Michigan has already won the first 12 team playoff.
I just watched today's "Around the Horn" (I know, I know ESPN) and one of the reporters said that "winning the championship will be a lot harder with a 12 team playoff because you will need to win 3 playoff games and possibly 4.
I would argue that Michigan did exactly that this year. If you take the week 15 A.P. poll standings, which was the final poll prior to the announcement of the playoff teams, Michigan defeated the #2 (Washington), #5 (Alabama), #7 (the Ohio State), and #10 (Penn State).teams.
Am I wrong?
January 12th, 2024 at 5:43 PM ^
Sort of.
January 12th, 2024 at 5:44 PM ^
Two of them without Harbaugh, lol.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Enjoy this season’s championship.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:54 PM ^
Maybe?
January 12th, 2024 at 5:49 PM ^
Their thinking is backwards. Up to now you needed a 12-0/11-1 season to make the CFP field, and even then it wasn’t always guaranteed. Now we’ll see teams with two or possibly even three losses getting in. You’ll just need to get hot at the end of the season to win it all.
January 12th, 2024 at 5:53 PM ^
Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming years. Basically gives the uber-stacked teams like Bama and OSU two or three mulligans to win a championship in a year. But all of the most talented teams were winning the CFP anyway, so maybe more games will lead to more upsets.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:26 PM ^
Exactly this. In a 12-tram format you have to watch out for the team that struggles to start the year but makes a run at the end, they way Alabama did....
/s, just in case.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:38 PM ^
It is exactly as hard as it always has been during the FBS era--you have to be #1 out of 133 teams. The process for determining that one has and will change, and the nature of the challenges change from year to year. For example, this year it required being undefeated, which is not always true. But the overall level of difficulty remains.
What is true, however, is that this is harder on the individuals players, as they will have to play more games to be named #1.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:50 PM ^
1980 Michigan team with 2 losses would have won it all
January 12th, 2024 at 6:54 PM ^
!985, 1988, 1990, 1999 would have all had good shots.
January 12th, 2024 at 5:51 PM ^
We played Ohio and Penn State in the regular season.
January 12th, 2024 at 8:25 PM ^
Also I have a machine that turns tortillas into delicious melty triangles
January 12th, 2024 at 5:51 PM ^
listening to around the horn is like getting herpes: you shouldn't do either.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:04 PM ^
You have quite the way with words.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:35 PM ^
I couldn't have said it any better myself
January 12th, 2024 at 9:01 PM ^
I can't believe that show is still on air. Tony Kornhiser sucking on his glasses trying to look sophisticated drives me insane. I don't watch it, but it will be on the TV at the bar I go to at times. And the volume is never on. I just look up and see that and want to punch him! End of rant!
January 13th, 2024 at 9:24 AM ^
Kornhiser is on Pardon the Interruption.
January 13th, 2024 at 12:24 AM ^
I think we all know that.
He is saying that beating hose four teams at the very end of the season is equivalent to playing (and winning) the 12 team tournament. (Actually, it's unlikely we'd play all teams that high in the rankings.)
January 12th, 2024 at 5:55 PM ^
Depends on how you look at it.
Four-team playoff: Hard to get in, but once you're in you only have to win two games.
Twelve-teams: Easier to make the field, but then more difficult
So if you define "winning a championship" as what happens once the CFP starts the ESP-genius is correct. But if you think the process starts at the beginning of the season, I think the four-team version is harder. Just ask FSU how easy the four-team playoff is...
January 12th, 2024 at 6:27 PM ^
Just ask FSU how easy the four-team playoff is...
Georgia probably has some insight, too.
January 12th, 2024 at 8:20 PM ^
Or Georgia
January 12th, 2024 at 5:58 PM ^
That's not how it works ........ and besides, I'd guess this has happened a fair amount of times in the past too (especially in the 4-team CFP era, ANY Champ gets 2 Top 5 wins right there).
2019 LSU, for instance - beat SIX teams that were ranked in the Top 10 of the final regular season poll. Clemson (#3 at the end of the regular season), Oklahoma (#4), Georgia (#5), Florida (#6), Alabama (#9) and Auburn (#10).
January 12th, 2024 at 7:48 PM ^
He didn’t say they’d be the FIRST to do it. Just that essentially they ran a similar gauntlet to a 12 team playoff.
January 12th, 2024 at 5:59 PM ^
We were a one seed which means we get a bye. Next year will be easier.
;-)
But also we get to play half of the top ten next year going into the payoff and then will have to beat the other half to win it all. Buckle up all you bastards that whined about our schedule being too easy.
#6 Texas, #8 Washington, #10 Oregon, ranked Usc, #2 OSU, #4 Penn St in the championship
Then in the playoff
#7 Bama, # 5 LSU , #2 Georgia
2 (2x), 4,5,6,7,8 10
Sure why not. If we end next regular season 9-3 are season ticket holders going to fold their arms and say "Now thats more like it!"
January 12th, 2024 at 7:53 PM ^
Probably?! Will make for a fun and worthwhile September-November.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:03 PM ^
I’m more worried about the Keith Jackson rumours !!
January 12th, 2024 at 6:17 PM ^
I've heard the same dumb point about it being supposedly harder with 12 teams instead of 4 in other contexts. At the end of the season, someone has to win the whole thing. If every team were of equal skill, the odds would be exactly the same (1 out of 133) no matter the format. Even if we went to the multiple months of NHL playoffs.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:27 PM ^
Technically speaking it won't be any harder. Someone will win those 3 or 4 games every single year.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:28 PM ^
Yeah.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:34 PM ^
Why the hell are you putting "the" in front of Ohio State.
* Shakes head in disgust.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:45 PM ^
….said Glove, without a trace of irony….
January 13th, 2024 at 5:43 PM ^
Central Ohio University or OSU which is well known as the safety net school for central Ohio.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:49 PM ^
We’re having too good a time today that we’re not even thinking about tomorrow.
Honestly, folks, let’s just enjoy this glory while we have it. Before too long, the 2024 season will be here and the chase will start all over. Until then, forget next year and forget the 12 team playoff.
Michigan won THIS ONE. Enjoy it.
January 12th, 2024 at 6:57 PM ^
Mark my words, there will be some interesting upsets with the 12 team playoff. The bye will not always be an advantage.
Look at how sloppy Michigan and Alabama played. It was a lot of time off before they played.
Some of those bye teams with their long layoffs are going to get picked off by the "lesser" teams that just played and won a game.
January 12th, 2024 at 9:34 PM ^
This.
The Blue Jackets sweeping the Lightning a few years back comes to mind.
Lightning absolutely dominate the regular season, wrap up a playoff spot early on, win the Presidents trophy, and are on cruise control the last few weeks of the season.
Blue Jackets, meanwhile, are fighting tooth and nail to get into the playoffs on a nightly basis. Every game for the last several weeks of the regular season is a playoff game for them. They squeak in, but they’ve been in playoff mode, so they’ve been in full on “kill or be killed” mode for weeks.
Lightning come in fresh, but not mentally prepared. They get punched in the mouth the first game or two by a hungry, desperate, and mentally prepared opponent who has been playing playoff style of hockey for weeks, and the Lightning have absolutely no idea how to respond. They get swept in one of the biggest playoff series upsets ever.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:31 PM ^
Go to bed.
January 12th, 2024 at 7:55 PM ^
But that just furthers the point though. Teams will have to do what we did & more to make it to the title game
January 12th, 2024 at 7:55 PM ^
What are you saying ? The champion gets an automatic berth the following year ???
January 12th, 2024 at 8:00 PM ^
Impossible to tell if 12 teams makes it harder or easier. Yes playing 3/4 games makes it potentially more difficult because you have to play 1 or 2 extra games. It could also make it potentially easier if a favorite on your path gets upset by a lower team.
January 12th, 2024 at 8:00 PM ^
Yes; you are wrong.
January 12th, 2024 at 8:06 PM ^
I think it will be harder to dominate like Alabama did for a while.. but it'll be easier for second tier teams because more games means more chances for upsets. If you're a juggernaut in a single elimination situation you want as few games as possible between you and the championship.
January 12th, 2024 at 9:12 PM ^
No reseeding will also lead to some upsets. I still haven't formed an opinion on the reseeding that goes on in the NFL during the playoffs. Maybe because I don't care about the NFL like I do CFB.