2018 CFP Rankings

[Some Irish Bloke]

Notre Dame has played pretty convincing football once Book has entered the starting lineup minus the Pitt game. So the media can say "Michigan is a different team than what they were in week 1", they can say the same thing about ND but refuse not to.

That's the hilarious thing about this though, we LITERALLY are a different team. Our backup QB is the same guy who led us to 24 points and a win, and our leading rusher didn't even play for another 4 weeks after we beat their skunk-bear asses.

Oh, and remember how TOUGH the B1G was back at the time of this game as well?

 

[ACamp1900]

I'm with ACamp Arrow and Koon here all the way; the day that bad wins against "middling" opponents are trumped by a close HEAD TO HEAD loss is when CFB will be completely lost on me. You cannot let a sport become a speculative beauty pageant decided by 14 (or however many) people who claim and "Eye test is all" mentality. Bring back the the pre-BCS bowls if that's the case, period.

Here's me...

 

[PerthDomer]

Except that is this scenario we'd also have one less loss than Michigan

 

[Irish#1]

This is such a bull shit thought process. So when does the season really "start" then? When Michigan players came up with the cheesy "revenge tour"? Notice how Notre Dame isn't mentioned in the revenge tour! If that happens then cancel the game next year because theres literally no point in playing in it.

If Notre Dame would've went 11-1 last year with just the 1 point loss to Georgia, would UGA have been threatened to get jumped by ND? No and they absolutely shouldn't have.

This is a valid point and one most seem to ignore. True our schedule looked much tougher at the beginning of the year and we beat those teams when they were ranked by the same people who are now discounting those wins as quality wins. It's unfair to discount those as tough games now because their record isn't sterling. For all anyone knows, the loss to ND could be the reason they fell off of their early season ranking. As much as teams get hyped to play the Irish and have the game circled on their calendars for months, the loss could have the opposite effect on the team.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

Except that is this scenario we'd also have one less loss than Michigan

This is where I'm at. Not only did we beat Michigan, we are undefeated. If we had a loss then I could see them being ahead of ND. Winning is hard but so far we have managed to win them all. May not have all been pretty but we got the job done. Michigan can't say the same.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Except that is this scenario we'd also have one less loss than Michigan

But we don't have a QUALITY LOSS. This is the end all be all. How does one rebound after a tough 7 pt loss on the road.

 

[GowerND11]

It's just the way it is. I'm an ND homer, I'm just not blind to how things work. Everyone that has a hard time with the whole head to head debate need only to google Notre Dame 1993. And hell, that wasn't even an early season game.

Oh I completely agree. I am prepared for Michigan to jump us because of a CCG. It's unfortunate that it could happen with a head to head win and all. But like you said, the resume they'd have there can be an argument for them to jump us (whether you agree with it or not). Especially when you face the fact that the committee is human, and they are there to provide ratings and entertainment.

 

[T-Boone]

Maybe they would try to put Clemson 4 just to ensure it isn't another Bama v Clemson championship game. How boring would that be.

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

Michigan won't jump ND. It won't happen.

 

[GowerND11]

Maybe they would try to put Clemson 4 just to ensure it isn't another Bama v Clemson championship game. How boring would that be.

To us, and a lot of other CFB fans? Yeah...

But to ESPN, the committee, etc? It's infinite talking points.

 

[PANDFAN]

Oh I completely agree. I am prepared for Michigan to jump us because of a CCG. It's unfortunate that it could happen with a head to head win and all. But like you said, the resume they'd have there can be an argument for them to jump us (whether you agree with it or not). Especially when you face the fact that the committee is human, and they are there to provide ratings and entertainment.

AND the ass whooping they gave us last time is always brought up, despite it being back in 2012 when no one is still on the team playing from that team....lsu vs bama was brought up very little when lsu crossed the 50 yard line 1x in their game...but michigan is the sexy team now and how they would be the only defense outside of clemson to hang with bama....no respect for the irish this year .......handle our business and hopefully it's a moot point and meatchicken stumbles

 

[MPClinton22]

It's just the way it is. I'm an ND homer, I'm just not blind to how things work. Everyone that has a hard time with the whole head to head debate need only to google Notre Dame 1993. And hell, that wasn't even an early season game.

This is not the same as '93. It would be the same as '93 if ND loses to Cuse (a good team, probably about the same as the 93 BC team). ND and Mich would have the same # of losses, but ND would have the head to head. A reasonable argument could be made for both ND and Michigan in that case. In the scenario we're discussing now, ND would be UNDEFEATED. The two absolutely are not the same situation, and there is absolutely no justifiable reason Michigan should end up above ND.

Agreed with everyone above who says the moment an UNDEFEATED team with a head to head win against a 1-loss team gets JUMPED by said 1-loss team is the moment CFB becomes a joke to me.

 

[Irish YJ]

Urbie gonna ruin Hairballz's revenge tour anyway.

 

[T-Boone]

Hopefully all this is pissing the players off.

 

[Irish#1]

But we don't have a QUALITY LOSS. This is the end all be all. How does one rebound after a tough 7 pt loss on the road.

How does one rebound from being undefeated?

 

[Irish YJ]

This is not the same as '93. It would be the same as '93 if ND loses to Cuse (a good team, probably about the same as the 93 BC team). ND and Mich would have the same # of losses, but ND would have the head to head. A reasonable argument could be made for both ND and Michigan in that case. In the scenario we're discussing now, ND would be UNDEFEATED. The two absolutely are not the same situation, and there is absolutely no justifiable reason Michigan should end up above ND.

Agreed with everyone above who says the moment an UNDEFEATED team with a head to head win against a 1-loss team gets JUMPED by said 1-loss team is the moment CFB becomes a joke to me.

Point is.... head to head is not the only factor. And one loss is not the only factor (ie one loss LSU being ranked over zero loss us last week). Unfortunately, sexy matters. Joke or not.

 

[zelezo vlk]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">&#55357;&#56541;Twitter Quiz&#55357;&#56424;&#55356;&#57341;*&#55356;&#57235;<br><br>Before the start of tonight's College Football Playoff rankings, can you place the following historical events in chronological order?<br><br>-Columbus discovers America<br>-Man walks on the moon<br>-Notre Dame 24, Michigan 17<br>-Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1059840052598071296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

How does one rebound from being undefeated?

Until someone figures out how to accomplish this, any and all undefeated teams are susceptible to being passed by the teams who are presently passing the eye test.

 

[greyhammer90]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">��Twitter Quiz����*��<br><br>Before the start of tonight's College Football Playoff rankings, can you place the following historical events in chronological order?<br><br>-Columbus discovers America<br>-Man walks on the moon<br>-Notre Dame 24, Michigan 17<br>-Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation</p>— Pete Sampson (@PeteSampson_) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteSampson_/status/1059840052598071296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Since joining the athletic Pete's twitter has become quite trollolol. EDIT: Which I enjoy, to be clear.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

The Michigan talk will die as soon as they get waxed by OSU. Doesn't matter how good of a team they put on the field, Urban has Harbaugh's number.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

We'll see. Urban has had Harbaugh's number because Harbaugh was fielding inferior teams. I think Michigan is a legitimate team this year wiht that defense. They have a top 5 defense, which means they should be able to limit tOSUs explosive plays.

tOSUs defense has been porous so the question is whether Harbaugh's offense can actually score enough for the victory. If I were betting real dollars, it'd be hard not to put the money on Michigan straight up.

It's at Ohio State, maybe that'll be the x-factor.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

We'll see. Urban has had Harbaugh's number because Harbaugh was fielding inferior teams. I think Michigan is a legitimate team this year wiht that defense. They have a top 5 defense, which means they should be able to limit tOSUs explosive plays.

tOSUs defense has been porous so the question is whether Harbaugh's offense can actually score enough for the victory. If I were betting real dollars, it'd be hard not to put the money on Michigan straight up.

It's at Ohio State, maybe that'll be the x-factor.

OSU is well situated to throw over the top of Michigan's defense. I'm not sure it's a great matchup for UM. OTOH, Ohio State is playing like dogshit lately so matchups may not matter.

 

[ND88]

Since some people have decided to start Michigan's season after their loss to Notre Dame, this is the nutshell:

1. Michigan hasn't beat anyone great... just a couple of sort of good teams. Arguably, the best team they have beaten is Northwestern.

2. I'm not arguing that Notre Dame has beat anyone really exciting either. Ours is a similar trajectory.

3. Buuut, we beat Michigan. And we beat NW more handedly. So, Notre Dame should remain higher if logic were the breadwinner.

4. Logic doesn't matter, because there is a big push to promote the Big 10 with all that money invested in their success (Fox News etc.). It's bad business for even the slightest threat of the Big 10 not being represented as a major conference.

5. Notre Dame doesn't have a conference.

6. 2012 bias.

7. None of this debate will matter when Ohio St. beats Michigan, because the Big10 is mediocre. All their big wins and loses have been incestuous.

8. Notre Dame needs to win every game by as many points as possible and not worry about the Herbstreit clones. Our best win could end up actually being against a Syracuse team that almost beat Clemson if we prepare ourselves to be in that position by not getting ahead of ourselves here.

 

[IrishFaninTX]

Point is.... head to head is not the only factor. And one loss is not the only factor (ie one loss LSU being ranked over zero loss us last week). Unfortunately, sexy matters. Joke or not.

If we only had 1 of those factors, sure. But we have both and we beat a common opponent by more than Michigan did and didn't need OT to do it. We blew a 17 point lead and still won in regulation. Michigan blew a 17 point lead and then needed OT to win. So that is 3 factors. Michigan has the beating more top 25 opponents and blowing out cupcakes. 3 is more than 2.

 

[Irish#1]

Since some people have decided to start Michigan's season after their loss to Notre Dame, this is the nutshell:

1. Michigan hasn't beat anyone great... just a couple of sort of good teams. Arguably, the best team they have beaten is Northwestern.

2. I'm not arguing that Notre Dame has beat anyone really exciting either. Ours is a similar trajectory.

3. Buuut, we beat Michigan. And we beat NW more handedly. So, Notre Dame should remain higher if logic were the breadwinner.

4. Logic doesn't matter, because there is a big push to promote the Big 10 with all that money invested in their success (Fox News etc.). It's bad business for even the slightest threat of the Big 10 not being represented as a major conference.

5. Notre Dame doesn't have a conference.

6. 2012 bias.

7. None of this debate will matter when Ohio St. beats Michigan, because the Big10 is mediocre. All their big wins and loses have been incestuous.

8. Notre Dame needs to win every game by as many points as possible and not worry about the Herbstreit clones. Our best win could end up actually being against a Syracuse team that almost beat Clemson if we prepare ourselves to be in that position by not getting ahead of ourselves here.

I hope scUM loses to more than OSU and yes, win the remaining games by 50+ points.

 

[Irish YJ]

If we only had 1 of those factors, sure. But we have both and we beat a common opponent by more than Michigan did and didn't need OT to do it. We blew a 17 point lead and still won in regulation. Michigan blew a 17 point lead and then needed OT to win. So that is 3 factors. Michigan has the beating more top 25 opponents and blowing out cupcakes. 3 is more than 2.

like i said above, the NW factor is the best thing we have going for us IMO.

and like i also said, i don't like it, it just is what it is. no use spitting in the wind.

 

[Hammer Of The Gods]

I actually think Michigan is the only team that has a chance to Beat Alabama. I pray it plays out that they are 4 and Alabama is 1. We can beat Clemson. And have a rematch with Michigan for the title.

 

[T-Boone]

like i said above, the NW factor is the best thing we have going for us IMO.

and like i also said, i don't like it, it just is what it is. no use spitting in the wind.

you need to stop this.

 

[Irish YJ]

you need to stop this.

lol.... i used to get my panties in a wad over that kind of hypothetical stuff. after so many years of seeing how things go down, it's just easier to accept and expect it. i gave up my battered ND victim card many years ago. i'm much happier now that I expect ND to screwed.

 

[ab2cmiller]

IF the playoff committee decides to have Michigan pass ND, it won't be until the final selection week.

If you rank Michigan higher than ND now, you likely wouldn't be able to reverse them later based upon the schedules remaining for both teams.

This is important because if you rank Michigan higher now and Georgia ends up beating Bama in the SEC championship in a close game, then Georgia would have even more reason to pass ND than Michigan. Then the committee would be really stuck where they would likely be faced with keeping an undefeated Notre Dame out of the playoff (not happening) or somehow have Notre Dame jump back in front of Michigan with no reasonable grounds to justify the flip back.

So, if ND keeps winning, they will remain #3 and in front of Michigan until the final week.

If Georgia loses to Bama, then the committee would have the opportunity to have Michigan jump ND assuming they win out and still keep ND in the playoff. I'm not saying that they will jump ND, just saying that they could.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

Michigan was actually down 17-0 to Northwestern not up 17-0