MayOhioEatTurds

October 30th, 2015 at 3:35 PM ^

an odd number of CFP committee members doesn't make for some tie-breaking corruption or illegitimacy.  

Having been through a couple even-numbered negotiations in my time, I'd strongly prefer to see an odd number of panelists.  If you're not convinced this is a problem, just imagine the Supreme Court with only eight Justices. 

I'm sure this is why the CFP committee would prefer to have an odd number, too. 

NittanyFan

October 30th, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^

(a) provides ESPN with a TV show that gets ratings (and thus, ad revenue) on an otherwise sleepy November Tuesday night.

(b) provides ESPN with material to talk about on their various TV and Radio shows.

(c) provides ESPN opportunities to let people know that those playoff games are on .... ESPN.

I think we can guess why there are weekly rankings.  :-)

kevin holt

October 30th, 2015 at 4:30 PM ^

Yeah, and then the Big Ten would have to find something not-stupid to base its tiebreakers on. Oh wait, they'd use the AP... shit

Seriously though instead of "out of these three tied teams, the winner is whoever this completely separate body ranked as the highest team," it should be "out of these three tied teams, all but the top two are eliminated; the winner of the head-to-head matchup between the top two is the division champion."

Sounds complicated the way I said it but essentially instead of completely relying on the CFP rankings, they rely on them slightly less, yet use a head-to-head matchup.

At the VERY LEAST the tiebreaker should allow for a wider range of team separation, because hypothetically: if we beat OSU and they were 5th and we were 7th and MSU was somehow 25th, OSU would still win because the CFP guys arbitrarily put us more than one spot apart.

If you allowed for the head-to-head of the top two, you often wouldn't have doubts about who gets to play in the BTCG either. In the above scenario, it's whoever won between OSU-UM because it would be obvious MSU isn't getting put above either of them.

Cali Wolverine

October 30th, 2015 at 3:58 PM ^

He did a pretty solid job of transitioning USC through the aftermath of Bush/Garrett/sanctions. However, the Sark hire clearly was a miss, and his basketball coach hire of Andy Enfield may prove to be a disaster if the basketball program doesn't start winning. Within a month I remember meeting both Pat Haden and Dave Brandon and couldn't believe how different the two were. Haden is a genuinely nice man, and I wish him the best.

True Blue Grit

October 30th, 2015 at 6:18 PM ^

is another example of an ill-qualified ex-athlete alumnus asked to run a complex, big time athletic department with a large budget.  I really believe that all large athletic departments of big time programs need to be run by professional athletic administrators - people who have gone on a career path giving them progressive experience in running a large dynamic organization.  Michigan has struggled with this greatly over the years since Don Canham retired.  Bo wasn't in the job long enough.  The only person who did a solid job (IMO) was Bill Martin, but again, a person with no previous AD experience.   All the others were either not qualified or had zero experience coming in running an athletic department.  

Pat Haden may be a great guy.  But USC needs to hire a real AD this time.  

Moonlight Graham

October 30th, 2015 at 3:28 PM ^

knees? Did they replace him, or is he back? Are they down to 12 including Manning or did they start with 14 and now they're down to twelve with Haden and Manning gone? This is conference-realignment-level confusing. 

SFBlue

October 30th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^

Unlike Brandon, he is a decent man; he actually contributed to his school's team when he played; he didn't try to sell out his team's traditions; and when he leaves, he won't cry "politics!" after crashing the plane into the mountain. 

justingoblue

October 30th, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

We're in the middle of the season. What happens if they think Gene Smith is the best choice and OSU gets in on a 7-6 decision 40 days later, after he's already missed every obligation they've had so far? Same with virtually any other candidate.

This isn't like Lochdogg, they just need to keep some semblance of impartiality. There will be thirteen on the committee before the 2016 season.