Klatt goes off on CFP Committee Keeping Tennessee Ranked
Thought this was a pretty hilarious rant from Klatt. What he says is totally true. Even in a down year in the SEC, they are still getting the benefit of the doubt. Missouri being ranked #9 is stupid enough, but Tennessee being ranked #21?? Hilarious! Their best win is Texas A&M. They have 4 losses. They lost to Florida, which is a team that lost to Utah, but Utah isn't ranked.
Starts around the 12 minute mark.
November 22nd, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^
but the SEC sucks
Maybe--I feel like the PAC 12 and Big XII have probably been better overall this year--but if the SEC sucks, just how bad is the B1G? Maybe it's just that I'm falling for the media's SEC bias, but imagine we had a B1G-SEC Challenge like in basketball, where like ranked teams play like ranked teams. The games at the top would be tossups--M/OSU-UGA, OSU/M-Bama, PSU-Mizz/Ole Miss--but after that, I feel like in every other game the SEC teams would be favored.
That's really the core of the issue re our playoff hopes if we lose to OSU: our schedule is abysmal. Our best win is PSU, our second best is UNLV(?), and after that it's 6-5 Maryland and Rutgers? That's about as weak as you could imagine for a P5 team...
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
UNLV > Tennessee
But, SEC bias......
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:48 PM ^
Credit to UNLV for beating Wyoming & AFA the last 2 weeks, but their resume is thin, even for a 9-2 G5 team. That's it for wins over teams w/ winning records, and Air Force is sliding hard themselves (lost to Army and Hawaii before UNLV).
They really could have used that Fresno State game. As is, UNLV is behind Tulane & Liberty, as well as probably Toledo and arguably Troy (if those 2 win the MAC/Sun Belt) for the G5 NYD bowl bid.
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
As well he should.
Tennessee still being ranked is ridiculous.
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:21 PM ^
Don't forget if the SEC wasn't too scared to only play 8 conference games instead of 9, half the league would have another loss each rather than all the teams getting one easy win (except you, Auburn. LOL!) Thus, lowering the league's overall SOS and obviously making it more likely that a mid team like Tennessee is one of those teams without an extra loss.
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:22 PM ^
Milton for Heisman!
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:26 PM ^
I’m becoming more and more aware that college football, in its entirety, has more things in common with pro wrestling than I’d care to admit. And the events of the past three weeks with our program have definitely shown that much of what we care so deeply about is nothing more than an elaborate game of three card monte adjudicated by a Soviet show trial.
Ranking Tennessee 21 is just par for the course. Punishing us for offenses literally every other major program does is just more of the same. Putting OSU in the final 4 with a loss while keeping us out if we lose is no different.
The SEC and their proxy school in Columbus have power and aren’t afraid to use it for their desired outcome.
November 22nd, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
Completely agree. It’s getting very difficult to take college football seriously when such egregious manipulation and conflicts of interest are so prevalent. The sign stealing nonsense seems to be the jump the shark moment for the B1G. So goddamn ridiculous.
November 22nd, 2023 at 2:00 PM ^
In stereotypical terms, it reflects old tropes about the North and South. The NFL is like the industrialized north: high degrees of standardization, professionalism, and producing an overall superior output.
Today's college football reeks of the undue influence southern teams wield over it, and reflects the kind of local-yokel corruption that manifests when a bunch of socially, culturally, and geographically isolated yahoos are able to consolidate a near totality of political and economic power over their region. The southern institutions embrace the values of the plantation cartel in a deeply existential sense, and just like the post-Reconstruction US, college football is vastly worse for bringing that influence into the fold.
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:28 PM ^
Nashville sports radio was just discussing this and think it's a joke that Tennessee is ranked. One of the hosts said quite bluntly that it's so that the fringe playoff SEC teams (read: Bama) have a better win on their resume. I appreciate his honesty.
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:33 PM ^
Fun fact: Tennessee has lost by an average of 21 points per contest in their 4 losses and the closest loss was by 13 points to 5-6 Florida. Their best win is either a 6 point win over 6-5 Kentucky or Austin Peay... Sure, 21st in the nation sounds about right /s
November 22nd, 2023 at 12:39 PM ^
Ahem, Mizzou at 9 is perfectly fine.
November 22nd, 2023 at 2:14 PM ^
This happens every year. The committee will decide to keep a handful of SEC teams ranked higher than they should be in order to make it easier to get multiple SEC teams into the CFP
November 22nd, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^
It's all a part of the ESPN control. Keep the SEC at the top. It's a sham, the committee is just an extension of ESPN.
Just think if they had control over the hoops tourney.
November 22nd, 2023 at 2:42 PM ^
Wait until they go to 12 teams. No SEC team will travel up north to play in the cold. Either SEC hosts or it'll be a neutral site, indoors.
November 22nd, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
I blame USA Today. Prior to the paper coming onto the scene 40 years ago everyone was happy with the AP and UPI publishing their top 20 teams. Along comes the upstart with their own poll with 25 teams and now people argue about what irrelevant team should be at 21 through 25.
November 22nd, 2023 at 4:09 PM ^
The committee has gotten progressively worse over the years. I felt like they took it seriously before, now it seems like a resume booster for a bunch of retirees who want little to do with locking in on college football and picking the best 25 teams in the country.
November 22nd, 2023 at 7:25 PM ^
Purpose of keeping them ranked is to get Bama in the CFP