December 20th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Breaking news: the Big Ten has just arrived at a COVID protocol decision regarding Ohio State being able to play in the CFP.
*snort*
I can barely stand the drama.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:26 PM ^
Doesn’t the new protocol impact every B1G team, not just OSU? Every conference team playing in a bowl will benefit. The protocol should match the CDC, I’m not going to complain about not putting the conference at a disadvantage.
December 20th, 2020 at 1:36 PM ^
Yeah, but if the B1G weren't in the playoff, they wouldn't have made the change.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Yeah but it's going to be fun watching Clemson kick the Buckeyes' asses again!!!
December 20th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
to me OSU does not deserve to be in, because they would've lost if NW coulda stopped the run yesterday. ND doesn't deserve it either. Id do Bama, Clemson, TAMU, Cincy
December 20th, 2020 at 12:22 PM ^
This is not what I think is GOING to happen. This is what I think SHOULD happen
December 20th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Maybe the BIg Ten outsmarted everyone. Take your most talented team and give them a cream puff schedule. Limit the number of games so that that team stays fresh. Change the rules mid season to insure they get into the playoffs. And then watch them play teams that have played a long hard season and see how it goes.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:38 PM ^
What’s the expression about if's, nuts and buts?
December 20th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
I’ve said it before, in an earlier thread actually but they could have canceled every game and just let, Bama, Clemson and OSU + another SEC (or ND) team play in the CFP. It was always gonna be this way. Preseason rankings have too much sway. The 4 team CFP is an outdated dinosaur and D-1 football has the most backward ass way of determining a champion. No other sport does what the CFP does. D-2 and D-3 football has a better way. You have to incorporate home field into the playoffs some how. If a cold weather team from the Midwest earns it they should be able to host - and not travel to play USC at home etc. Still keep the big bowls and use them as they are now as the semis and final game, and the other bowls like the weed eater bowl, Bahamas bowl, toilet bowl and all that other shit can be played anyway. Those teams are 7-5, 6-6 or have losing records anyway.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:40 PM ^
Buuuut NW couldn’t stop the run, right?
I’m not defending those ass munchers (High Fidelity quote) but if the other team can’t stop what OSU was doing, then I fail to see how you can keep them from moving on?
December 20th, 2020 at 4:44 PM ^
If Northwestern would have scored more points, I believe they would have won...
I’ll let myself out.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
Yeah, well it works both ways, if osu didn’t have 20 players out, they would have won by 5 td’s
December 20th, 2020 at 1:01 PM ^
They had one high-impact player out. NW lost its best corner early in the game. They would not have won by 5 TDs, and they won't win in the CFP.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
Dude. They were missing 22 players. Cmon
December 20th, 2020 at 1:07 PM ^
Northwestern won that game. By a lot....
December 20th, 2020 at 1:18 PM ^
I see what you did there. Well played.
December 20th, 2020 at 1:52 PM ^
Yeah, Ohio State should be out because they run good.
December 20th, 2020 at 3:51 PM ^
I don't like OSU in either, but who has Texas A&M or Cincinnati beaten?
December 21st, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
You can literally say that about every game. Of course if NW was able to stop the run it would have changed the game. They couldn’t stop the run though, so that’s meaningless. I suppose I can just say if OSU was able to pass better, they would have won by 4 TD’s, but that also seems pretty meaningless given the fact the passing game stunk
December 20th, 2020 at 12:27 PM ^
Of course.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
4 hour show to announce 4 teams? Hard pass.
This won’t happen but I’d put it at Bama, Clemson, TAMU, OSU in that order.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Beauty Pageant time. Until we have an 8 team playoff,
December 20th, 2020 at 1:20 PM ^
If it's an 8 team playoff, I would only want top 6 conference champions with 2 at larges and adding at larges is a compromise. I hate not champions getting to play to be the overall champion. How can you claim to be the national champion when you can't even win your own conference.
The year the worst team in the NFL playoffs, the NY Giants beat the Patriots after losing to them in the last game of the regular season ruined the NFL for me. I haven't watched the NFL since.
December 20th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
This is effectively a 14 team playoff because conf championship games becomes de facto 1st round. Except that it is possible to lose in the 1st round and still be in the playoffs as an at large. Which, seems to me, a weird format.
Make it 16, top 2 from top 6 or 7 conferences and 2 or 4 at large (depending on strength of 7th conf that year relative to 3rd and 4th at large). No more than 3 per conference.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Agree on the four hours. Already went back to watching Mr. Deeds.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:28 PM ^
Drama - ND vs TAM.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:30 PM ^
Here they are.
1. Bama vs. 4. Notre Dame (lol, early predictions? mine is Bama 80-0).
2. Clemson vs. 3. Ohio St.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
5. TAMU
6. Oklahoma
This is a joke. How many times do teams like ND have to play weak schedules and then get blown out in their biggest game (and don't give me Clemson they were missing Lawrence and half their defense), before people start treating them like Cincy? I'm confused how it's literally any different except that one has a different name. This system is absurd and cant continue like this.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:43 PM ^
Not so sure about OSU - they have a ton of talent but with so many players out recently they're hard to gauge. But ND is a joke. Their "holier than thou" BS rubs me - and a ton of CF fans -the wrong way. Can't stand those effing pretenders
December 20th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
Bama Clemson and OSU make the CFP. Wow who would’ve predicted that when the season began. Yawn........
December 20th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
Which time?
December 20th, 2020 at 12:33 PM ^
Didn't ND get blown out yesterday? Why are they here
December 20th, 2020 at 12:44 PM ^
Yep, an effing joke and head scratcher. Touchdown Jesus is looking out for those a-holes
December 20th, 2020 at 1:22 PM ^
I was thinking because they have only one loss, beat Clemson previously and A&M was blown out by Bama by even more than ND earlier in the year, but that's just me.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
Dont like ND as #4 The blow out yesterday should have given life to A&M
December 20th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Cincy got hosed. Even though I think they would of gotten blown out, ND will too.
December 20th, 2020 at 1:49 PM ^
Agree. Would've preferred to see somebody new given the chance to get smoked by Alabama. Watching ND get pantsed twice in a row just isn't that interesting.
December 20th, 2020 at 2:13 PM ^
I agree. But on the other hand, seeing ND exposed two games in a row will be enjoyable too.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Fuck Notre Dame. I’ll be glad to see them get embarrassed again.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
Who brings in the most $$$$ and that is how the decision is made.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:36 PM ^
It's going to be Clemson vs Alabama in the end, but I guess they both need tune-ups. The big thing I learned yesterday is that OSU really isn't as good as I thought they'd be. They're good, but last year's team was better and Fields doesn't look like the Heisman-level QB they talked him up as. I know they were down players but NW isn't a particularly good team and OSU still struggled.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:45 PM ^
Fields makes one read to one of their outstanding receivers, and then if that guy is not open he takes off and runs.
If a defense can bottle him up so he can't run all over, and can stay with the receiver he is reading, he has no answers.
Northwestern's 3-stars held Ohio State to just 22 points inside a dome. The expectation was for Ohio State to put up 50+ points. Had NW had even a mediocre offense that did not turn the ball over and over, they would have won.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:54 PM ^
My suspicion is that Day kept calling passes in the hopes to showcase Fields one last time for the Heisman. That plan obviously backfired. Fields may not finish in the top 4 now.
Had OSU just stuck with the run most of the game, they probably win this more comfortably. It seems like Sermon was running at 10 yards per carry. But if Clemson can stone the rushing game, OSU is in trouble. Passing game looked awful yesterday, and I can't imagine that Olave alone is the answer.
December 20th, 2020 at 1:48 PM ^
I think that’s a ridiculous take. What coach, playing for a conference championship and a national ranking, would choose getting his quarterback an individual reward over winning the game? More likely, he was trying to get Fields some confidence back, given his recent struggles. Or maybe he just really trusts him and his abilities.
December 20th, 2020 at 5:29 PM ^
Don't know if you really watch Fields, but he goes through his progressions better than 80% of college QBs.
Yesterday he didn't have the one guy that draws a safety on almost all his routes.
OSU will be giving the freshmen 5* WRs plenty of reps to shore up what you saw.
Think about a fully loaded OSU receiver group, and you get the results that happen to UM.
Sermon is a major upgrade, work him into the check down routes on 3rd down.
December 20th, 2020 at 1:11 PM ^
Agreed, OSU was better last year. The 2019 team was at its peak, the defense was elite; 2020's defense does not have the same level of playmakers.
Fields was spectacular in 4 games this year, the other two games were the worst two games of his OSU career, also against the two best defenses he faced this season. Both Indiana & NW have great a great secondary. In recent years OSU went ~6 deep with veteran WRs...this year it's primarily 2 guys which has also limited Fields when facing those two teams.
I'd love to think that this is an opportunity to get revenge on Clemson, but it's more likely that OSU's deficiencies get exposed and the result is somewhere between last year's nailbiter and Clemson's 31-0 rout in 2016.
December 20th, 2020 at 2:01 PM ^
No matter what, they should not wait an entire half to see if Sermon can test Clemson's D. I don't think that Fields and his excellent WRs alone are going to be able to do it. (At the beginning of the season, I would have thought so. Teague is a downgrade from Dobbins, but I thought that Fields and his WRs could make up the difference. That take was wrong.)
December 20th, 2020 at 2:58 PM ^
Agree. OSU needs to run the football. Run Sermon and run Fields more. Slow down the game and take a few shots down field, but try to avoid a track meet. OSU last year was the better team. Clemson is probably the better team this year, so sets up well for a revenge game.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:39 PM ^
Let's talk Florida: After last night, is there any team in their right mind that would want to play Florida?
If they had not (literally) thrown away their chance at the CFP against LSU, I would flat-out put them in as the 4th team regardless of their overall record. They pass the eye test, they went toe-to-toe with "unbeatable" Alabama.
December 20th, 2020 at 12:42 PM ^
Florida was an interesting predicament for the committee. The only major problem, aside from having an overall record of 8-3, is that they lost to Texas A&M. If Florida gets in because they lost in a non-embarrassing fashion to Alabama, then surely that just strengthens Texas A&M’s resume and bumps them in too.