CFP Management Comittee to Issue Press Release Regarding 12 Team Playoff - It’s Happening
So UM has a chance of getting in some day (as an at large obviously)
Could have gotten in twice with Harbaugh and the Sugar Bowl year with Hoke.
Michigan was ranked #13 going into bowl season in Hoke’s Sugar Bowl year, so we would have missed out. But yeah, Harbaugh would have gotten in twice
Let’s EFFING go!!!!
Bad news, for anyone that relishes the make or break nature of the regular season where even one loss is crushing. And cares about the most deserving teams winning the NC. The first time some 10 seed wins will be the time where know for sure the best and most deserving team did not win the NC. Because if you lose 3 games, no matter what happens in the playoff, you do not deserve to win the NC, and were not the best team, period.
I honestly think this is the most over-used excuse for college football's post season stupidity. In literally no other sport is a single loss a season ender. And no other sport cares whether it's the best team that wins the national championship. It's the team that wins the playoffs. Sometimes it's just a really hot team that managed to barely scrape into the playoffs in the first place. In happens in every sport. Having one bad game in October shouldn't ruin a team's chances to play for a championship.
I honestly think this is the most over-used excuse for college football's post season stupidity. In literally no other sport is a single loss a season ender.
Huh... the hockey and basketball tournaments are one and done.
And that's part of the excitement.
And the football PLAYOFFS will be the same way. The regular season does not function that way for these sports.
Not an argument either way, but basketball and hockey teams play significantly more games than football teams do, and they play their entire conference, most of them twice. So, there is quite a bit less room for variability in those sports than a 12-game football schedule.
I agree that no other sport prioritizes the regular season in this way and no other sport cares about the overall best team winning--that is precisely why college football is so awesome. Its uniqueness is part of its strength.
Apples and Rutabagas dude.
Soccer, the world’s most popular sport, does not rely on a playoffs.
But every soccer league has a season long tournament played in addition to and outside of the regular season schedule. This operates as--dare I say, a playoff?
Soccer sucks
UEFA champions league is the biggest deal in international soccer other than the world cup. And those are both tournaments with multiple knock out rounds. Yes, the national leagues are all round robin format. But most countries also have a separate playoff format cup competition in addition to the round robin league.
The at-large bids kill it for me. I’d tolerate a 3-loss conference champion winning it all, because they at least punched their own ticket, but I don’t want to see a team who couldn’t win its own division getting in. Or how about a scenario where a Georgia gets a third shot at an Alabama, playing them in the regular season, conference title game, and then The playoff. That’s a possibility now, unlikely, but possible.
I don’t want to see a team who couldn’t win its own division getting in
So you don't want to see Michigan in the playoff? Not trying to be an ass but Michigan is not winning the division any time soon. I know I know, Debbie Downer, but all things point to 2nd at best in the B1G East for some years to come.
So you don't want to see Michigan in the playoff?
Under those circumstances? Of course not. Mediocre teams have no business being in that title discussion, whether it’s Michigan or any other team. If Michigan goes 8-4 but somehow wins the conference, they at least willed themselves into it. I’m fine with that. Otherwise, no thanks.
Ok, but crazy things happen in sports all the time. Maybe key guys were injured first half of the season and by the end you are full strength and ready to kick some ass in the playoff.
So you may have 3-4 losses and no division title, it doesn't indicate how good your team really is.
12 teams sound fun to me and I am pretty old school traditional when it comes to college football.
But those days are gone for a number of reasons.
So in this setup, you don't think 2016 Michigan would have deserved a shot in the playoffs?
No, we actually want Michigan to be good enough to win without a handout or a crutch because if Michigan were somehow able to Cindarella its way to a championship despite 3 losses, we would be perceived as a second-rate and tainted champion. This is just like our critics contend about the ‘97 championship. No matter what we think as fans, that is one thing that Ohio State and virtually every other recent winner would be able to say about us. And if we are honest, we would have to admit that they are right. Why? Because they have already proven themselves with seasons of 12+ victories and one loss or less. We have not done that yet. Until we do, we can’t claim to be on their level, nor will we be able to consistently compete on the field and in recruiting.
I think Rich Rod was correct when he said that we will win more when we deserve to. Right now, neither we nor any other perennial 3 and 4 loss teams deserve to sniff a birth in anything that claims to be a national championship.
For the people that mention that it doesn’t work that way in the other major sports I say yes that’s true. But, they also play a lot more games so the winning percentage is much more relevant as a barometer of quality and usually the best and most deserving teams do win (I.e. This years Baylor basketball squad, Golden State Warriors for the past half decade). For those who cite the NFL, I would argue that it is the case that the best team usually wins, with rare exceptions. And the exceptions are mostly due to talent parity thanks to the salary cap. So it is not as much of a surprise if a team comes out of nowhere to win as a wild card because teams should in theory have more or less the same average talent level and therefore it should be expected that every once in a while a wild card will win. Except if we are talking about the Lions, in which case they are undone not by the talent on the field but by the talent in the front office.
Are you serious? Claim to be on their level… Who does that? And why would I give a shit about what any non-fan thinks about a UM championship?
Happens in the NFL all the time and no one complains. Win your playoff games and you are champion. Simple.
March Madness takes 7-8 teams from a conference and it's still awesome. The NFL and NBA playoff don't require you to win your conference. They're all still exciting and keep more teams/fans involved.
We saw a BCS national championship a few years ago that featured LSU and Alabama. Both members of the SEC West. Clearly one of those teams didn’t win their division. They were also clearly the two best teams in the country.
Who gives a rats ass if you win your division or not? That’s such an arbitrary condition for you to have. The best teams should get in, along with your conference champions. Being in the same division as a conference champion shouldn’t disqualify you.
I don't think winning a division is the most important thing but saying it's arbitrary is ridiculous. You don't win your division by random draw. You have the best record or tied for the best with tiebreakers like head to head wins.
Makes me think of 2016 USC that ended #3 after losing 3 games.
If I remember correctly they lost 3 of their first 4 games of the year with injuries and shit to the #1 #7 and #20 teams in the nation 2/3 on the road 1/3rd neutral site. then won their last 9 games to finish 10-3 having beat the #5 team in the nation in a New years day bowl and also knocked top 5 Washington out of the playoffs a few weeks before that.
I'm all for 12 teams. I would have loved to see that USC team get a rematch vs Bama. would have been a lot closer than the 46 pt loss they had to Bama in the first game of the year with injuries.
I always find that FBS football is viewed through a lense that other sports don't get viewed through. Would we have lamented if our 4 seed Michigan basketball team had won it all in 2013? Was it a travesty that our 3 seeded hockey team won it all in 1998? Or that an 8 seed NC State won a basketball title?
I know some of the intensity of the regular season is gone now, but this will be good for the sport in the long run. There's a reason no other sport ever tries to emulate the old way of how football determined a national champion
What if at the time, you actually are the best team? What if key players are injured early, but come back late? I don't think it's as black and white as you assume it will be. I know nothing is 100% but I would bet they get it right 99% of the time when you include conference Champs.
So you don't enjoy literally any other sport besides College Football?
I think you mean bad news for people who enjoy voting and arguing more than watching good football games.
Also bad news for people who enjoy the current exhibition bowl games where every good junior/senior sits out to avoid getting hurt.
And cares about the most deserving teams winning the NC. The first time some 10 seed wins will be the time where know for sure the best and most deserving team did not win the NC. Because if you lose 3 games, no matter what happens in the playoff, you do not deserve to win the NC, and were not the best team, period.
I simply can't wrap my mind around this thought process. Sports is not a subjective beauty pageant, you win championships by beating the teams in front of you when it matters most, not having a committee of rich and distinguished people awarding you a blue ribbon.
I would say, you deserve to win the national championship if you've earned the right to participate in the tournament and beat all of the teams you come up against. Don't worry, Alabama, Clemson and OSU will still win plenty of championships under this new format, they'll just be less likely to be in their own exclusive elite category amongst the rest of college football. I can't possibly understand why someone outside of an Alabama/Clemson/OSU fan would think this is a bad thing.
Apparently, we're both '87 grads. However, I cannot disagree with you more.
I'm sure you recall the 1985 basketball season. The was the year that #1 seed UM was ousted in the second round by #8 seed Villanova. That same #8 seed went on to play Georgetown in one of the greatest finals of all time.
Villanova shot 79% from the floor to stun Patrick Ewing and the Hoyas. They had to beat two #1 seeds, two #2 seeds and a 5 and 9 seed in the NCAA tournament. So, the point is that I doubt many would say that they didn't deserve that championship despite ending their regular season #4 in the Big East behind St. John's (Chris Mullins), Georgetown, and Syracuse (Rony Seikaly and Sherman Douglas).
regular season began to die when the 4 team playoff began...
So I guess you hate March Madness then huh?
Two years too late for us but fun to see
If we can't crack the top 12 or get an at-large bid going forward, then tough shit. We probably wouldn't deserve it in that case anyways.
Well obviously. My point is that under a 12 team format Michigan is in the playoffs in 2016-2018 and the entire narrative around the program looks a lot different with three straight years in the playoffs including not having the recruiting crater that tanked 2020 and this year. Whenever changes like this happen, where you are when the change happens creates a dividing line. Clemson recruited well but not at an elite level but made the first couple of playoffs partly because of a transcendant QB in Watson and now are an elite recruiting team. If the playoffs get created in 2010 Clemson isn't a juggernaut. If it expands to 12 and for example PSU is the school that gets in from the east behind OSU for the first two years it creates a real problem for Michigan. It wouldn't have been a problem if they just went to 12 originally and Michigan made a bunch early on.
Just like when Bill Hancock (mouthpiece of the BCS) said a playoff wasn't necessary and wouldn't happen. He is now mouthpiece of the CFP.
I like it. It may not be perfect but should be pretty exciting once we get used to it.
It will arouse interest for a minute. Then people will realize that it hasn't intro'd parity to the sport.
Hope the second round games (ie quarter finals of 8 teams) are also on campus, but I suspect we're going to get 3 weeks of neutral site games to prop up the bowl commissioners.
Which further means that the regular season won't get shortened because most teams need 7 home games or 6 home games plus a payday to make football economically viable.
Michigan finishes 3rd. "Lets go to a 4 team playoff"
Michigan finishes 7th. "Lets go to a 8 team playoff"
Michigan finishes 11th. "Lets go to a 12 team playoff'
Michigan goes 2-4. "Lets cut the coaches salary"
The saying "Day late and dollar short comes to mind."
^This.
Instead of the CFP being for winners-only we are going to a whiners-only. Because “it’s not fair” and self-esteem. How about we follow Charles Woodson’s advice: Just win.
This sounds fantastic, so I'm sure they'll find a way to ruin it.
If the bye teams don't get an on campus game, it's not a great outcome for the fans.
Your team has a great season and then the playoff games are in say, Orlando, Dallas, and Pasadena in consecutive weeks.
And that's after another neutral site conference championship game.
Really good point. No way the top 4 teams should be shafted out of a playoff game on their campus. That's asinine.