I’d personally have South Carolina, the hottest team in college football, as the final at-large team, but Vegas seems to think Alabama is the pick.

[PrestonyteParrot]

15) Arizona State Sun Devils (+1)

14) Ole Miss Rebels (-)

13) Miami Hurricanes (-7)

12) South Carolina Gamecocks (+3)

11) Alabama Crimson Tide (+2)

This is where the controversy starts. To be clear, this is not how I would order these teams, as I think South Carolina should be the final at-large bid. However, this is what I think the selection committee will ultimately do.


The committee has punished teams that have been either propped up by easy schedules or have flirted with disaster. BYU fell eight spots after the Cougars finally lost. Indiana fell from fifth to 10th after losing to a top-two team, given the nature of the schedule before that game.

Miami has both of those going against it. The Hurricanes don’t have a top-25 win and have flirted with disaster. Syracuse isn’t even a bad loss, but given that the Hurricanes have three extremely close wins against unranked teams, I think the committee drops them. They’ll likely be in front of Ole Miss but behind the other two 9-3 SEC teams.

The big philosophical question is, “When should head-to-head come into play?”

The selection committee picks and chooses its spots to take head-to-head into consideration. Just last week, the Gamecocks were behind both Ole Miss and Alabama, teams they lost to in the first part of the season.


But Ole Miss struggled against 2-10 Mississippi State, and the Gamecocks beat a top-15 Clemson team on the road. Compounded with the Rebels’ atrocious loss to the Kentucky Wildcats and slightly-less-awful-but-still-bad loss to the Florida Gators, Ole Miss seems out of the running.

So, it comes down to South Carolina or Alabama. South Carolina is working from behind, as the Gamecocks lost when now-superstar LaNorris Sellers threw an interception on a potential game-winning drive in Tuscaloosa in Week 7.

So, Alabama has the head-to-head. Will the committee go that way or consider the Crimson Tide’s multiple losses to .500 teams — teams that South Carolina beat by a combined score of 63-16?

I’d personally have South Carolina, the hottest team in college football, as the final at-large team, but Vegas seems to think Alabama is the pick.

MSN

 

[18IsTheMan]

Alabama has multiple losses to .500 teams, but those teams had losing conference records.

OU was 2-6 in conference play with their only other win being over an equally bad Auburn team in a nailbiter, then they went out and mauled Alabama. That loss should be disqualifying on its own, particularly considering it was just 2 weeks ago. You can make a very clear and strong case we have gotten much better since the Alabama loss nearly 2 months ago, a game we lost by 2 points. However, you can't make the same argument for Alabama following their 21-point loss to OU. It was just 2 weeks ago.

But, yes, of course it's going to be Bama. As they say, you can't decision the champ. If you leave up to the committee to have to pick between Alabama and pretty much any other team, it's going to Bama. I think they could send a strong message by NOT picking Bama. The Saban era is over. With a Saban team, there was always that thought that if you just gave them a chance, they'd somehow rise to the occasion and win it. This ain't that Bama. To continue treating this team like they are Saban's Tide is undeserved.

 

[Maccmaine12]

I don’t understand how we could be good enough to jump Ole Miss but not Bama? That would be kinda weird imo. Ole Miss/Bama resume is similar and to be fair both have terrible losses but Bama losses are worse imo

 

[18IsTheMan]

I don’t understand how we could be good enough to jump Ole Miss but not Bama? That would be kinda weird imo. Ole Miss/Bama resume is similar and to be fair both have terrible losses but Bama losses are worse imo

Bama has 2 very bad losses. One very recently.

Ole Miss has a horrifically bad loss. They lost to UK, whose only other wins on the season were against Southern Miss, Ohio and Murray State. Southern Miss and Murray State are a combined 2-22.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

The committee will have to put on blinders to ignore losses to Vandy and most recently, Oklahoma.
One team is hot and earning respect and the other is treading water and living on legacy.

 

[18IsTheMan]

The committee will have to put on blinders to ignore losses to Vandy and most recently, Oklahoma.
One team is hot and earning respect and the other is treading water and living on legacy.

They would have to gouge their own eyes out to ignore the OU loss.

 

[gamecox4982]

The committee is only a small factor of who gets in. ESPN paid big bucks (1.3 billion) for this. They aren’t going to let a bunch of zeros determine who gets the at large bid. It’s all about ROI and that will go to the team that brings in the most viewer.