Playoff Pandemonium
Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2016 2:43 am
This process feels like it's turning into a joke.
So apparently, Michigan still has an outside chance at backing into the playoff, despite losing 2 of 3. Michigan probably need Clemson and Washington to lose in order for it to cause enough chaos. If Colorado and Virginia Tech won, would the committee be forced into putting 3 Big 10 teams the field, or would they still put Clemson in? And if they still had Clemson in over Penn State / Wisconsin, now you have a playoff with 3 teams who didn't even win their own conference! Amazing.
Michigan has a slimmer chance than people are saying, in my estimation. If Washington loses, the committee will just have Penn State or Wisconsin leapfrog Michigan to save themselves the headaches, even though Michigan beat both of those teams and have same records. Only difference was that Penn State / Wisconsin got an extra opportunity to notch a quality victory and somebody has to win the game. No telling if Michigan would have won it, but UM did end up with 2 conference losses, so it's their fault that they're in this situation. I just think the committee is being stupid and sending out misleading information. They know in the back of their heads that the Big 10 champ will be ahead of Michigan, so why don't they just rank Michigan behind the teams, since there's no way Michigan can survive in that position? Why are they sending out false signals? It's bound to be interpreted that Michigan will jump Washington if Washington loses, so don't get people's hopes up.
Anyway, I'm cheering for Michigan to get into the playoffs because it'll be better for the program to have that on their resume instead of an Orange Bowl loss. Might as well get destroyed by Alabama, at least you'll have an excuse heading into 2017.
Oh, by the way, the Cotton Bowl won't even be set up and ready to go until December 10th. If you needed any more reason why this system is ridiculous, the extra week between the rest of the regular season and Navy/Army is setting up to be a giant head ache. Unless Temple wins and saves us the trouble, if Western Michigan wins the MAC on Friday and Navy wins the AAC, they'll release the ranking as always. But with Navy having the extra game, they can't make it official, even if Western is ahead of Navy. If Western is #16 and Navy is #17 and they beat a 6-5 Army team 72-0, that might be enough to put them ahead of Western. So we're going to be operating with a giant blank spot from the Cotton Bowl down through all of the MAC bowls and Armed Forces Bowl (where I think Navy is slated to go). So we're going to have a log jam of at-larges and teams not knowing where they're going to end up. This is completely ridiculous. If Western is ahead of Navy by next Sunday, just give Western the bid to the Cotton Bowl. A win against Army should not move the needle at all, so it's a waste of time. Of course if Western loses to Ohio and Navy beats Temple, then Navy has to beat Army to get into the Cotton Bowl. Which means the spot has to be left open, because there might not be a ranked "Group of Five" team left at that point. The bid is not automatic for the top Go5 team, it has to be the highest ranked Go5 conference champion. If Western lost to Ohio and Navy gets by Temple, the entire bowl system will be in limbo (since that Cotton Bowl bid might go to another at-large from a power conference, instead of, say, the Citrus or Alamo Bowls or something).
So apparently, Michigan still has an outside chance at backing into the playoff, despite losing 2 of 3. Michigan probably need Clemson and Washington to lose in order for it to cause enough chaos. If Colorado and Virginia Tech won, would the committee be forced into putting 3 Big 10 teams the field, or would they still put Clemson in? And if they still had Clemson in over Penn State / Wisconsin, now you have a playoff with 3 teams who didn't even win their own conference! Amazing.
Michigan has a slimmer chance than people are saying, in my estimation. If Washington loses, the committee will just have Penn State or Wisconsin leapfrog Michigan to save themselves the headaches, even though Michigan beat both of those teams and have same records. Only difference was that Penn State / Wisconsin got an extra opportunity to notch a quality victory and somebody has to win the game. No telling if Michigan would have won it, but UM did end up with 2 conference losses, so it's their fault that they're in this situation. I just think the committee is being stupid and sending out misleading information. They know in the back of their heads that the Big 10 champ will be ahead of Michigan, so why don't they just rank Michigan behind the teams, since there's no way Michigan can survive in that position? Why are they sending out false signals? It's bound to be interpreted that Michigan will jump Washington if Washington loses, so don't get people's hopes up.
Anyway, I'm cheering for Michigan to get into the playoffs because it'll be better for the program to have that on their resume instead of an Orange Bowl loss. Might as well get destroyed by Alabama, at least you'll have an excuse heading into 2017.
Oh, by the way, the Cotton Bowl won't even be set up and ready to go until December 10th. If you needed any more reason why this system is ridiculous, the extra week between the rest of the regular season and Navy/Army is setting up to be a giant head ache. Unless Temple wins and saves us the trouble, if Western Michigan wins the MAC on Friday and Navy wins the AAC, they'll release the ranking as always. But with Navy having the extra game, they can't make it official, even if Western is ahead of Navy. If Western is #16 and Navy is #17 and they beat a 6-5 Army team 72-0, that might be enough to put them ahead of Western. So we're going to be operating with a giant blank spot from the Cotton Bowl down through all of the MAC bowls and Armed Forces Bowl (where I think Navy is slated to go). So we're going to have a log jam of at-larges and teams not knowing where they're going to end up. This is completely ridiculous. If Western is ahead of Navy by next Sunday, just give Western the bid to the Cotton Bowl. A win against Army should not move the needle at all, so it's a waste of time. Of course if Western loses to Ohio and Navy beats Temple, then Navy has to beat Army to get into the Cotton Bowl. Which means the spot has to be left open, because there might not be a ranked "Group of Five" team left at that point. The bid is not automatic for the top Go5 team, it has to be the highest ranked Go5 conference champion. If Western lost to Ohio and Navy gets by Temple, the entire bowl system will be in limbo (since that Cotton Bowl bid might go to another at-large from a power conference, instead of, say, the Citrus or Alamo Bowls or something).