Spartan Football - Owned and Operated by the University of Michigan.

[iam416]

I think that's probably right. Though, they were trying to sort out the best B10 team.

But, hard facts can make for bad law. Ohio State was 3-1 against the top 8. They had literally played 4 of the other 7 top 8 teams and won 3 (2 on the road). And Penn State had fluked its way to a win over OSU and been wailed by M. And they tied PSU for the division and lost out on the tiebreaker b/c of said flukish win.

Now, the CFP backfilled their OSU pick with all of the above. But what they really thought was that OSU was just better than Penn State. They had plenty of reasons to justify it. And perhaps at the time it seemed like a cold, objective decision. But, it was every bit the "eye test." It's always been. They should have made the super hard decision last year to emphasize conference titles. But, they didn't. Incidentally, the only difference for OSU is getting railed by Clemson this year instead of last.

Now we have the CFP talking about how Alabama's overall performance is so impressive. And that gives rise to another false baseline/standard -- beating no one doesn't matter. Just say that we don't really have an objective leg to stand on, but we all think Alabama is better, so they're in.

[hack]

Ohio State getting in last year was a bad precedent. Winning a conference should be paramount.

One of the things a rigorous system exposes you to is scenarios in which you have the sense that there's a top-4 team that got excluded, and that would have been the case last year were PSU the invitee instead of OSU. But that's the price you pay for having a system with integrity. Nobody thinks that basketball's method -- the single-elimination tournament -- is a foolproof process for selecting the best four teams to play for the championship. We live with that and in exchange for doing so it's a process that actually has integrity to it.

[THE_WIZARD_]

The CFP Committee is more scared of The Nick than Urban.

[Rocky Bleier]

I was listening to a former Alabama QB on ESPNU radio this morning. He said you really need to see the coaches' tape to see how much better Bama is than OSU. They're more consistent, OSU are underachievers... Blah, blah, blah. The post decision spin on this is better than Baghdad Bob.

[AlabamAlum]

Obviously that's just like his opinion, man. And being that he is a former Bama player, he has some bias.

No real reason to spin. The decision is done. Spin is best used going into a vote. Afterwards, there is no real need.

[froot loops]

There is definitely a reason to politic after you have been wronged, they will think twice before doing it again. But if you just take it, they'll do it again.

[hack]

When you change the goalposts annually in the service of a specific group, you use the spin to preserve legitimacy. Kudos to AA for his honesty in being clear that he didn't think Alabama was deserving, but the powers that be aren't gonna be questioning the integrity of their own system. There'll be spin.

[Rocky Bleier]

In politics, you often spin as a form of damage control after the fact. Sort of ridiculous to tell the listening audience of yahoos that they would understand why Bama got in if only they could see the coaches' tape. What bearing does that have on actual field results? I would have voted for the Tide because, you know, Iowa.

[froot loops]

Yeah when you say, "well Iowa" you are part of the group not even bringing a knife to a gunfight. When the SEC is politicking for stuff they have a unified front. In 2006 it was that way and it paid dividends and the Bug Ten still hasn't learned the lesson. But they do have a big geographic footprint!

[THE_WIZARD_]

CFP = NCAA March Madness

Other NYD 6 = NIT

All other bowls = CIT

The Nick has pictures of people...just sayin'...

[hack]

The Nick has pictures of people...just sayin'...

And you have pictures of animals.

Both of you have a role in college football. One of you chose wisely.

[THE_WIZARD_]

It was me.

[Rocky Bleier]

Yeah when you say, "well Iowa" you are part of the group not even bringing a knife to a gunfight. When the SEC is politicking for stuff they have a unified front. In 2006 it was that way and it paid dividends and the Bug Ten still hasn't learned the lesson. But they do have a big geographic footprint!

I'm not against a unified front for the Big Ten. I agree with your sentiment. Delaney should have bitched to high heaven about the B1G getting shafted. But that doesn't mean I truly thought OSU deserved the 4th spot. Hell, I probably would have gone with USC just to keep Nick and Urban out. I have my own bias!

[Hannibal]

Remember when having a selection commmitte was going to magically erase all of the selection controversy? Just like the NCAA basketball tourney, eh? Of course, as I pointed out at the time, the NCAA tourney is comically large -- enough that absolutely nobody who is left out has a credible claim that they could win a national championship tourney. Nobody cares if a 10-8 Big Ten team gets into the tourney ahead of a 10-8 Big East team, but the exact same situation otherwise exists.

No doubt, it is why the NFL is far superior.

The NFL has the luxury of having 16 games among 30 teams, and they allow the shittiest teams to draft first while enforcing a salary cap, etc. When you only play 13 games amongst 120 (?) teams that have wildly varying schedules, you have no choice but to make lots of assumptions, use eyeball tests, and resort to lots of rules of thumb.

Anyhow, Penn State didn't get in last year over a one-loss OSU team. USC isn't getting in this year either. There is a hierarcy, but it is most connected to recent history and the perception of where the team is now.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I do ...... at the time, I thought it was nothing more than rearranging the deck chairs.

Massive change is needed to address the current idiocy involving the 65 P5 teams' regular and post season play.

The conference fifedoms though won't let it happen so, it's silly to talk about it every fucking year.