2018 CFP Rankings

[ACamp1900]

Pretty sure that’s not accurate, I thought it was based up proximity to 1 or something along those lines.

You're prob right then, I'm going off one convo between Herbie and someone I saw where it said 1v4 in Miami....

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

I'm tired of hearing about all these efficiency rankings and "pod tiers" and all the other bulls*hit used to discredit ND. NDs own fans make it seem like the Irish shouldn't be thought of as an elite team. I think that is garbage. They won all their games. They deserve to be in the playoffs. They deserve credit just like Clemson and Bama. They also deserve more respect from their own fans.

To he*l with all those metrics. Ask Michigan how those defensive metrics helped them last week. MFing GO IRISH!

 

[NDRock]

I'm tired of hearing about all these efficiency rankings and "pod tiers" and all the other bulls*hit used to discredit ND. NDs own fans make it seem like the Irish shouldn't be thought of as an elite team. I think that is garbage. They won all their games. They deserve to be in the playoffs. They deserve credit just like Clemson and Bama. They also deserve more respect from their own fans.

To he*l with all those metrics. Ask Michigan how those defensive metrics helped them last week. MFing GO IRISH!

I agree. Following college football has gotten exhausting. I just want to enjoy the games. Now, I have to worry if we won by enough points or passed the eye test significantly enough. It's crazy that there is even a debate about us falling to 4th, but I know that's all we will hear after the CCGs.

 

[Ndaccountant]

You're prob right then, I'm going off one convo between Herbie and someone I saw where it said 1v4 in Miami....

I think if it's Bama vs OU, they would slate the game in Miami to avoid giving OU a potential benefit w/r/t proximity. If it were Bama vs anyone else, believe they would end up in Dallas.

 

[ND88]

I'm tired of hearing about all these efficiency rankings and "pod tiers" and all the other bulls*hit used to discredit ND. NDs own fans make it seem like the Irish shouldn't be thought of as an elite team. I think that is garbage. They won all their games. They deserve to be in the playoffs. They deserve credit just like Clemson and Bama. They also deserve more respect from their own fans.

To he*l with all those metrics. Ask Michigan how those defensive metrics helped them last week. MFing GO IRISH!

The one thing eluding Notre Dame's grasp is also the same thing that keeps fueling the doubt and negativity. The deeper issue is that the final credit we have been needing to earn is a national championship. We're close, but it's a real challenge to do in this era, especially when you consider certain advantages that Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State have built up more recently, with coaching, recruiting depth and title-game experience. This has created anxiety among some of the fanbase and has also provided ammunition for those who dislike/hate ND. Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State have all earned what we have yet to earn. It doesn't make ND's accomplishment of going 12-0 irrelevant or not worthy of respect. We just haven't hit the pinnacle of success that we desire, and we know the difference and need to keep working to earn it.

With that said, I agree that obsessing over metrics has definitely become a ridiculous trend. I get why teams and the media have bought into them as they do provide some ways to quantify the experience and provide some advantages. However, I'm just not personally invested because I try to allow emotion/passion fuel my interest in the sport, especially as a spectator, and I still like believing in Hail Marys to keep some innocence in a sport that I loved playing since I was a kid.

 

[Irish#1]

The problem is everyone is using 2012 as a reference point. That was six years ago and a lot has changed. Our talent, speed, depth and S&C has improved vastly as well as our coaching staff. Remember, Diaco was a "this is who we are" coach and was as predictable as a watch. Lea & Long have shown they can not only be creative, but can make changes during the game. We're not on the same level as Bama, but we've already shown the last few years we can compete with Clemson, Georgia and LSU.

 

[NDMIA]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brent Venables told reporters this afternoon that he has spoken with Texas Tech AD and former college teammate Kirby Hocutt.<a href="https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a">https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a</a></p>— Clemson247 (@Clemson247) <a href="https://twitter.com/Clemson247/status/1067118017836982272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This could help if Venables is busy recruiting and stuff for Texas Tech when we take them on December. Don't think it'll help a ton, but it could help a bit and every little bit works.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

The problem is everyone is using 2012 as a reference point. That was six years ago and a lot has changed. Our talent, speed, depth and S&C has improved vastly as well as our coaching staff. Remember, Diaco was a "this is who we are" coach and was as predictable as a watch. Lea & Long have shown they can not only be creative, but can make changes during the game. We're not on the same level as Bama, but we've already shown the last few years we can compete with Clemson, Georgia and LSU.

In fairness to Diaco, he was also good at making half-time adjustments. He was just running a simple defensive scheme with a few serious personnel deficiencies in 2012, so he got exposed against 'Bama.

 

[NDohio]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brent Venables told reporters this afternoon that he has spoken with Texas Tech AD and former college teammate Kirby Hocutt.<a href="https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a">https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a</a></p>— Clemson247 (@Clemson247) <a href="https://twitter.com/Clemson247/status/1067118017836982272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This could help if Venables is busy recruiting and stuff for Texas Tech when we take them on December. Don't think it'll help a ton, but it could help a bit and every little bit works.

If you get a chance, watch the USCe vs Clemson game from Saturday. The Gamecocks actually laid out a good offensive game-plan and somewhat exposed the Clemson weakness on defense. I sat and watched that game thinking that ND is better at every offensive position over USCe and they were taking it to that Clemson defense pretty good. And ND's defense is light years better than the Gamecock's defense. I felt a lot better about our chances against Clemson after watching that game.

 

[NCND]

I think it's 1v4 in Miami and 2v3 in Dallas regardless of teams...

Not accurate. Number one seed is given geographic preference. So if Oklahoma is the number 4 seed on Sunday, expect ND to play in the Cotton Bowl. Reason why is Oklahoma is closer to Dallas so it would an “disadvantage” to Alabama. So Bama OU would be played in the Orange Bowl.

 

[IrishLion]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brent Venables told reporters this afternoon that he has spoken with Texas Tech AD and former college teammate Kirby Hocutt.<a href="https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a">https://t.co/c4ItNlwT5a</a></p>— Clemson247 (@Clemson247) <a href="https://twitter.com/Clemson247/status/1067118017836982272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
This could help if Venables is busy recruiting and stuff for Texas Tech when we take them on December. Don't think it'll help a ton, but it could help a bit and every little bit works.

That's clickbait.

If you read the story, he shoots it down definitively. He's got a son that's a freshman linebacker at Clemson, so he's not leaving yet.

 

[NDohio]

Yes please...

College football will waste its time this weekend with the relic that is “Conference Championship Weekend” because the powers that be in the sport are old and unimaginative.

To call Saturday an exercise in nonsense and futility doesn’t even describe the inanity of it. It makes no sense. None. Not competitively. Not in terms of entertainment. Not even in generating revenue.

The only reason this is even accepted is that college football fans suffer from Stockholm Syndrome and gladly accept the insanity that’s been repeatedly sold to them.

Start with this very simple lesson: You don’t need to expand the current College Football Playoff. You just need to reform the postseason into something that looks like it was designed by someone with a functioning brain.

In actuality, conference championship weekend – this weekend – is Week One of the college football playoff. That’s the key deal here. Week One.

College football has chosen conference championship weekend as the de facto first round of its playoff. Doing so means that, with justification, it can argue against playoff expansion because it would mean there are too many games for the players.

But what if they scrapped the conference championships and, instead, started an eight-team playoff this weekend?

This is the slate of games (rankings are projected) for the “opening round” of the current postseason:

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Georgia: Alabama only has to not lose by, say, 50 points and they advance. Georgia either has to win, or maybe just lose by a couple points, to advance.

No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 22 Pitt: Clemson just has to not lose by more than, say, 21 points and they advance. Pitt can’t advance.

No. 3 Notre Dame. Idle. They advance.

No. 5 Oklahoma vs. No. 13 Texas: Oklahoma needs to win, Georgia needs to lose and then they need to win a debate with Ohio State (or have Ohio State lose) to advance. Texas can’t advance.

No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 18 Northwestern: Ohio State needs to win, Georgia to lose and then they need to win a debate with Oklahoma (or have Oklahoma lose) to advance. Northwestern can’t advance.

No. 7 UCF vs. unranked Memphis: Game is meaningless.

No. 13 Washington vs. No. 16 Utah: Game is meaningless.


Alabama likely just needs to show up Saturday against Georgia to guarantee itself a spot in the College Football Playoff. (Getty)
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If the conference championships were scrapped, here’s what we could have instead, using five automatic bids for the major conferences, three at-large bids and home sites for the first round:

No. 8 Washington at No. 1 Alabama, yes, in Tuscaloosa.

No. 7 UCF at No. 2 Clemson, yes, in Clemson.

No. 6 Ohio State at No. 3 Notre Dame, yes, in South Bend.

No. 5 Oklahoma at No. 4 Georgia, yes, between the hedges.

Which set of games would you choose to be the first round of your postseason/playoff? This is not a trick question.

If you answer the former over the latter, you’re either a bowl director terrified of the playoff being staged in electric and historic on-campus stadiums (while generating economic activity for the towns that support the sport all year long) because people might realize there’s no need to give the bowls the semifinals, either, or you’re an asleep-at-the-wheel conference commissioner.

You can have eight teams with legitimate claims for a playoff spot play each other, or you can have Clemson vs. Pitt.

And forget that we have to determine who won the conferences. There is only one (sort of) conference championship that is in doubt heading into “conference championship weekend.” One.

Alabama won the SEC. Clemson won the ACC. Oklahoma won the Big 12. Washington won the Pac 12. There is no debate here. Check the records. It was settled on the field.

Technically, Ohio State and Northwestern are both tied in the Big Ten with 8-1 league records, but this is a product of severe scheduling imbalance based on geography. It’s map-based welfare. Northwestern lost all three of its non-conference games, including to Akron. It played a weaker schedule. There are 100 ways to break such a tie. Ohio State would win them all. This isn’t hard.

(An aside: If we got rid of conference championship games we could also get rid of the artificial construct of divisions, particularly ones based on direction. Then the schedules would balance out and the actual regular season would improve, too.)

Instead, we get this bastardized version of the sport because the commissioners created it to make money. OK, fine. Conference title games, like basketball conference tournaments, make some money. No one is against making money.

You know what would make even more money? That first round of an eight-team playoff, which would generate massive (and far greater) television contracts, not to mention more ticket sales (bigger stadiums) at higher prices (more demand). And a lot of that money would stay in the places that care about college football – not far-off NFL towns.

For two seats on the aisle for an Ohio State at Notre Dame playoff game, ticket brokers could demand a kidney and a half and then watch a bidding war drive up the price.

The atmosphere for on-campus playoff games would be unreal. No one has ever attended an NFL playoff game in Lambeau or Heinz Field or Mile High or anywhere in America, surveyed the pre-kick frenzy, and thought, “Boy, I wish we got to spend $1,500 on travel so this could take place at some far-away dome or whatever-they-are-calling-that-place-now in Miami.”

If Clemson or Alabama got a slightly easier game against a weaker team, well, that’s the reward for a high seed and why each regular season game would still matter. So, too, would the home-field advantage.

Every game doesn’t matter now, despite what the marketing slogan says. There is virtually no difference between being the No. 1 seed and the No. 4 seed in the current playoff. It’s why ‘Bama has no playoff-related incentive to win Saturday. Or last Saturday for that matter.

Who says no to OSU at ND but yes to Ohio State-Northwestern in Lucas Oil, which doesn’t guarantee the winner makes the playoff but does guarantee Buckeye fans screaming about the selection committee on talk radio all week?

College football doesn’t need an expanded playoff. Repeat: NO expansion. It needs postseason reform. It needs some thought put into this. The conference title game has outlasted its usefulness. The games don’t matter anymore. Losers can get in. Winners can get left out. In each of the last two years, teams that didn’t even make the conference title game got into the playoff. Some major conferences (yes, you Pac-12) are repeatedly marginalized.

In this year’s first round of the playoff, four teams (including Georgia) can either not play or lose by a respectable score and still advance to the semifinals. Nine teams can win and not advance.

This is the system? Yes, this is the actual system.

At least there is a quick fix available.

Get rid of the useless games that generate less excitement, less money and less meaning and replace them with awesome games that generate more excitement, more money and more meaning. It’s simple.

How is anyone against this?

Seriously?

https://sports.yahoo.com/college-football-playoff-doesnt-need-expansion-needs-reform-005615013.html

 

[Black Irish]

Excellent points in that article. This season, an 8 team playoff would create much more exciting match-ups than the conference championships.

 

[stlnd01]

I think winning a conference title is meaningful to the schools/players involved. But agree the conference championship games have become, more often than not, completely useless games. And they create all sorts of negative ramifications (imbalanced divisions, the silly "13th datapoint" argument, etc.) I can't imagine the TV ratings or ticket sales are all that great either, aside maybe from the SEC game.

And, yeah, if they go to an eight-team playoff they should absolutely play the first round on campus. Ideally in December before students scatter for the holidays.

That would gut the NY6 bowls though, which is why I'm dubious it'll ever happen. College Football has an amazing loyalty to its bowl committees.

 

[ACamp1900]

I think if it's Bama vs OU, they would slate the game in Miami to avoid giving OU a potential benefit w/r/t proximity. If it were Bama vs anyone else, believe they would end up in Dallas.

Amazes me how that’s a factor with how many southern schools play bowl games, title games, entire schedules from start to finish without leaving the region once all year....

 

[NDohio]

I think winning a conference title is meaningful to the schools/players involved. But agree the conference championship games have become, more often than not, completely useless games. And they create all sorts of negative ramifications (imbalanced divisions, the silly "13th datapoint" argument, etc.) I can't imagine the TV ratings or ticket sales are all that great either, aside maybe from the SEC game.

And, yeah, if they go to an eight-team playoff they should absolutely play the first round on campus. Ideally in December before students scatter for the holidays.

That would gut the NY6 bowls though, which is why I'm dubious it'll ever happen. College Football has an amazing loyalty to its bowl committees.

Except, if the first round of the playoffs were played the weekend immediately after the regular season(like the CCG), then the losers could still go to a bowl game. Just like the losers of the CCG go to bowl games and the winners go to the final four - that are also bowl games.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Except, if the first round of the playoffs were played the weekend immediately after the regular season(like the CCG), then the losers could still go to a bowl game. Just like the losers of the CCG go to bowl games and the winners go to the final four - that are also bowl games.

This was my thought exactly: all the NCAA and the conferences and the bowl committees really care about is profits. You could easily slate the 4 losers of the first round into NY6 bowl games with the first two teams left out of the 8-team playoff. You could still get a month off to recuperate/prepare. It would just be a replacement to the conference championships which are meaningless.

You don't have division championships in any other sport....there are tie-breakers galore to ensure a division crown. Conferences should remove the divisions and just play the regular season, balance the schedule as best they can, and whoever wins the regular season wins the conference.

 

[GowerND11]

This was my thought exactly: all the NCAA and the conferences and the bowl committees really care about is profits. You could easily slate the 4 losers of the first round into NY6 bowl games with the first two teams left out of the 8-team playoff. You could still get a month off to recuperate/prepare. It would just be a replacement to the conference championships which are meaningless.

You don't have division championships in any other sport....there are tie-breakers galore to ensure a division crown. Conferences should remove the divisions and just play the regular season, balance the schedule as best they can, and whoever wins the regular season wins the conference.

I could potentially see something like this hurting ND. What's to stop the conferences from just going 12 game conference schedules. (I know they like their creampuff wins out there, but this could be the hand that forces ND in a conference.)

 

[RDU Irish]

Why wouldn't people want all of the undefeated teams in the playoffs? Why give UCF another backdoor claim at a title? Especially OSU - UCF has played tons of teams equal or better than Purdue and didn't lose. Why beat up the players and coaches who don't set the schedule - right now you have four undefeated teams and four spots.

All this "best team" BS is fully predicated on the eye test. F that. Show up and play, decide it on the field. If they are so damn good UGA would have beaten a grossly overrated LSU team like a drum - they got smoked! Oklahoma would not need to score 50 every night to win. It's a sham - just pump up the same high profile programs and screw everyone else. Elitist BS - give them their shot, nobody else is as deserving, IMO.

 

[GreenGemsOmally]

while i think we are much better (perhaps i should say much more consistent) with Book, we've still had two big O duds (USC and Pitt). While we won both, both were in big doubt until the 3 or 4th Q. Vandy and BSU where really never in doubt. And I put the most blame in all 4 games on O play calling. That said, not sure or total O would have been a whole lot better (had Book started the first 3). Better, yes, but not by a lot.



If UGA wins by a few, IMO it's Clemson, UGA, Bama, and ND (in that order)
If UGA wins by a lot (3 or more scores), it's Clemson, UGA, ND, and Bama.

Why is OU and OK left out? Because Clemson, UGA, and Bama are the best teams this year by a pretty good margin stat wise and by most all indicators, and ND is undefeated.

That's my opinion anyway.

If we're talking vegas, most people would bet the far on Bama, Clemson, or UGA vs the rest in contention.

In your first scenario, switch Bama and ND. They won't have UGA and Bama play each other again two weeks in a row if they can help it. It'd be Clemson, UGA, ND, Bama for the first round.

 

[OhioIrish31]

Though I hate the SEC I would like to see Georgia slide in with Bama, ND, Clemson. This would leave three conferences out and maybe put some inertia behind the 8 team playoff concept.

 

[bkess8]

Why wouldn't people want all of the undefeated teams in the playoffs? Why give UCF another backdoor claim at a title? Especially OSU - UCF has played tons of teams equal or better than Purdue and didn't lose. Why beat up the players and coaches who don't set the schedule - right now you have four undefeated teams and four spots.

UCF would have a better chance getting in the playoff if their QB didn't get injured. I don’t see any possibility of them getting in now even if they remain undefeated.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Though I hate the SEC I would like to see Georgia slide in with Bama, ND, Clemson. This would leave three conferences out and maybe put some inertia behind the 8 team playoff concept.

Bingo. This has been my hope all year; we win out, and THREE power 5 conferences sit at home and cry about not making it. You piss off majority of the conference pundits, maybe the NCAA and Playoff committee will finally play ball regarding expansion.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I could potentially see something like this hurting ND. What's to stop the conferences from just going 12 game conference schedules. (I know they like their creampuff wins out there, but this could be the hand that forces ND in a conference.)

Because not all conferences are created equal, and the talent in every conference has a drop off.

And with three at large spots still up for grabs, there's still incentive to have a solid SOS should you falter during conference play.

10-2 USC would benefit from playing ND if 10-2 scUM stuck with Rutgers, Illinois, NW, Purdue, etc and didn't play anyone non-conference.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Why wouldn't people want all of the undefeated teams in the playoffs? Why give UCF another backdoor claim at a title? Especially OSU - UCF has played tons of teams equal or better than Purdue and didn't lose. Why beat up the players and coaches who don't set the schedule - right now you have four undefeated teams and four spots.

All this "best team" BS is fully predicated on the eye test. F that. Show up and play, decide it on the field. If they are so damn good UGA would have beaten a grossly overrated LSU team like a drum - they got smoked! Oklahoma would not need to score 50 every night to win. It's a sham - just pump up the same high profile programs and screw everyone else. Elitist BS - give them their shot, nobody else is as deserving, IMO.

I'm not trying to be argumentative at all. But wtf does "claiming" a national title really mean anyways? No one outside of Orlando believes UCF is a national champion. Where's their trophy?

It's not their fault regarding the schedule, no. They have to play who they have scheduled. But you're going to put them in and punish UGA, pOSU, or Oklahoma for playing much tougher schedules and faltering once, because the team with the 100-something SOS went undefeated?

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Because not all conferences are created equal, and the talent in every conference has a drop off.

And with three at large spots still up for grabs, there's still incentive to have a solid SOS should you falter during conference play.

10-2 USC would benefit from playing ND if 10-2 scUM stuck with Rutgers, Illinois, NW, Purdue, etc and didn't play anyone non-conference.

I think you have it backwards. An 8 team playoff means winning your conference gets you in so teams will try to maximize their rest in OOC games.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

I think you have it backwards. An 8 team playoff means winning your conference gets you in so teams will try to maximize their rest in OOC games.

Going undefeated in your conference will be hard no matter what. If you lose in conference, and are fighting for three spots with: five power-five conferences, independents, and group of 5 teams, and we assume the metrics for obtaining those at large spots are similar to the playoff today, SOS will matter. You'll look pretty stupid resting 3-4 weeks ooc when the teams that went 7-1, 8-1 in conference also played ND/ooc rivals in one or two of those games IMO.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Going undefeated in your conference will be hard no matter what. If you lose in conference, and are fighting for three spots with: five power-five conferences, independents, and group of 5 teams, and we assume the metrics for obtaining those at large spots are similar to the playoff today, SOS will matter. You'll look pretty stupid resting 3-4 weeks ooc when the teams that went 7-1, 8-1 in conference also played ND/ooc rivals in one or two of those games IMO.

I think it is likely that if Georgia beats Alabama the SEC will get two one-loss teams into the playoff. Their OOC schedules are:

Austin Peay
Middle Tennessee
UMass
Georgia Tech

Louisville
Arkansas State
Louisiana Lafayette
The Citadel

There is no incentive for SEC teams to play tough OOC games besides money. So they don't. If you're in the PAC you probably don't have that luxury right now. With an 8 team playoff the Washington State OOC slate becomes more rewarding.

 

[GowerND11]

In all honesty, I think college football conferences would benefit from a promotion/relegation format. Do away with the CCG and instead the best team in the top tier is the winner. Imagine a B1G this year broken down as follows:
Tier 1:
OSU, Michigan, PSU, MSU, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Purdue (Tie breaker over Iowa)

Tier 2:
Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.

I know that this would result in more OOC games, but I think it would benefit all involved, strengthening OOC games, forcing teams to not be complacent, etc. It's out there, I know, but just a thought.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

In all honesty, I think college football conferences would benefit from a promotion/relegation format. Do away with the CCG and instead the best team in the top tier is the winner. Imagine a B1G this year broken down as follows:
Tier 1:
OSU, Michigan, PSU, MSU, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Purdue (Tie breaker over Iowa)

Tier 2:
Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska.

I know that this would result in more OOC games, but I think it would benefit all involved, strengthening OOC games, forcing teams to not be complacent, etc. It's out there, I know, but just a thought.

I think eliminating the CCGs would help shrink the conferences down and result in a lot more OOC goodness because merely winning your conference wouldn't be enough. Of course, nobody is going to make a top-down decision to shape the CFB landscape. It's always just incremental changes which are reacting to events.