger teams with even mediocre W-L recods, in the early rounds, much like what happens more or less consistently in the March Madness college basketball tournaments. That explains why rarely, if ever, the champions from smaller conferences that automatically qualify for March Madness ever go beyond Sweet Sixteen, but nobody complains about whether they deserve to be invited to the tournament or not.

[@snerdterguson]

The only people who are mad are the SEC fanboys. And they wouldn't be happy unless over half the field was from the SEC.

[@georgevelasquez5673]

Strength of schedule has to actually matter

[@snerdterguson]

When you lost by 21 and only score field goal against bad teams, I could give two shits about SOS.

[@georgevelasquez5673]

@ no one cares what you care about. The product on the field speaks for itself

[@danfulton8592]

I don’t know… I mean look at the NFL… there have been plenty of times when a 7-9 team has made the playoffs by winning their division when a 10-6 team missed out because they were in a “tougher” division (remember when the Seahawks won a wild card game as a 7-9 team?) - SoS isn’t relevant in that scenario. And since we label certain conferences as “power 5” or whatever, then maybe it shouldn’t matter for CFP either? If we forced everyone into conferences (e.g., Norte Dame), it would eventually work itself out perhaps?