Probably a bridge too far in the current format, maybe in the expanded version. Ultimately, it's all about the benjamins.
Scoop: Orange Bowl Committee wants Penn State. Fan base travels better than . . .
- Thread starter LealandLoyal
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Well, if the 12 Team fiasco is a "playoff", they have it, beginning in 2025 or 2026 (whenever that deal starts)
A "playoff" game between Tulane and Oregon, December 10th in Eugene, with a 2/3 full stadium (and no students).
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PSU: losses v. against 2 top 4 teams. One blowout, one close(ish).
LSU: losses v. 2 top 16 teams (1 pt loss and blowout)
Tenn: losses v. best team and non-top 25 (blowout)
Bama: losses v. #5 and #10 - very close
PSU: wins - No wins over a top 25 team
LSU: wins - Bama and Ole Miss ... #7 and #20
Tenn: wins - LSU and Bama ... #5 and #7
Bama: wins - #23 Texas
Bama is actually closest to us.
Tenn has the issue with losing their star QB, but their resume is clearly better
LSU we don't match up against, resume-wise
Of course, as you say, bowls will take who they want, within their power.
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If LSU loses the SEC Championship would they have preference over PSU with three losses? Conspiracy theorist in me says Georgia/SEC lets LSU win a close one so both are in the CFP….
You can see these SEC chess set ups for the Championship starting in October, not only the polls , but the talking heads . The sad part they actually believe these teams deserve to be there.
Ole miss isn’t much better than who we beat. Lsu with Bama is a better win.
same with Tennessee.
those teams rose quickly because they beat highly ranked teams (Kentucky/Arkansas/Florida) who aren’t good and were ranked cause of SEC.
I’ll give Bama a pass because of history and talent. But look at others.
Yeah we lost bad to michIvan but we led in the 2nd half. (We also are a lot better now). We also led vs OSU late. Tennessee got blown out vs unranked team. Tennessee was taken to OT vs average Pitt. LSU beat Auburn by 4. We gave up less points. We beat Auburn by more than LSU scored. People claim Ole Miss as good win but the best team they BEAT is 6-5 Kentucky.
LSUs opponents have 70 wins (counting Southern who is 1Aa).
Tennessee has 72 (again with 1Aa team)
Bamas have 68 (again with 1Aa)
Ours have 69
Very similar.
You're trying way too hard to spin it. You're looking at it from a PSU fan perspective, trying to find every positive for PSU and ignoring all the negatives for PSU and positives for other squads.
If you beat a 9-2 team (legit power 5) and a 2-9 team, your opponents have 11 wins.
If you beat a 5-6 team and a 6-5 team, your opponents have 11 wins.
But those two resumes are not the same. At all.
It makes a big difference if you can show up and beat top teams, when you're looking at a crap load of teams with similar records, who don't play nearly the same schedule, and you're trying to determine who belongs at the top. Beating 7-4 Purdue and 7-4 Minny v. beating 9-2 Tenn and 2-9 New Mexico. That's 3 less wins for those 2 opponents of LSU ... and yet ... the win over Tenn is more impressive than beating Purdue and Minny.
If PSU had beaten Michigan (who likely will eventually have 2 losses in that scenario - PSU and OSU), and lost to ... let's say, Purdue ... they'd have a better argument. Quality wins matter when you only have 12 games on the schedule and you're expected to win most of them. They aren't going to sit there and pick apart every game and say "oh, but they led at halftime, even though they eventually got pummeled" .(especially when they were actually getting pummeled in the 1st half, they just ran into some lucky scores/stops) when they're staring a win v. Bama in the face v. a win v. ... uh, Minnesota?
It's just unfortunate that, this year, PSU faced two top teams, and then didn't have some top 15 or top 25 quality opponents on the schedule to "redeem" themselves. No one cares about margin of victory against mediocre to bad teams when you have clear differentiating quality wins.
well, the alternative is a meaningless SEC opponent in a bowl game that gets no promo or prime time slot.
You could also argue the counter playing a 9 win team surrounded by losing teams is easier. Less grind.
margin of victory does come into play. When you play lesser teams the easier you beat them shows you are better. If one beat team a by 20 and somebody else beat team A by 30 I’d agree. But when the common opponent is beaten by 1 team by 29 snd other by 3-4 it does offer argument that the team who whom by 4 scores MAY be better
I also believe it should interesting BWI’m actually impressed by some of PSU’s 2nd and 3rd stringers
A bowl game could be their coming-out party
Wins matter. Quality wins matter. They matter a lot more than margin of victory. Good teams have off weeks ... but still win. Not by as much as you thought they would ... but they still win. No one is going to overlook a win against Bama, and think the margin of victory against a bad team matters nearly as much as that.
Nobody cares about the throwaway non-con wins, or quality (with rare exceptions). So that 9-2 Ohio we beat? As irrelevant as the 6-4 FCS Southern squad LSU beat. We don't get extra credit because our cupcake had 3 more wins. No one cares that we beat a 4-7 CMU, while LSU only beat a 2-9 New Mexico squad. Regardless, in conference, PSU beat 7-4, 7-4, 6-5 unranked Big 10 teams, and then 4-7, 4-7, 1-10. LSU beat 9-2, 8-3 ranked SEC teams, and then 7-4, 6-5, 6-5, 5-6 unranked. You're worried about the Auburn game, and that was their worst conference opponent, to date. It's a nothingburger.
I'd give up a more "prestigious" bowl if it meant facing a team I cared about. I love, love, love the G5 teams getting a shot in an expanded playoff, because I hate the ******** of supposing the other conferences are just too good to have to deal with them, and I want to see some G5 squads whoop up on an unsuspecting Power 5 opponent every now and then ... but until then, all non-playoff bowls are just blah ... so give me a matchup against someone like Notre Dame ... even if they're 6-6 ... because then I have a real reason to root for the opponent's destruction.
Rut roh. I must have expressed myself incorrectly, since my 2 likes are from the President and Vice-President of the She-Girl Franklin Haters club. Phuck those guys.
It's not about what I feel .. it's about what these committee folks consider. TCU is undefeated in a Power 5. The end. I personally think PSU would beat them ... but that's not even going to be possible. I'm just talking about the situation where you have very good, but flawed, 9-2 teams ... and how they're going to be separated.
I'm an old school guy ... but with a twist ... I don't think conferences should be allowed to be bigger than the number of teams you can play in the regular season, and I think only conference champs should advance to a playoff (and playoffs should be expanded - hate the bowls). I hate old white guys deciding which teams/conferences are more deserving. Prove it on the field.
I think if the OSU/UM game is very close, both may get in, but if either USC or Clemson destroys their next 2, that could sway the committee.
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