College Football Playoff Seeding Question

Submitted by ThadMattasagoblin on

Does anyone know the protocol for determining where a team plays in the semifinals? If we're number 1, do we get put in the closest location to our campus in Atlanta like they do with the ncaa basketball tournament? What if the hypothetical number 4 seeded team is Clemson or Alabama? Would they bump us out to Glendale? I'm starting to kick the tires on going to the college football playoff if we make it and would go if it's within driving distance in Atlanta.

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Alton

October 19th, 2016 at 7:29 PM ^

The informal priorities are, in order:

(1) give "home crowd" to the #1 seed

(2) avoid "home crowd" for the #4 seed

(3) give "home crowd" to the #2 seed

(4) avoid "home crowd" for the #3 seed

So if it's 1-Michigan, 2-Clemson, 3-Washington, 4-Alabama, Michigan-Alabama would play in Glendale and Clemson-Washington would play in Atlanta.  Big picture, it means that if Alabama or Clemson is #1, they will absolutely play in Atlanta.  If neither is #1 but one of them is #4, that one would play in Glendale.

(The actual rules are below, but this is the practical effect of those rules).

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Gulo_Gulo

October 19th, 2016 at 5:33 PM ^

Pairings for Semifinals.

  1. The team ranked No. 1 by the selection committee will play team No. 4 in the semifinals. Team No. 2 will meet team No. 3.
  2. When assigning teams to sites, the committee will place the top two seeds at the most advantageous sites, weighing criteria such as convenience of travel for its fans, home-crowd advantage or disadvantage and general familiarity with the host city and its stadium. Preference will go to the No. 1 seed.

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stephenrjking

October 19th, 2016 at 5:37 PM ^

Hard facts, always the best response.

Notable that both proximity and home crowd advantage/disadvantage are weighed. That's wise, since hypothetically we (or someone like OSU) could get the top seed and be closer to Atlanta, but suffer a crowd disadvantage if the opponent is Alabama or Clemson.

 

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DrMantisToboggan

October 19th, 2016 at 7:21 PM ^

Yeah this is very interesting, indeed. If I were a betting man, I would guess that the top four come season end would be : 1. Bama 2. Michigan 3. Clemson 4. Washington. 

I think based on this wording, this would put us in Glendale against Clemson, and Bama in Atlanta against Washington. This way, Alabama still gets a convenient site and probably has "homefield" advantage. While we would not necessarily have either of those things, it would be less advantageous for Clemson, the lower seed, than a game in Atlanta would be. Michigan also has a more wide-spread alumni base so you could predict more Michigan fans than Clemson fans to make it to Glendale. 

Very interesting.

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Mr Miggle

October 19th, 2016 at 6:16 PM ^

It sounds like the #1 seed's preference is just one factor the committee will consider. I could see some interesting scenarios. If we assume that Bama, Clemson, Washington and us are the playoff teams, it's obvious where the other schools would prefer.to play. But what if we're the #1 seed and paired with UW? We should prefer to play in Atlanta for multiple reasons.The committee would prefer to have Bama and Clemson there.

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TrueBlue2003

October 19th, 2016 at 9:13 PM ^

mentioned is if we are the 1 seed and UW is the 4 seed, so we're not playing either of the southern schools.  We'd rather play UW in Atlanta than AZ because it's our timezone, easier destination for our fans, etc.  But yes, we'd probably not get that because the committee would accomodate the two southern schools with a game in ATL.

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Mr Miggle

October 20th, 2016 at 8:37 AM ^

prefer Atlanta if playing UW. Also, even though Arizona is a long way from Seattle, it's still PAC-12 territory. We've seen in the Rose Bowl that the PAC-12 always has a home field advantage. 

I think we'd still be forced out there, but that's the type of decision that could be difficult for the committee. It's not happening this year, but it could be a closer school, say USC rather than UW. If they forced us out there then, they might as well throw out the rule. So that leads to the question of where they draw the line.

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Alton

October 19th, 2016 at 7:36 PM ^

ESPN dictates the game times this year (Rose & Sugar are locked into their game times next year), but I don't necessarily know that the more attractive matchup will be the nightcap.  I assume they would prefer to have Glendale at "night," all else being equal, but I'm sure an Alabama v Big Ten team game would be at night no matter what, rather than (say) Clemson-Washington. 

The games are at 3:00 & 7:00 EST on Saturday, December 31. 

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Alton

October 19th, 2016 at 7:50 PM ^

Yes, assuming B1G is 2 or 3.  You have noticed, I'm sure, that the CoFoPo committee tends to move the rankings around a lot from week to week.  They don't do the "ritualized" thing that the AP voters tend to do.  So you never know who ends up where.  Especially if there are 4 undefeated teams, just about any seeding would be on the board.

From what I know about TV ratings, if Washington ends up in the top 4, their game would be the less attractive of the 2 semifinals for ESPN, no matter who they are playing.

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MgoBlueprint

October 19th, 2016 at 6:06 PM ^

I was looking this up yesterday because my parents live in Atlanta, and I am going to go to the peach bowl if Michigan plays in it.
Espn has 1 v 4 in the peach bowl and 2 v 3 in the fiesta bowl. They're doing that. Cause they assume that both Alabama will be the number 1 seed and they'll choose Atlanta?

Also, what happens if we're number 1 and Clemson or Bama is 4, do we choose Tempe because it hedges any geographic advantage?
I'd assume we'd have a better turnout in Atlanta than Tempe. I guess I'll hope for a 1. Michigan vs a 4 Washington.



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Durham Blue

October 19th, 2016 at 7:53 PM ^

Play anyone anywhere, to sort of paraphrase Pete Carroll in his USC days.  That's how I view Michigan now.  I feel like we can line up on any football field with any other collegiate team and go to town.

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mgobleu

October 19th, 2016 at 9:01 PM ^

It seems that most of you are assuming we won't jump bama after we absolutely dominate the second half of the season and treat osu and the eventual B1G runner ups like Rutgers. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

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allintime23

October 19th, 2016 at 10:50 PM ^

All the people hoping two big ten teams make the playoff are fools. First of all the only team that will get the nod will be Ohio state. I think we beat them this year, I'm very confident in that. That said I don't see us beating them twice after we just had to beat Wisconsin for a second time. I don't think it will or should happen but the only teams that will get that break are Alabama and Ohio state.



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