College Football Playoff Rankings 2015 (ND #8...)

[GATTACA!]

Yeah, Sparty might very well get to 3 if they win the B1G, but not until then.

Agreed. honestly thats the best scenario for us. Avoids Bama in the 1st round.

 

[Irish Insanity]

MSU should not jump all the way to #3. #3 comes down to ND or Iowa.

I don't get the love for MSU to jump that high. Their isn't a worse loss in the top 10.

 

[Irish8248]

A MSU jump that high, with one loss, over the undefeated B10 team, would essentially tell the world that the committee doesn't give a shit and there's no rhyme or reason to selection process

 

[T Town Tommy]

I have nothing other than Charlotte Southern in a lopsided win to back me up.. You may be right but I just don't see them wanting us to play Bama in the semi's. They'll figure out a way.. If we beat Stanford, and everyone else wins out; to play Clemson in the semi's and figure out another money game.

I just don't think the committee will look at it that way. I think they will simply rank the teams 1-4 on how they see the teams and where they believe they fit. I do expect Clemson to stay in the one slot as long as they stay unbeaten however. Where everyone else lands depends on how they play, who beats who, etc.

On Clemson... I expect UNC to give them a good game as that Tar Heel defense is pretty solid at times. But that QB for UNC... he scares me with his erratic play sometimes against defenses with a pulse. Clemson wins... unless they Clemson. Which is always a possibility.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Yeah, Sparty might very well get to 3 if they win the B1G, but not until then.

I agree with this. IF MSU wins out, I think they can get to the three. Oklahoma is the team that the Irish have to concern themselves with at this point. I know the Texas loss lingers, but the choice between the Irish and the Sooners may very well come down to who looks the best against their opponent on Saturday. A convincing win for one and a close game for the other could be the deciding factor for the committee.

 

[Blaise]

Tomorrow's ranking is the most telling.. I think Iowa is 3 ND 4 Okla 5 Msu 6... but MSU vs Iowa is a play in and if ND wins out, and Okla wins, the debate will be live....

 

[wizards8507]

Ignore the headline, because it's click-bait and nothing more. The actual substance where he talks about what we should do is probably spot-on.

Why Baylor, Notre Dame and others must change scheduling approach in playoff era

Meanwhile, Notre Dame and BYU need to petition for a 13th game or schedule midseason byes so that they can play a de facto independent title game on the weekend of the conference championships. That would keep them front and center for the committee on the big day -- and also hold them over until they inevitably join a conference sometime down the road.

 

[gkIrish]

Ignore the headline, because it's click-bait and nothing more. The actual substance where he talks about what we should do is probably spot-on.

Why Baylor, Notre Dame and others must change scheduling approach in playoff era

Disagree on playing a 13th game for reasons I have stated in the past but I like the idea of pushing back our last game until conference championship week.

If we don't get in this year it will be because Oklahoma jumped us (who also plays 12 games) not because we didn't play a 13th game.

 

[GowerND11]

Disagree on playing a 13th game for reasons I have stated in the past but I like the idea of pushing back our last game until conference championship week.

If we don't get in this year it will be because Oklahoma jumped us (who also plays 12 games) not because we didn't play a 13th game.

Agreed. 13th game really doesn't benefit us. Moving back to that last week would be nice. Who do we get for that game though? Can't be Stanford/USC, Army/Navy, anyone in ACC. Would have to be BYU every year in that game or something.

 

[wizards8507]

Disagree on playing a 13th game for reasons I have stated in the past but I like the idea of pushing back our last game until conference championship week.

If we don't get in this year it will be because Oklahoma jumped us (who also plays 12 games) not because we didn't play a 13th game.

Then we need to toughen our schedule. If teams like Oklahoma are going to play ten Power Five programs in the year, we can't be doing shit like scheduling UMass and Temple in the same year (along with Navy). I know Temple and Navy both turned out to be good, but we can't count on that.

 

[rocket66]

Tomorrow's ranking is the most telling.. I think Iowa is 3 ND 4 Okla 5 Msu 6... but MSU vs Iowa is a play in and if ND wins out, and Okla wins, the debate will be live....

This is exactly it.


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[gkIrish]

Then we need to toughen our schedule. If teams like Oklahoma are going to play ten Power Five programs in the year, we can't be doing shit like scheduling UMass and Temple in the same year (along with Navy). I know Temple and Navy both turned out to be good, but we can't count on that.

Our schedule on paper is tough enough every year. This year happened to be a really unlucky year because USC and Texas were both not elite. If we miss the playoffs it's because we didn't beat Clemson, not because we didn't have a good enough schedule. Win all your games. Iowa & Oklahoma St. had shit schedules but all they had to do was win all their games.

 

[ThePiombino]

Our schedule on paper is tough enough every year. This year happened to be a really unlucky year because USC and Texas were both not elite. If we miss the playoffs it's because we didn't beat Clemson, not because we didn't have a good enough schedule. Win all your games.

True. If we're undefeated right now, no one is talking about Oklahoma getting in over us. No one respectable anyway.

 

[IrishLax]

Ignore the headline, because it's click-bait and nothing more. The actual substance where he talks about what we should do is probably spot-on.

Why Baylor, Notre Dame and others must change scheduling approach in playoff era

I've long said that with our travel considerations during the season a second bye while playing someone on "championship weekend" would be awesome... I've just always thought there was a rule against doing that? I'm pretty sure we're not allowed by the NCAA to schedule BYU or anyone but Hawaii for that weekend or a 13th game?

The thing to do would be to work in a second bye during the season, and then play BYU at a neutral site every year (we could have this be the "Shamrock Series" game every other year or come up with brand new marketing for it... I don't really care). And that neutral site game being at the end of the year would allow you to play in all kinds of exotic places like Rome, Ireland, Hawaii, etc.

 

[wizards8507]

Our schedule on paper is tough enough every year. This year happened to be a really unlucky year because USC and Texas were both not elite. If we miss the playoffs it's because we didn't beat Clemson, not because we didn't have a good enough schedule. Win all your games. Iowa & Oklahoma St. had shit schedules but all they had to do was win all their games.

True. If we're undefeated right now, no one is talking about Oklahoma getting in over us. No one respectable anyway.

I guess I look at it differently. You guys seem to be saying "just weak enough where we can go undefeated." I'd rather see "just strong enough where we get in even with one loss."

We're also programatically incapable of beating up on inferior opponents, so if we're going to win close we might as well win close against the Big 10 or someone. Really, would we have been significantly more at risk of losing a game if we played Purdue instead of UMass? We'd likely win either game but one of them adds a Power 5 opponent to our resume.

 

[rocket66]

If we beat Stanford and then Stanford wins the Pac12 and Navy wins the AAC, we will have major arguments on our side after championship week. Navy would qualify for a New Years 6 game. Those two events happening + the Texas win should be plenty for the committee to slot us over OU.


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[gkIrish]

I guess I look at it differently. You guys seem to be saying "just weak enough where we can go undefeated." I'd rather see "just strong enough where we get in even with one loss."

I think even with your perspective our schedule will be just fine almost every year with 1 loss.

The USC issue is becoming very real though. They have not been elite since Carroll left. Can we no longer count on them?

 

[ThePiombino]

I guess I look at it differently. You guys seem to be saying "just weak enough where we can go undefeated." I'd rather see "just strong enough where we get in even with one loss."

We're also programatically incapable of beating up on inferior opponents, so if we're going to win close we might as well win close against the Big 10 or someone. Really, would we have been significantly more at risk of losing a game if we played Purdue instead of UMass? We'd likely win either game but one of them adds a Power 5 opponent to our resume.

Your idea is has its catch-22s as well. Let's say we swapped our Navy game for Indiana or some other equivalent P5 team. Sure, we've added a P5 victory, but we've also given up our (to date) biggest win.

 

[IrishLax]

I think even with your perspective our schedule will be just fine almost every year with 1 loss.

The USC issue is becoming very real though. They have not been elite since Carroll left. Can we no longer count on them?

This is really what killed our schedule, especially with Oregon peaking and beating both them and Stanford. We're supposed to have a baked in game against an elite team in the middle of the year, plus another at the end of the year with the two Cali schools. I'm not sure if we should be happy that we're racking up some relatively easy wins over a school that used to own us, or disappointed that it's hurting our resume.

Crazy to think that if USC beats UCLA they'll still be playing Stanford for the PAC12 championship.

 

[wizards8507]

I think even with your perspective our schedule will be just fine almost every year with 1 loss.

Today, I agree. But there's a shift coming. Oklahoma is going to be the model for the Big 12 going forward and they played Akron, Tulsa, and Tennessee. Next year they have Houston, ULM, and Ohio State. That's two group of five schools and a blue blood each year. That doesn't bode well against our Navy x2, UMass, Temple, Army, and Nevada. We have nine power five opponents against their ten.

The USC issue is becoming very real though. They have not been elite since Carroll left. Can we no longer count on them?

That's part of our unique risk. The schools with the conference championship games have a guaranteed shot at a signature win. We have to hope for Stanford, USC, or one of our ACC opponents to be in the position to win their conference. If our opponents are all having B+ seasons, we don't have a shot at an A+ win.

Your idea is has its catch-22s as well. Let's say we swapped our Navy game for Indiana or some other equivalent P5 team. Sure, we've added a P5 victory, but we've also given up our (to date) biggest win.

That's a fluke unique to this season. Most years, a Navy* win is no sexier than an Indiana win.

*I'm not saying give up Navy. Navy is never coming off and I want it that way. I'm saying give up Army / Nevada / UMass / Temple.

 

[kmoose]

Today, I agree. But there's a shift coming. Oklahoma is going to be the model for the Big 12 going forward and they played Akron, Tulsa, and Tennessee. Next year they have Houston, ULM, and Ohio State. That's two group of five schools and a blue blood each year. That doesn't bode well against our Navy x2, UMass, Temple, Army, and Nevada. We have nine power five opponents against their ten.


That's part of our unique risk. The schools with the conference championship games have a guaranteed shot at a signature win. We have to hope for Stanford, USC, or one of our ACC opponents to be in the position to win their conference. If our opponents are all having B+ seasons, we don't have a shot at an A+ win.


That's a fluke unique to this season. Most years, a Navy* win is no sexier than an Indiana win.

*I'm not saying give up Navy. Navy is never coming off and I want it that way. I'm saying give up Army / Nevada / UMass / Temple.

Army can be on the schedule any year they want, as well. The sign says, "God, Country, Notre Dame" for a reason.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Best record vs schedule per FEI degree of difficulty:
1. Clemson
2. ND
3. Alabama
4. Iowa
5. Mich St
6. Oklahoma
<a href="https://t.co/PvaJSKKpEu">https://t.co/PvaJSKKpEu</a></p>— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau) <a href="https://twitter.com/bcfremeau/status/668792967310786560">November 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Whiskeyjack]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="de" dir="ltr">SOS to date for FEI top10:
17. ND
25. Alabama
33. Mich St
52. Oklahoma
58. Stanford
61. Navy
66. Michigan
78. Baylor
89. Clemson
94. Ohio St</p>— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau) <a href="https://twitter.com/bcfremeau/status/668783441236901888">November 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Whiskeyjack]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">FEI top 30 teams without an FEI top 30 victory through wk 12:
9. Ohio St
10. Michigan
12. UNC
13. Tennessee
15. TCU
24. Iowa
25. Florida St</p>— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau) <a href="https://twitter.com/bcfremeau/status/668749948545028096">November 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[ThePiombino]

That's a fluke unique to this season. Most years, a Navy* win is no sexier than an Indiana win.

*I'm not saying give up Navy. Navy is never coming off and I want it that way. I'm saying give up Army / Nevada / UMass / Temple.

This is fair, I'm just pointing out the the pendulum can swing both ways in any given year. Pick your poison.

 

[edgesofsanity]

I've long said that with our travel considerations during the season a second bye while playing someone on "championship weekend" would be awesome... I've just always thought there was a rule against doing that? I'm pretty sure we're not allowed by the NCAA to schedule BYU or anyone but Hawaii for that weekend or a 13th game?

Don't quite know how it works, but I do know Baylor is playing Texas (and WV vs KState) on "Championship Weekend" - so it would seem there's some way to get around it.

 

[wizards8507]

This is fair, I'm just pointing out the the pendulum can swing both ways in any given year. Pick your poison.

Absolutely. My poison is "err on the side of difficult."

 

[GowerND11]

I think it has always just been a general understanding that the last week of the season would be Army V Navy, which they still are. They play on December 12th!!! After Navy plays in the AAC Championship game.

Once CCGs came about, they were positioned in that last week with the Army/Navy game. The Big XII saw this, once the conference lost their CCG, as an opportunity to schedule the last games of the season as a way to make the teams in the Big XII more relevant that last week. The theory is that they can't be passed by a conference champion that week while they sit idly by.
However, they only have two games going this year, and they really aren't marquee matchups.

I don't believe Notre Dame wouldn't be allowed to schedule a game that week, but it would be difficult to find teams that could play in it. The only logical choice would be BYU as they are a somewhat quality team (kind of) and we wouldn't risk running into a CCG for them. I just question whether ND would ever do this.

 

[edgesofsanity]

I don't believe Notre Dame wouldn't be allowed to schedule a game that week, but it would be difficult to find teams that could play in it. The only logical choice would be BYU as they are a somewhat quality team (kind of) and we wouldn't risk running into a CCG for them. I just question whether ND would ever do this.

Another team possibility: all the Big 12 teams.

However, I do think the staff might prefer to end it earlier because by playing the last game in California every year they can spend the next days after staying behind to recruit.

The only game I think that could fit the bill would be against Texas every year. Back when the Big 12 was courting ND for it's affiliation, Texas had kicked around the idea of scheduling ND the last Saturday of the season (to replace the T A&M game once they jumped ship to the SEC). It'd be a generally marquee matchup between 2 name programs, and the staff could stay behind to recruit in Texas after the team went back north.

 

[nsisk157]

Another team possibility: all the Big 12 teams.

However, I do think the staff might prefer to end it earlier because by playing the last game in California every year they can spend the next days after staying behind to recruit.

The only game I think that could fit the bill would be against Texas every year. Back when the Big 12 was courting ND for it's affiliation, Texas had kicked around the idea of scheduling ND the last Saturday of the season (to replace the T A&M game once they jumped ship to the SEC). It'd be a generally marquee matchup between 2 name programs, and the staff could stay behind to recruit in Texas after the team went back north.

I like it.

Also, I don't mind a 13th game for selfish reasons (another ND Saturday).