2018 College Football Playoffs

[GGGG]

Who did Bama beat before the playoffs that was better than who UCF beat?  Memphis and USF are as good as anyone that Bama beat.

According to the Massey composite ratings (think Bracket Matrix for college football), LSU is better than Memphis and Mississippi State is better than South Florida.  And then you have a bunch of teams on Bama's schedule than anyone else UCF faced.

Alabama itself was rated fifth.  UCF was rated ninth.

If anyone got screwed it was Ohio State.  UCF was not.

[Pakuni]

Who did Bama beat before the playoffs that was better than who UCF beat?  Memphis and USF are as good as anyone that Bama beat. 

The point is that the college playoffs are dumb.  UCF is as deserving of calling themselves champions as anyone else.

What's dumb is determining the quality/worthiness of teams based on "who they beat" as opposed to actually how good they are.

Alabama can't control the fact that Florida State, who opened the season ranked #3, lost their Heisman candidate QB late in the 4th quarter of that game and went into a spiral. They can't control how stupid LSU was to let Les Miles go or how A&M had a bad year or how the  conference schedule was set so they didn't play Georgia or South Carolina in the regular season.

And, no, Memphis and USF are not better than LSU or Mississippi State or maybe even Florida State, for that matter (certainly not a full strength FSU, which is what Bama faced).

I'll simply ask ... do you believe UCF beats Alabama, straight up, on a neutral field?

[WarriorDad]

The committee got it right. 

Alabama is playing for the national title because they belong there.  This is not a great Bama team, but deserving of their spot in the title game and the playoffs.

Ohio State did not get screwed. They were routed at home by Oklahoma.  Lost by 30+ to Iowa.  Alabama does not get routed at home or for that matter even lose at home and hasn't lost by 30+ to anyone in I am guessing in eons.  The worse loss ever in the Saban era is 14 points. 

Alabama would go undefeated with UCF's schedule where those games were played. UCF would not do the same with Alabama's exact schedule in my opinion.

[CTWarrior]

Realistic shot? No. But they can win their conference tournament and make the tournament to play for the title. In football, a team can win every game they play and not have a shot at the title.

This is the crux of it.  Grambling basketball has a path to the National Championship.  Granted, they really don't have a realistic chance of following that path, but they at least have a path.  UCF had no path to a championship this year.  There was nothing they could do that would have given them an opportunity to play for the national championship.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

This is the crux of it.  Grambling basketball has a path to the National Championship.  Granted, they really don't have a realistic chance of following that path, but they at least have a path.  UCF had no path to a championship this year.  There was nothing they could do that would have given them an opportunity to play for the national championship.

This.

The other thing that ruins cfb for me is how damning one loss is. When TAMU lost their first game to UCLA on the road, I completely lost interest in the rest of the season. I knew that one loss all but guaranteed we couldn't make the playoffs. Losing by 1 to UCLA on the road is not a "bad" loss (though how we lost was really bad) .... But it was enough to effectively end our season. I like that a basketball team can lose every game of the regular season and still have a chance to make the playoffs. Keeps the season interesting

[GGGG]

Gotta love that Mel Tucker coaching up the UGA defense.  Maybe if Fangio heads up to Green Bay, the Bears can hire him as DC.  Thoughts?

[🏀]

Gotta love that Mel Tucker coaching up the UGA defense.  Maybe if Fangio heads up to Green Bay, the Bears can hire him as DC.  Thoughts?

Wasn't he a Bears DC already?

[WarriorDad]

Saban has huge balls to make that QB change and win that game.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Unbelievable game.

[MU82]

I am glad for the Bama K that they won that game.

The death threats from the lunatics woulda been stressful.

[GGGG]

Wasn't he a Bears DC already?

Yes. 

[GGGG]

Saban has huge balls to make that QB change and win that game.

Yes.  Probably the best college coach of all time.  It took him awhile to ramp up at MSU (where he was good), and LSU (where he was very good), but five titles in nine years at Alabama? 

[Spotcheck Billy]

The review of if Michel stepped out of bounds on his TD catch was one of the quickest reviews ever.

[MerrittsMustache]

Saban has huge balls to make that QB change and win that game.

It was a move that few coaches would make but Saban was basically in a no lose situation. Bama was already down 13-0 at half and did basically nothing offensively. If the backup QB goes in and is a disaster, Bama goes back to Hurts and it's an afterthought in Georgia's victory. If the backup QB wins the game, he's a star and Saban is a genius.


Also, MAJOR props to Jalen Hurts for the way he handled things throughout the game. That guy can be on my team any day!

[wadesworld]

It was a move that few coaches would make but Saban was basically in a no lose situation. Bama was already down 13-0 at half and did basically nothing offensively. If the backup QB goes in and is a disaster, Bama goes back to Hurts and it's an afterthought in Georgia's victory. If the backup QB wins the game, he's a star and Saban is a genius.


Also, MAJOR props to Jalen Hurts for the way he handled things throughout the game. That guy can be on my team any day!

Agreed on Hurts. I liked him going into the game. Became a huge fan from the 2nd half on.

[JWags85]

It was a move that few coaches would make but Saban was basically in a no lose situation. Bama was already down 13-0 at half and did basically nothing offensively. If the backup QB goes in and is a disaster, Bama goes back to Hurts and it's an afterthought in Georgia's victory. If the backup QB wins the game, he's a star and Saban is a genius.


Also, MAJOR props to Jalen Hurts for the way he handled things throughout the game. That guy can be on my team any day!

Discussion I had with my friends last night and this morning.  And only really considered because of what an absolute master Saban is...I think the Tua wrinkle may have been planned all along.  Not so much in "he will start the second no matter what", but knowing how good Georgia is against the run, if the offense wasn't clicking, they'd go to him.  He'd gotten into 7 games prior.  By all accounts he had possibly outplayed Hurts in the Spring.  I think Saban had an idea of what could be.

I don't think they planned on the TD in the 3rd and needing to score 20 to tie, but I don't think it was as miraculous and unexpected as it seemed.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Yes.  Probably the best college coach of all time.  It took him awhile to ramp up at MSU (where he was good), and LSU (where he was very good), but five titles in nine years at Alabama?

Michigan State winning at #1 Ohio State in 1998 was big with Saban. Yes, 1 second away for 6 titles in 9 years at Alabama.

[MU82]

The head coach of the HS girls basketball team on which I am an assistant used Hurts' unwavering support of the freshman QB as the centerpiece of his pre-game speech last night.

My coach is an excellent motivator, and it was an excellent speech. We went out and destroyed our opponent.

Of course, we also are very talented and probably would have destroyed our opponent anyway ... but let's not let the facts get in the way!

[MerrittsMustache]

The head coach of the HS girls basketball team on which I am an assistant used Hurts' unwavering support of the freshman QB as the centerpiece of his pre-game speech last night.

As did every other coach in America 

[MU82]

As did every other coach in America 

It's a great topic ... so why the heck not!

[Mr. Nielsen]

Not a shock to me, as one pointed out my new name should be the guy who knows his tv crap.  Milwaukee was poor for the national championship game. The northeast always bad as well.
http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Issues/2018/01/10/Media/CFP-TV.aspx?