Selection Committee Might Be Stupid

[Eric]

So let me get this straight, you have an undefeated power five team who has played quality opponents all season long, and they are rated fourth behind THREE one-loss teams from power conferences? And not only that, but Baylor beats TCU head-to-head and is two spots behind TCU with identical records? West Virginia is a tough place to go into and play, and TCU also had their struggles there. You have to give Baylor a slight nod, regardless of how they've looked in recent weeks against teams like Texas Tech. Or else the games don't even matter.

If people thought getting a committee to determine their playoffs would be without issue, I think this week's edition pretty much laid that notion to rest....

[Eric]

Of course the other possibility is if dropping FSU to #4 was done to make things easier for FSU and their fans to travel, since they wouldn't have to go to Los Angeles, which also would go against the spirit of the seeding. I don't think that's what is happening since FSU could jump ahead of TCU again if they beat Georgia Tech, but I can't get a read on these people.

[Spence]

If they drop an undefeated Florida State out of the top 4, then this playoff is a joke and the committee is a joke. They haven't lost a game in two years and they leave them out? That would be the end of the committee. There would be major league outrage over leaving an undefeated defending champion out of the playoff. That is just completely ridiculous to me and I would think to everyone else.

[Eric]

If they drop an undefeated Florida State out of the top 4, then this playoff is a joke and the committee is a joke. They haven't lost a game in two years and they leave them out? That would be the end of the committee. There would be major league outrage over leaving an undefeated defending champion out of the playoff. That is just completely ridiculous to me and I would think to everyone else.

Well, with putting FSU at #4, they are basically admitting that this is a distinct possibility. After all, FSU is just one spot away from being left out in the cold. I just can't fathom how you don't give the undefeated team or the head-to-head winner the edges. These guys are actively trying to do something different instead of what precedent suggests they do to make it look like they are spearheading some Brave New World approach. It's dumb. They're doing it to stir up controversy.

I mean if you had these guys deciding the top two instead of the top four with a BCS format, then Florida State, an undefeated champion of a power five conference, would have been shut out. Because regardless of the format, you think they would rank teams the same way based on some subjective determination of a team's strength. These guys are telling us that, if their job was only to pick two teams, that Florida State wouldn't make it. That never would have happened with the BCS combination of pollsters and computers.

[Eric]

Plus, why do they value TCU so much higher than Baylor? Baylor has the head-to-head edge. The loss to West Virginia is "worse" than TCU's loss to Baylor, but Baylor also has a win against a team like TCU. That should probably cancel itself out. TCU and Baylor have played the exact same schedules except Minnesota and Kansas State. If Baylor beats Kansas State, then Baylor has to jump TCU. Scheduling and beating a team like Minnesota, who is unintentionally one-dimensional and not a great football team, should not be the difference from being in the playoff and being out of it. I mean where on a scale of all the FBS should Minnesota actually be? They'd be in the 50-60 range, but the committee probably thinks of them as being a top 25 team when they aren't even close.

Plus, I don't get their logic. If the quality wins matter more than the losses or poor wins, as they seem to suggest by ranking Florida State below Oregon and Alabama, then Baylor should be in over TCU since Baylor actually has a win over a top 5 opponent.

[Spence]

I agree they are trying to be different. I support being different, but if your job is to try and rank the 4 teams that should make the playoff, how can you not include the defending champ who is undefeated. This isn't about the problems Jameis Winston has had. If he is eligible to play the committee shouldn't hold anything against Florida State for playing him. If they are saying that Florida State's wins weren't impressive enough, then I would say every one of their wins were more impressive than any loss by any other team - all of which have at least one.

This is why the committee is a bad idea. If they are going to have a playoff then seed conference champs, play them off, and forget about it. It is the only fair way to do it.

[Eric]

I completely agree. That way it isn't left to any pundits' (or apparently sitting athletic directors') discretion. If you didn't win your conference, you don't really have anybody to blame but yourself. Of course now with conferences of greater than 10 teams, it actually isn't even up to you anymore depending on your draw from the other division. If Team A and Team B are just as good but one gets a better draw, they have a better chance at getting into the conference finals.

Still, your objectives are ahead of you and if you don't meet them, you don't get in. In that way, every team has a chance and everything is decided on the field.

[Spence]

It can't be any other way and be fair. If Wisconsin wins the Big 10 why shouldn't they have a shot. Or Baylor, Florida State, Missouri even. No one can determine who the best team in CFB is in any given year. We know who wins the conferences every year.

[Swamp Daddy]

Remeber all the fuss a year or two back when we all (almost all anyway) wised they would stop using computers for the NC and an unbiased selection committee of humans would make the best choices. Sometimes it's upsetting to get what you wished for !

Swamp Daddy

[Spence]

Remeber all the fuss a year or two back when we all (almost all anyway) wised they would stop using computers for the NC and an unbiased selection committee of humans would make the best choices. Sometimes it's upsetting to get what you wished for !

Swamp Daddy

Not me. I did want them to set a criteria and stick to it, but there is no way a guy of humans can be unbiased. Even if they are, they can't be completely objective. The guys who vote in the top 25 can tell you that you can start the season with a preconceived notion about how to rank teams, but you can't follow it until the end. There are too many contradictions.

[Vileborg]

If you didn't know the history and mystique of FSU. If you didn't have previous knowledge of prior years and were only looking at FSU on their body of work this year. If you weren't a long standing college football fan.

They are undefeated but it's been the rockiest road for any undefeated team that I can remember.

They've trailed after the first quarter in 8 games.
They've trailed at half time in 5 games.
They've won half their games by less than a TD.
They have three blow out wins against Citadel, Wake Forrest, and Syracuse.
The only two currently ranked teams they've beat are Clemson and Louisville.
Their QB has more INTs than TDs in the last six games.

On paper, this team looks like it's barely hanging on and their body of work is not convincing. On paper, they deserve a 4th place ranking.

As a long standing college football fan. I absolutely think they are full of it and as the CFP User poll indicates, the consensus here is that, they are full of it.

[highfly24]

There is a lot of talk about how Baylor needs to be ahead of TCU and I get that they won but...they won at home by 3. I think TCU is the better team on a neutral field, which is where the playoff games will be. I think if Baylor beats K. State handily then it will be a non issue, but if Petty cant go start to finish I don't give them a chance. A close win and look out for a very heated debate come Sunday.

Florida State being 4th is insane, I agree. I cant stand the team but even I admit they have to be in the top 2. Just because they have problems with Winston, and most ppl do, doesn't justify what it looks like the committee is trying to do. Personally, I'd love to see Mizzou win and Ohio State win big and see what they do then. We know Bama is in regardless and if Oregon loses the Pac 12 will be left out, so watch for the officials to protect the conf money train, anyone remember the Mangino rant at Kansas?

[Spence]

If you didn't know the history and mystique of FSU. If you didn't have previous knowledge of prior years and were only looking at FSU on their body of work this year. If you weren't a long standing college football fan.

They are undefeated but it's been the rockiest road for any undefeated team that I can remember.

They've trailed after the first quarter in 8 games.
They've trailed at half time in 5 games.
They've won half their games by less than a TD.
They have three blow out wins against Citadel, Wake Forrest, and Syracuse.
The only two currently ranked teams they've beat are Clemson and Louisville.
Their QB has more INTs than TDs in the last six games.

On paper, this team looks like it's barely hanging on and their body of work is not convincing. On paper, they deserve a 4th place ranking.

As a long standing college football fan. I absolutely think they are full of it and as the CFP User poll indicates, the consensus here is that, they are full of it.

Florida State is also the defending champ and they have t lost a game in two years. There is something to be said for thT in my book.

[Eric]

If you didn't know the history and mystique of FSU. If you didn't have previous knowledge of prior years and were only looking at FSU on their body of work this year. If you weren't a long standing college football fan.

They are undefeated but it's been the rockiest road for any undefeated team that I can remember.

They've trailed after the first quarter in 8 games.
They've trailed at half time in 5 games.
They've won half their games by less than a TD.
They have three blow out wins against Citadel, Wake Forrest, and Syracuse.
The only two currently ranked teams they've beat are Clemson and Louisville.
Their QB has more INTs than TDs in the last six games.

On paper, this team looks like it's barely hanging on and their body of work is not convincing. On paper, they deserve a 4th place ranking.

As a long standing college football fan. I absolutely think they are full of it and as the CFP User poll indicates, the consensus here is that, they are full of it.

I agree that they haven't necessarily looked great, but never in BCS history has an undefeated team from a major conference gotten the boot by a team with at least one loss. These people are telling me that if they were in charge of the BCS and had to pit #1 and #2 that not only would FSU get bounced, they would be an entire extra spot on the outside.

I can certainly understand that, if you were putting a power ranking together, maybe FSU is outside of your top two. But the W/L record should earn them the benefit of the doubt and thus the opportunity, all things being mostly equal. And they are mostly equal. FSU has beaten NC State, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami, Boston College, Florida, and Clemson. It's not a murderer's row, but it's a worthwhile slate of opponents who, to my knowledge, often had an extra week to prepare for the Noles. Florida and Miami put their best efforts of the season against FSU, at least from what I could gather. Oklahoma State and Notre Dame don't look like quality wins now, but I think they were at the time of the games. Ok State had JW Walsh and they looked like a different team and Notre Dame was decimated by defensive injuries in recent weeks after the FSU loss. It's kind of like the Mizzou loss to Indiana thing. Indiana wouldn't have been 4-8 if they had Sudfeld healthy; this would have been a bowl team. Still not a great loss, but Missouri didn't get defeated by the current second-worst team in the B1G, they got beat by what should have been a bowl team.

[Derek]

FSU also has to beat ESPN. Let's not forget that power opponent.

But I also think it's more political than they let on.