Joel Klatt Eviscerates Playoff Selection Committee

Submitted by steve sharik on October 31st, 2018 at 10:29 PM

Would rather he use S&P or the Massey composite, but the point is still valid: Frank Beamer is biasing the committee and drastically overrating the ACC and devaluing the Big Ten.

 

TrueBlue2003

November 1st, 2018 at 1:38 AM ^

How would that help though?  We'd still be sitting at number 5 in the exact spot we're in now. We'd have zero wins against teams currently ranked so we'd definitely still be 5th) and that's with the loss to ND and assuming we'd have beaten Arkansas.

It was a no lose situation to play that game.

And had we won, we'd be sitting somewhere in the Alabama 1/2 range with the possibility of making it without winning the conference.

Plus, those games are way more fun for the playlers, coaches and fans.  Schedule all the NDs and tough games all the time, plz.

DrMantisToboggan

October 31st, 2018 at 11:22 PM ^

Not true. The at-large bids will go to the 3 best teams in the eye of the committee - you still have the incentive to win every game and look great doing so. If you don't win your conference you better be 11-1 with some strong wins. 

You're also talking about D1 athletes, the most competitive people on planet Earth. No college football player is going to not care about winning every single game.

J.

November 1st, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^

All you have to do to find a counterexample is to look at college basketball.  There are a ton more interesting intersectional games in basketball than there are in football, because each of those games gives you a chance to impress the selection committee with little real downside if you don’t.

A football Big Ten / SEC challenge would be epic, but there’s no way it can happen under the current setup.

Reader71

November 1st, 2018 at 8:03 AM ^

I’ve always thought the point of the season was to determine who has the best season. I’ve never considered it a matter of determining the best team, and I think that’s a silly goal with 120 teams over 12 games.

With that aim in mind, and considering college footballs regular season is special because it wasn’t about playoffs for 100 years, I’d hate to see this weird sport become just another version of every pro sport, where the playoff primarily determines who got hot at the end.

There will come a day when a 2-loss team will win the championship, maybe even beating a previously-undefeated team in the final game. That day will make the whole stated purpose of the playoff a farce.

GoBlueHoosier

November 1st, 2018 at 7:48 PM ^

What you just said is exactly why your idea of a "perfect world" doesn't exist.  Literally EVERY major sport, professional and collegiate, have a playoff system.  The CFP is only what, 4 years old?  If you say when you have one P5 team run the table, then why would any team play a tough out of conference game?  Clemson would sit on top of the mediocre ACC, and never play a legit out of conference opponent.

A team is being punished for having a tough schedule, and even a tough conference.  Majority of teams don't hit their stride until game 3 or 4, hence why most schedule cupcakes up to that.  

And personally, I'd much rather see a team get hot towards the end of the season and run the table with 2 or 3 losses, like you see in any college basketball tournament (different sport, but same argument), than a team that cherry picks their games to bask in an over fluffed undefeated record.

bluewave720

November 1st, 2018 at 5:57 AM ^

6 teams

Top 2 seeds get BYES

3 hosts 6, 4 hosts 5

That preserves the integrity of value to the regular season, with every couplet having extreme value over the one below it. No one with 1 loss from a power conference is going to be 7 or worse. If you are at 7, you had TWO losses and can’t complain. Also, home playoff games probably eradicates certain diseases because on-campus excitement would be absolutely incredible. 

goblue4321

November 1st, 2018 at 8:02 AM ^

I agree with this, 6 teams, top 2 seeds bet byes, but no one gets a home game that’s not fair, just make them bowl games cuz that’s what is behind all this playoff is the bowls and the sponsors and money. If u had 6 teams everyone would get the conference champ and you then could put a 12-0 UCF in. So that’s why need a conference championship for every league and then u make notre dame join a conference 

TrueBlue2003

November 1st, 2018 at 1:14 AM ^

No.  Please don't do this.  The Game was a de facto round of 16 playoff game in 2016, it likely will be again this year and hopefully for many years to come.

If 8 teams get in, that will often not be the case.  You might even start to see a situation like the NFL where key players sit out because the teams have already "clinched" as would have been the case in 2016. Can you imagine guys sitting out The Game to prep for the playoffs?  It would likely happen.

Do not, do not, do not do this, please.  It'll diminish the best regular season is sports (this side of the Atlantic ocean).

McSomething

November 1st, 2018 at 4:56 AM ^

People said similar things about a 4 team playoff during the BCS days. You know what actually devalues the regular season? Allowing a team a shot at a national title despite playing one good team all season, and losing that game. Bama was given an undue benefit of the doubt twice now. Once in the old system, once in the current. So it doesn't much seem to matter.

MFanWM

October 31st, 2018 at 10:42 PM ^

I would most definitely agree that the ACC in particular is incredibly overrated, and the scheduling for the SEC also plays into these rankings to an almost unfair and overrated level.

That being said, several of the Big Ten teams are not performing at the level expected going into the season with some bad losses along the way which is not helping perception. 

MGB

October 31st, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^

I know nobody really cares much about the bottom of the top 25.. but how the fuck is Iowa State #24? a 4-3 team should not be ranked.