So two ACC teams played each other in the United States but it didn't count as a conference game. But two are going to play each other in Brazil and it counts? Got it! LOL!
2025 NCAA Football Season (national discussion)
- Thread starter JasonEvans
- Start date
sagegrouse
Member
Ancient history but the Dixie Classic and the Big Four tournament all involved Duke, State, UNC and Wake and, no, the games didn't count in the ACC standings.
rsvman
Member
Yes, but if they continue to do so, won't they continue to under perform? Do you think that behavior should be incentivized? Doesn't it make for a worse post-season product for the fans?
A-Tex Devil
Member
All ears on how to fix this. My son’s favorite player broke his hand two weeks ago. Best defensive player on Texas. He’s a junior and the #1 or 2 off ball linebacker in the draft with edge potential - likely late first/early second round. He’s definitely played his last game because there is no reason to play the bowl game. My kiddo is sad but I also don’t blame the player.
Of course. But what this trend is doing is exposing these bowl games for what they (mostly) always have been: exhibition games whose results don't matter, where we are asking the players to put their already worn out bodies at risk of further injury, threatening their future livelihoods, for our entertainment and in order to fill the pockets of the guys in the orange blazers. Now that we have the playoff, the rest of these games can go away as far as I'm concerned.
BrummieDevil
Member
It has also been quite apparent the past 2 years (if not 3) that there's no dominant, scary team at the top of the SEC now. And with how NIL and transfers work, this may just be the new norm.
Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, A&M... None of these teams are scaring the other playoff participants and every one is seriously flawed. A lot of folks are going to be surprised watching them in the playoffs, win or lose. I'd pay extra to watch Indiana or Texas Tech hang half a hundred on one of them.
BrummieDevil
Member
Texas has absolutely no chance to get in. Vandy either, almost certainly.
The Longhorns are 9-3 with a bad loss and a blowout loss (not to mention multiple great escapes in OT against bad teams), and the committee set the precedent last year that power conference championship games losers get a free pass on that championship game loss (at least if they aren't blown out, as last year's games were all competitive).
And it's not even as if computers like them—they're 16th right now in what has become my go-to composite rating of nearly 100 different rating systems compiled by Massey Ratings. They're also 14th in the AP Poll, which has been in close alignment with the CFP Rankings.
BrummieDevil
Member
This CFP projection from The Athletic should be more accurate than the ESPN graphic. For instance, New Mexico is in the ESPN graphic even though it literally cannot make the playoff at this point because they aren't even playing in the MWC Championship Game, which would've been their only path.
Oh shoot, I just realized that I forgot about Oklahoma! How could I forget Texas’ biggest rival (sorry, A&M, you’re a close second)??
Okay, make that 7 SEC teams that should be going to the big dance. They need to expand this thing (CFP) to 16, folks. I’m serious.
Mike Petrik
Member
Interesting. The Athletic numbers reveal the conventional (and I think correct) opinion that if both JMU and UVA win this weekend JMU cannot jump UVA into the CFP, but if Duke beats UVA, a victorious JMU would almost certainly jump a 5-loss Duke. I have no problem with this, since 5 losses is probably one loss too many to jump a 1 loss Group of Five champion even with a dramatically weaker schedule (everyone who said the UConn loss did not matter at all were wrong for purposes of this analysis -- I think the table's numbers would look different if we had defeated UConn).
Yet, at this point, I just want to beat UVA. I'm ambivalent about making the CFP and would be delighted to win Saturday and then secure and win a decent non-CFP bowl game, preferably against a P4 opponent. Probably better that than get slaughtered in the CFP, which I fear would be likely given the state of our defense.
But who knows! LGD!
I think the OU defense could hold IU or TT to </=50.
Wrong on all counts. Texas absolutely deserves to be in and they’ve proven it by barely losing on the road to Ohio State (and outgaining them by 200 yards) and then beating three top 10 teams in previously unbeaten Texas A&M, previously unbeaten Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt. And finding a way, as you mentioned, to win very close games on the road in the SEC is a positive not a negative.
Texas roster is as stacked top to bottom as any in the country. They can beat anybody if they’re on their game at a neutral site. And they’re the only team in all of college football to make the final four the past two seasons. Plus, they bring lots of viewers because they have the swag and the tradition. Football is king in the state of Texas like nowhere else. The Longhorns should definitely be in.
And I’m not biased!
killerleft
Member
C'mon, man. We all know that everything is bigger in Texas!Wrong on all counts. Texas absolutely deserves to be in and they’ve proven it by barely losing on the road to Ohio State (and outgaining them by 200 yards) and then beating three top 10 teams in previously unbeaten Texas A&M, previously unbeaten Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt. And finding a way, as you mentioned, to win very close games on the road in the SEC is a positive not a negative.
Texas roster is as stacked top to bottom as any in the country. They can beat anybody if they’re on their game at a neutral site. And they’re the only team in all of college football to make the final four the past two seasons. Plus, they bring lots of viewers because they have the swag and the tradition. Football is king in the state of Texas like nowhere else. The Longhorns should definitely be in.
And I’m not biased!
And as my wife can attest about this Texas man, so is my…..ego
JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
It is kinda fun to look at the Athletic numbers and see patterns that exist among teams with a conference championship game still to play.
For example, if you take the Tulane (42%) and N. Texas (58%) odds of making the playoff and add them together it comes to 100%. This is The Athletic telling you that the winner of that game is making the playoff, regardless of how James Madison does against Troy. I'm not entirely sure I agree with this -- there could be a scenario where JMU just crushes Troy and looks like a juggernaut doing it while Tulane and NT play a dull, uninspiring game full of mistakes. In a case like that, is it really impossible to imagine that JMU jumps the AAC champ to get a spot?
Similarly, if you look at Duke's chance of beating Virginia (47%) and JMU's chance of losing to Troy (16%) then you see how The Athletic arrives at their 7% chance that Duke makes the playoff.
For example, if you take the Tulane (42%) and N. Texas (58%) odds of making the playoff and add them together it comes to 100%. This is The Athletic telling you that the winner of that game is making the playoff, regardless of how James Madison does against Troy. I'm not entirely sure I agree with this -- there could be a scenario where JMU just crushes Troy and looks like a juggernaut doing it while Tulane and NT play a dull, uninspiring game full of mistakes. In a case like that, is it really impossible to imagine that JMU jumps the AAC champ to get a spot?
Similarly, if you look at Duke's chance of beating Virginia (47%) and JMU's chance of losing to Troy (16%) then you see how The Athletic arrives at their 7% chance that Duke makes the playoff.
Phredd3
Member
With all due respect to Sean Bean/Boromir:
The Formula is Simple:
Duke Must Win!
Let's not get so far into the "what-ifs" that we forget the Basic Truth.
But how else will we waste our work days if we don't discuss the endless permutations that may happen to let Duke into the CFP? (Oh, and can you imagine the howls of protest among college football fans if, through some miracle, 8 and 5 Duke does happen to make it into the CFP?
JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
soflabluedevil
Member
No 3 loss team should ever be in the playoffs. All of the nonsense about Texas being great is based on one win-over a hyped A&M team which is good but not more. What about being handled by a lousy UF, escaping in OT to a terrible Ky, and escaping a poor MSU? # of losses should count most, but also quality of those losses.Wrong on all counts. Texas absolutely deserves to be in and they’ve proven it by barely losing on the road to Ohio State (and outgaining them by 200 yards) and then beating three top 10 teams in previously unbeaten Texas A&M, previously unbeaten Oklahoma, and Vanderbilt. And finding a way, as you mentioned, to win very close games on the road in the SEC is a positive not a negative.
Texas roster is as stacked top to bottom as any in the country. They can beat anybody if they’re on their game at a neutral site. And they’re the only team in all of college football to make the final four the past two seasons. Plus, they bring lots of viewers because they have the swag and the tradition. Football is king in the state of Texas like nowhere else. The Longhorns should definitely be in.
And I’m not biased!
No one said “great”. But one of the 12 teams in the playoff? Absolutely.
And Texas damn near beat a very, very good Ohio State team on OSU’s home field, and then also beat three top 10 teams including Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. And finding a way to pull out very close games on the road in SEC stadiums with thousands of crazed fans screaming wildly for the upset is a compliment, not a detriment.
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