Dr. Pomade

6

And behind a 2-loss Georgia. Wow.

Takeaway: don't lose to Purdue.

Unfortunately, this season was weird because you had 3 undefeated Power 5 teams. Usually, you don't have that many. As a result, it created a bottleneck for that 4th spot.

New rule that will never happen: You can't make the Playoffs if you're not in a Conference. That eliminates ND and their shit schedule...

Would love this.

I would also love it if ND were dropped down to 5 or 6 and the committee said something to the effect: "Not playing anyone is worse than losing to someone good. You're now in line behind Georgia. Please strongly consider joining a conference so that the end of your season is not devalued with a bye."

I'll be surprised if Ohio State makes it in. Not shocked, but surprised. They weren't impressive enough in the win over NW. Hope I'm wrong.

No reason why Haskins shouldn't win the Heisman. He has more passing yards and TDs than the other 2 candidates and he shattered long-standing records in the B10. And it's more difficult to play QB in the B10 than the B12 or the SEC by virtue of the weather. People forget that. Though, I assume the Heisman will go to Tua because it's Alabama and we declared him the winner in week 5 when Haskins was too busy not getting any credit for anything.

Whaaaaat? That’s not cool at all.

And Tua is the Heisman front runner? LOL

If Bama loses this game looking like this there is no way they should be allowed into playoff.

UCF will likely still have a parade and claim a NC regardless of outcome.

Neither Georgia nor Alabama look particularly impressive. Of course the CBS commentators are making them sound like the Chiefs and the Rams. I hate CBS.

I never read your replies above, I got an e-mail with your quote to me and replied to that.

I expect everyone to be thoroughly familiar with all of my posts so please program your email to provide you with the necessary notifications.

I just don't get the "fun" as a viewer. It's really boring watching these teams. I didn't feel this way watching Alabama vs lsu.

I almost felt sorry for LSU when watching them against Alabama this year. Almost.

Only the OSU folks that say, “I don’t want OSU to go to the Playoff.” Is that you?

I don't think so. I just re-read what I posted about 3 posts up and it sure didn't seem like that was what I said. Though, it was your rant, so I'll leave it to you to make the call.

I agree with Aaron, I feel OSU could beat either of these teams..neither look special to me

Yup, both look like average Big 12 teams to me.

I say go for the whole shebang every year. The playoff games are bowl games right? What's the difference? Go for the championship every chance you get, I'd rather lose there than be Rose bowl champs.

I'd rather win than lose.

I say that, if you have the opportunity to make it to the playoff, you always take that shot, even if it's likely that you get smoked.

For Ohio State, who have elite talent and elite coaching, you always want that shot.

You fucking fair weather OSU fans are a joke, go the the Championship, beat Alabama. What tells you you can’t? You have the best Coach on the planet for the playoff. Shouldn’t have won in 2002 right? Shouldn’t have won with your 3rd string QB in 2014 right? Such a fucking joke. You play to win the game!

I hope you aren't insinuating I'm a fair weather fan...?

We have been thoroughly spoiled at Ohio State.

Cooper was a pretty good coach. Amassed plenty of talent, had some really good teams, but just couldn't win a bowl game or beat Michigan to save his life. Still, dude was a top 50 coach.

Tressel was an excellent coach. Won a shit ton of games. Was always the best coach in the B10, but never won it because Ohio State. Won a title, maybe should have won 2. (I say we were lucky to beat Miami - so that was kind of a gift - and likely should have at least won 1 of 2 from Florida/LSU.) Regardless, dude was a baller. Built teams designed to own the B10, and did so on a consistent basis. Top 20 coach all-time easy, arguably top 10.

Somehow we managed to go through a scandal and replace an excellent coach (Tressel) with an all-time great, top 3 coach all-time in Urban. The only reason why people aren't kneeling at Urban's greatness is because of Saban. Urban balled out at Utah, had Florida as the premier program in the nation for a solid few years, and now has Ohio State as undoubtedly the second best program over the past 7 years and has only added to the overall Ohio State domination since the 1980s.

And somehow, someway, 11-1 feels like a disappointment. WTF is wrong with us? I get it, we should have high expectations as a fanbase, but - for fuck's sake - it seems like it's come to this: beat Michigan by 90, beat Alabama on a neutral field, win national championship, and have a Heisman winner or else THIS SEASON SUCKS AND SO DOES URBAN AND EVERYTHING OHIO STATE.

BStowers is absolutely right: we are going to miss Urban when he's gone. But right now we have it so good that somehow we're all like, "Yeah, Urban, maybe it's time for you to go, we're tired of you bending over on the sidelines looking like you're having a headache, and we'll be fine because it's Ohio State and John Tilley could come in and win a national championship because we're that good, so see ya thanks for everything bye."

I've said for years that Alabama's success is largely due to the SEC hype and them being given the benefit of second chances that other teams have not had.

For instance, in 2011 Alabama lost at home to LSU by 3 points. The SEC hype train (e.g., every talking head at CBS) then created the narrative that somehow that was the greatest game on earth (a final score 9 to 6, mind you), the SEC is so brutally difficult, and those two teams just had to have a rematch. I think that was the apex of the SEC bias. Alabama should never have been given that opportunity for a rematch.

In 2015, Ohio State lost at home to Michigan State by - guess what - 3 points. And like BStowers said, that was a good Michigan State team (by virtue of the fact they went to the playoff). Yet, Ohio State gets left out. Had we got the pass Alabama got, I say there's a great chance we would have won that year, too.

The SEC hype has also kept fueling the notion that somehow Alabama is really, really good because they beat a lot of ranked teams. Well, they only beat a lot of ranked teams because the media keeps anointing rankings to teams that don't deserve them. For years teams like Miss State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, and South Carolina were nowhere to be found in rankings. However, in the age of the SEC hype, these teams all of sudden because ranked material. This then insured a recycling of ranked SEC teams - teams that won were considered fantastic (because they just beat a "ranked" team) and those who lost didn't fall too far (because, well, they only lost to a "ranked" team).

Yup, that’s mind blowing.

Though I guess the inverse is that every time Urban has lost he’s been favored. Meaning he’s lost games he technically should not have lost.

Though I’m going glass half full here and saying his undefeated record as an underdog is astounding.

While I love everything you say typically and agree with most of it and being both an OSU fan and a Cowboys(lol) fan I believe Gurley would have something to say about this.

Maybe I was being a little hyperbolic about Elliot. And, granted, Gurley is a total beast. I probably stand corrected. PROBABLY I SAID.

The point I was making was that we had a fantastic weapon in Elliott and managed to squander him in that game. Oh well, like we've established, if a handful loses are all we have to complain about over the span of a decade, then we're pretty much spoiled.

PS - Heard this stat yesterday: Urban has as many losses (7) as he does wins over Michigan.

6th behind OU. Man that sucks.

 

Not saying it would happen, but couldn’t Saban totally bomb the SEC game and fuck the Big Ten and the 12 and Alabama would not drop out of the top 4?

Saban would never intentionally lose a game, ever. At least not if my read on him is correct. Just not in his nature to do it.

However, should Alabama lose, they are totally in. And if that's the case Oklahoma and Ohio State are fucked, barring a Clemson loss.

It's good that Oklahoma/Texas play at noon on Saturday. Ohio State will know exactly what they have to do well before kickoff. If Texas can't beat Oklahoma, then we want Oklahoma to look hapless on defense and look mediocre on offense. Not sure those two things can happen, but, if they can, it would help even if Oklahoma wins.

Playoff Rankings (this is from memory, so someone correct me if I'm wrong):

1 - Bama

2 - Clemson

3 - ND

4 - Georgia

5 - Oklahoma

6 - Ohio State

7 - Michigan

8 - UCF

12 - Penn State

14 - Texas

21 - Northwestern

I don't like that Northwestern DROPPED 2 spots with a win. That doesn't bode well for a win over them next week, insofar as the committee is already devaluing them.

I do like that Michigan only dropped to 7. Weird that Ohio State is only 1 spot above them, as there certainly seemed like at least 10 spots between them on Saturday.

It's good that Michigan is at 7 and Penn State is at 12, insofar as they likely won't drop any lower than that - since they don't play and thus can't lose. In fact, Michigan might move up if Georgia loses. The final rankings are all that matter to the committee; they don't where a team was ranked when you played (like TCU; which is dumb IMO, but oh well).

The rankings were as I predicted. And, like I said, Ohio State is going to have to put a beating on NW. BTW, I don't really like how this is setting up, insofar as we're all talking like us beating NW is a foregone conclusion and we're just debating how much we'll win by - that's a recipe for a disaster. NW will be all kinds of pissed.

I'm not sure anyone can handle Tua this year. But, I'd think we'd have a puncher's chance.

Also, something else to keep in mind: if Ohio State goes to playoff, Michigan would go to the Rose Bowl, which would be a huge draw ($$$). Follow the money, it usually leads you to the answer.

What if scenario:

 

Georgia beats Alabama

Texas beats Oklahoma

Ohio State beats Northwestern

 

Final 4

Clemson

Georgia

Notre Dame

Alabama

 

Alabama: Doesn't win it's conference 2 years in a row, yet sneaks its way into the playoffs.

Ohio State: Wins it's conference 2 years in a row, but gets snubbed by the committee in back to back years.

This could be a catalyst for expansion to 8 teams. B10 would lose their shit.

I'd like to see Clemson lose, Bama win, Oklahoma win, and Ohio State win, which would give you:

Alabama

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Oklahoma

That's a dream scenario for the Playoff Committee. It would guarantee either ND or Ohio State in NC game (which guarantees the most $$$) AND it would give you 3 out of 4 chances at a fantastic match in title game:

Ohio State v Alabama (rematch of 2014, 2 of the top programs right now going at it, Saban v Meyer - 2 best coaches in game going at it)

ND v Alabama (rematch of 2012, teams with most national titles going at it)

Ohio State v Oklahoma (grudge match)

ND v Oklahoma (2 bluebloods)

Ohio State vs Oklahoma Debate

This article is from SBNation, which has content I tend to like. I can't disagree with anything the author offers. I didn't realize this until the article pointed it out, but Ohio State has been at the center of debate/controversy during every playoff selection.

A couple random thoughts for Dear Diary:

(1) We absolutely should have played for the NC in 2015. We squandered that season. Had we been dominant that year (like Alabama has been this year), I think we get a pass in losing to Michigan State. But, unfortunately, we fucked around with the Cardale is the starter, no it's JT, lol fooled you it's really Cardale thing way too long and sputtered far too much during the middle of the season. Elliot is the best running back in the NFL and we managed to run him like 3 times in the Michigan State game. I'm still scratching my head and cutting my wrists.

(2) Ohio State reminds me of USC in the mid-2000s: talent-rich teams that could easily have played and won the NC each year, but usually found some way of losing a game they had no business losing that ruined their chances. USC had Cal, Stanford (remember them being 41 point underdogs?), UCLA (in 2006, should have been playing Ohio State in BCS NC game), and Oregon State (which was in 2008 after they throttled Ohio State in LA). Ohio State has had Michigan State, Iowa, and now Purdue. Those USC teams would nearly lose to some lame ass team and then manhandle whoever they played in a bowl (Penn State, Illinois). Sound familiar?

Playoff Predictor says Notre Dame isn't a final four lock.

lol, what the hell?

People are saying "well we don't have any history on what the Committee does with a team with no conference championship"

 

Yes we do, Baylor and TCU 2014

Yup, and the precedent was that both were penalized for not being a conference champion whereas Ohio State was.

And while we're making the case against ND, they have a substantially weaker SOS than the other contenders. They are currently 27th in SOS, whereas Ohio State is 10th and Oklahoma is 15th. And, ND cannot improve their SOS, whereas both Ohio State and Oklahoma will can. Meaning, the disparity should be even greater after next weekend.

Here's what Irish fans will say:

- we beat Michigan, a great team

- we beat NW, the B10 West champ

- we beat Pitt, an ACC division champ

- we beat a good Syracuse team

- we beat USC, who are always good regardless of what their record is because they are from LA and fast and have good unis and play in the Coliseum where Marcus Allen played

- we beat Stanford, who are a PAC powerhouse (never mind they suck this year)

How hilarious would it be if Ohio State destroys Northwestern and Oklahoma destroys Texas and the Committee leaves out Notre Dame while saying "Join a conference"

That would be monumentally epic. Unfortunately, Notre Dame brings too much cash to the table.

The Ohio State homer in me doesn't want to type this, but if we are hoping for an expanded playoff then Georgia beating Alabama would likely be a nice catalyst. If that happens, Georgia and Alabama both get it, and so does ND. Let's say Clemson rounds out the top 4. Then you'd have:

- 3 of the Power 5 conferences are now left out: B10, B12, PAC

- ND gets in without needing a conference championship (or even a conference)

- B10 (at very worst the 2nd most politically powerful conference)champion being left out of playoff for second year in a row

- Clemson (ACC champ) gets in playing in a shit conference

There would be a lot of very unhappy people.

And, just to put this out there, the SEC really doesn't have anyone beyond Alabama. I'm still not sold on Georgia, who we all just assume is a good team. It's aggravating that we're anointing the SEC championship a spot in the playoff as if that conference is so good the winner MUST go on. Give me a break.