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The 2014-2015 NCAA Football Season Thread

I think it may have been sort of like chest-pounding, to intimidate West Virginia. Because next week's game will be for "the Belt", and TCU wants it back.

In 1971, fed up with the poll-based championship system, some drinking buddies dreamed up a College Football Championship Belt, and "bestowed" it upon Nebraska, that year's national champion. Then they kept track of its movements: like a boxer, the team that had the belt would keep it until they lost a game – whomever they lost to would become the new wearer of the belt, until they lost it to the next team.

At the beginning of this season, the belt belonged to Oklahoma. Then they lost it to TCU, who lost it to Baylor (Baylor had it for most of last year), who lost it to West Virginia.

The Mountaineers still have the belt, having fought off the Cowboys, but now they will face the Horned Frogs, who really want that belt right back.

Well, no, they do not, actually, it does not even exist, and probably none of these teams even have an inkling about goofy notion a handful of beer-sotted fans invented over 40 years ago. But they probably do want to win. For, like, pride or something.
 
Sydde said:
I think it may have been sort of like chest-pounding, to intimidate West Virginia. Because next week's game will be for "the Belt", and TCU wants it back.

In 1971, fed up with the poll-based championship system, some drinking buddies dreamed up a College Football Championship Belt, and "bestowed" it upon Nebraska, that year's national champion. Then they kept track of its movements: like a boxer, the team that had the belt would keep it until they lost a game – whomever they lost to would become the new wearer of the belt, until they lost it to the next team.

At the beginning of this season, the belt belonged to Oklahoma. Then they lost it to TCU, who lost it to Baylor (Baylor had it for most of last year), who lost it to West Virginia.

The Mountaineers still have the belt, having fought off the Cowboys, but now they will face the Horned Frogs, who really want that belt right back.

Well, no, they do not, actually, it does not even exist, and probably none of these teams even have an inkling about goofy notion a handful of beer-sotted fans invented over 40 years ago. But they probably do want to win. For, like, pride or something.
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TCU still has an outside chance at the playoff depending on who loses in front of them and if they win out and represent the Big 12, so style points for crushing teams is going to only help their cause.
 
Not a single playoff rankings post? Shocked. I find it absolutely stupid they're ranking teams this early. All it will do is pigeon hole committee members into keeping Team A ahead of Team B solely based on the fact that they had them ranked ahead for x number of weeks. Anywho, here's the first rankings:

1. Mississippi State (7-0)
2. Florida State (7-0)
3. Auburn (6-1)
4. Ole Miss (7-1)
5. Oregon (7-1)
6. Alabama (7-1)
7. TCU (6-1)
8. Michigan State (7-1)
9. Kansas State (6-1)
10. Notre Dame (6-1)
11. Georgia (6-1)
12. Arizona (6-1)
13. Baylor (6-1)
14. Arizona State (6-1)
15. Nebraska (7-1)
16. Ohio State (6-1)
17. Utah (6-1)
18. Oklahoma (5-2)
19. LSU (7-2)
20. West Virginia (6-2)
21. Clemson (6-2)
22. UCLA (6-2)
23. East Carolina (6-1)
24. Duke (6-1)
25. Louisville (6-2)

First reactions: Glad Alabama isn't higher (could be lower), TCU and Kansas State are surprisingly high, ND is a few spots lower than anticipated, bit surprised Oregon got the recognition to be ranked at 5.
 
malman89 said:
Not a single playoff rankings post? Shocked. I find it absolutely stupid they're ranking teams this early. All it will do is pigeon hole committee members into keeping Team A ahead of Team B solely based on the fact that they had them ranked ahead for x number of weeks. Anywho, here's the first rankings:

1. Mississippi State (7-0)
2. Florida State (7-0)
3. Auburn (6-1)
4. Ole Miss (7-1)
5. Oregon (7-1)
6. Alabama (7-1)
7. TCU (6-1)
8. Michigan State (7-1)
9. Kansas State (6-1)
10. Notre Dame (6-1)
11. Georgia (6-1)
12. Arizona (6-1)
13. Baylor (6-1)
14. Arizona State (6-1)
15. Nebraska (7-1)
16. Ohio State (6-1)
17. Utah (6-1)
18. Oklahoma (5-2)
19. LSU (7-2)
20. West Virginia (6-2)
21. Clemson (6-2)
22. UCLA (6-2)
23. East Carolina (6-1)
24. Duke (6-1)
25. Louisville (6-2)

First reactions: Glad Alabama isn't higher (could be lower), TCU and Kansas State are surprisingly high, ND is a few spots lower than anticipated, bit surprised Oregon got the recognition to be ranked at 5.
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Hater..... "ROLL TIDE", and yes I liked them long before the Nick Saban era.
 
malman89 said:
Not a single playoff rankings post? Shocked. I find it absolutely stupid they're ranking teams this early. All it will do is pigeon hole committee members into keeping Team A ahead of Team B solely based on the fact that they had them ranked ahead for x number of weeks. Anywho, here's the first rankings:

1. Mississippi State (7-0)
2. Florida State (7-0)
3. Auburn (6-1)
4. Ole Miss (7-1)
5. Oregon (7-1)
6. Alabama (7-1)
7. TCU (6-1)
8. Michigan State (7-1)
9. Kansas State (6-1)
10. Notre Dame (6-1)
11. Georgia (6-1)
12. Arizona (6-1)
13. Baylor (6-1)
14. Arizona State (6-1)
15. Nebraska (7-1)
16. Ohio State (6-1)
17. Utah (6-1)
18. Oklahoma (5-2)
19. LSU (7-2)
20. West Virginia (6-2)
21. Clemson (6-2)
22. UCLA (6-2)
23. East Carolina (6-1)
24. Duke (6-1)
25. Louisville (6-2)

First reactions: Glad Alabama isn't higher (could be lower), TCU and Kansas State are surprisingly high, ND is a few spots lower than anticipated, bit surprised Oregon got the recognition to be ranked at 5.
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Can't agree with you about Bama, but you're right that this ranking is nearly meaningless. Too many tough games lie ahead. Some teams that are currently winless will likely lose at least once and others who've lost one game will go to the two-loss column and be out of the playoff.
 
rhett7660 said:
Hater..... "ROLL TIDE", and yes I liked them long before the Nick Saban era.
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Bama's only good win is against just ranked #22 (traditional polls) WVU, who probably won't last in the polls too long. The only good team they've played, they lost to. A&M is not a good team, so don't even try to cite them.

The fact that Bama is #3 in traditional polls is laughable and a prime example of how being ranked high in the preseason handcuffs the system and makes it harder for teams to fall when they should.

There should be no AP/Coaches rankings until at least halfway through the season, if not the very end. Rankings in football, unlike college basketball, slot teams into bowls. CBB the #1-4 teams aren't all 1 seeds and 5-8 aren't all 2 seeds and so on. The FCS doesn't rank teams until the end, so I don't see why the FBS can't either. Their system works. All the big heads will still post mock rankings each week for people to argue over, so that part of the system wouldn't go away either.

If Bama is really that good in a no ranking system, they'll win out, win the SEC West, win the SEC, and then get a top 4 ranking. If not, they'll be on the outside looking in on the CFP as they should.
 
For your reference, this is the make-up of the playoff selection committee. They are not supposed to rely on polls or computer algorithms, and they may not vote for their own school, as noted

Jeff Long – SEC Arkansas
Barry Alvarez – B1G Wisconsin
Michael C. Gould Air Force
Pat Haden – Pac-12 USC
Tom Jernstedt
Oliver Luck – Big 12 West Virginia
Archie Manning (surgery)
Tom Osborne Nebraska
Dan Radakovich – ACC Clemson
Condoleezza Rice Stanford
Mike Tranghese – The American
Steve Wieberg
Tyrone Willingham​
 
Well...there goes Ole Miss.

Rankings should remain the same, with Oregon and Alabama moving one spot up.

1. Mississippi St.
2. Florida St.
3. Auburn
4. Oregon
5. Alabama.

Remaning schedule for the SEC West is going to be intense, big games involving (not limited to playing each other) Mississippi St, Auburn and Alabama!
 
iLog.Genius said:
Well...there goes Ole Miss.

Rankings should remain the same, with Oregon and Alabama moving one spot up.

1. Mississippi St.
2. Florida St.
3. Auburn
4. Oregon
5. Alabama.

Remaning schedule for the SEC West is going to be intense, big games involving (not limited to playing each other) Mississippi St, Auburn and Alabama!
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Bama winning at LSU is hardly a given, and they have to play Mississippi State and Auburn after that. It'll be really interesting to see what the playoff committee would do at the end of the regular season if Alabama manages to win out, though. I presume that both Mississippi State and Bama would end up in the top four along with Florida State and Oregon, assuming Oregon doesn't lose another game and Ole Miss loses their game against Mississippi State.

The situation in the SEC East is even crazier with Florida winning against Georgia yesterday. The Gators could win two of their remaining games and at least end up in a bowl game, which would probably save Will Muschamp's job.
 
Roller said:
Bama winning at LSU is hardly a given, and they have to play Mississippi State and Auburn after that. It'll be really interesting to see what the playoff committee would do at the end of the regular season if Alabama manages to win out, though. I presume that both Mississippi State and Bama would end up in the top four along with Florida State and Oregon, assuming Oregon doesn't lose another game and Ole Miss loses their game against Mississippi State.

The situation in the SEC East is even crazier with Florida winning against Georgia yesterday. The Gators could win two of their remaining games and at least end up in a bowl game, which would probably save Will Muschamp's job.
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I think if Alabama wins out, they're no lower than 2, with the chance at the 1 spot IF Florida St. loses, given their remaining schedule having to go through LSU, Mississippi St. and Auburn.
 
Roller said:
Bama winning at LSU is hardly a given, and they have to play Mississippi State and Auburn after that. It'll be really interesting to see what the playoff committee would do at the end of the regular season if Alabama manages to win out, though. I presume that both Mississippi State and Bama would end up in the top four along with Florida State and Oregon, assuming Oregon doesn't lose another game and Ole Miss loses their game against Mississippi State.

The situation in the SEC East is even crazier with Florida winning against Georgia yesterday. The Gators could win two of their remaining games and at least end up in a bowl game, which would probably save Will Muschamp's job.
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Alabama and Mississippi State play each other, so both can't win out. Alabama with 2 losses would be toast in the CFP race unless a lot of other 1 loss teams drop a game. Miss. State losing to Bama and finishing with one loss AND a Bama loss in the SEC Championship to say Mizzou or Georgia would create a conundrum. Can you leave out the SEC Champ? Can you put a SEC West runner up with one loss ahead of the weaker SEC Champ with two losses? There's a lot of football to be played and a lot of interesting scenarios.

That's not even considering TCU/Kansas State/Baylor from the Big 12 or Michigan State from the B1G wins out and is a one loss conference champ. Where would you slot them in? Or ND if they can beat ASU and USC? And ASU is a long shot if they beat ND and run the table beating Oregon in the Pac 12. That opening loss sure looks bad though.

Too soon to tell, lots of fun games remaining. Until circumstances change, all remaining games are elimination games for teams in the hunt.
 
Committee has stated they won't base each week's rankings on the prior week's rankings.

They'll start over each week and look at the entire body of work as opposed to adjusting last week's rankings based on this week's games.

Hopefully that holds true and here's an example of why:

TCU is currently 6 spots ahead of Baylor. If both TCU and Baylor win out, they will finish with roughly the same resume (quality wins over K State, WVU/TCU, OU, Ok St) and only 1 loss - both quality losses (@WVU, @BU).

Both teams would technically tie for the Big 12 championship, though Baylor won the head to head matchup.

If the rankings were not reset, its unlikely Baylor would ever pass TCU as TCU started much higher and kept winning. But would it be fair/right for TCU to get into the playoff when Baylor beat them head to head?

I don't know the right answer, and somehow I think the ultimate decision will be far more convoluted than that (I still think Iowa St will beat someone and think K St. has an unbelievably tough road down the stretch).

But as an admittedly biased Baylor fan, I'd be absolutely livid if TCU got in and Baylor didn't when Baylor beat them head to head.

Honestly, I think we need to go to 8 teams - power 5 conference champions and 3 wild cards. Take the subjective out of it (save for the wild cards) and let the best of each conference duke it out. That's the most fair way IMO.

My prediction, this is what the playoff will (hopefully) look like:

(1) SEC Champ (with 1 loss)
(2) Florida State (undefeated)
(3) Big 12 Champ (with 1 loss)
(4) Oregon (with 1 loss)

If Michigan St. wins out, they are the 5th team and first out. I also think the potential second 1 loss Big 12 team would be close and possibly ND if they win out (sure they only lost to FSU, but they have no really good wins).

At the end of the day, 4 teams isn't enough and we still have the same problems we had with the BCS. Too much subjectivity.
 
jrswizzle said:
Honestly, I think we need to go to 8 teams - power 5 conference champions and 3 wild cards. Take the subjective out of it (save for the wild cards) and let the best of each conference duke it out. That's the most fair way IMO.

My prediction, this is what the playoff will (hopefully) look like:

(1) SEC Champ (with 1 loss)
(2) Florida State (undefeated)
(3) Big 12 Champ (with 1 loss)
(4) Oregon (with 1 loss)

If Michigan St. wins out, they are the 5th team and first out. I also think the potential second 1 loss Big 12 team would be close and possibly ND if they win out (sure they only lost to FSU, but they have no really good wins).

At the end of the day, 4 teams isn't enough and we still have the same problems we had with the BCS. Too much subjectivity.
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I really do think playoff expansion is inevitable as well. College football fans are insatiable. The only thing I could see is if the non-power 5 take issue, but the recent NCAA changes make me wonder if it really matters.

A 'more fair' approach would take 16 teams - every conference champion + wild cards - but I think we go 8 first and if it does go 16, I doubt they'll want a MAC or Sun Belt champ in, even if they slotted behind the wild card teams in seeding.
 
malman89 said:
I really do think playoff expansion is inevitable as well. College football fans are insatiable. The only thing I could see is if the non-power 5 take issue, but the recent NCAA changes make me wonder if it really matters.

A 'more fair' approach would take 16 teams - every conference champion + wild cards - but I think we go 8 first and if it does go 16, I doubt they'll want a MAC or Sun Belt champ in, even if they slotted behind the wild card teams in seeding.
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I agree about expansion and with jrswizzle's lineup. But the playoff committee will have a tough choice if there are two one-loss SEC West teams to choose from, which is a possibility. Their job will be easier if Mississippi State wins out, but they have two difficult games ahead - Alabama and Ole Miss on the road.
 
TA&M upsetting Auburn? Might we see another shakeup this week in the rankings? If the upset happens, Alabama really controls their own season with a tough game against LSU tonight.
 
Despite showing poise in OT, I still don't have full confidence in Sims. While the game was great (thanks to both defenses), it was painful to watch Sims play. He has flashes but the plays they call with him are dunk plays, high completion plays and he couldn't always get those (yes I know Deandrew White and Amari Cooper had some uncharacteristic drops) - it looks and feels like the coaching staff don't really believe in him either, it's such a big contrast to the play calling with McCarron and McElroy.

As for the game overall, LSU fudged that up themselves and Alabama showed why it's considered an elite team. It was actually surprising to see Les Miles actually play a bit more conservative in the second half, despite having the momentum from the Q3 on and to see him not try to attack the end zone after Yeldon's fumble was disappointing.

This was a close one but Alabama did manage to escape. Won't make the games between Auburn and Mississippi St any easier, those should be fun to watch.
 
iLog.Genius said:
Despite showing poise in OT, I still don't have full confidence in Sims. While the game was great (thanks to both defenses), it was painful to watch Sims play. He has flashes but the plays they call with him are dunk plays, high completion plays and he couldn't always get those (yes I know Deandrew White and Amari Cooper had some uncharacteristic drops) - it looks and feels like the coaching staff don't really believe in him either, it's such a big contrast to the play calling with McCarron and McElroy.

As for the game overall, LSU fudged that up themselves and Alabama showed why it's considered an elite team. It was actually surprising to see Les Miles actually play a bit more conservative in the second half, despite having the momentum from the Q3 on and to see him not try to attack the end zone after Yeldon's fumble was disappointing.

This was a close one but Alabama did manage to escape. Won't make the games between Auburn and Mississippi St any easier, those should be fun to watch.
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Alabama looked out of sync much of the night, and as Verne and Gary pointed out more than once, Sims' completed passes were short for most of the game. But LSU has a remarkable record at Death Valley on Saturday nights (46-3 prior to last week). Sims did show great poise marching the Tide down the field in the last 50 seconds, and his ability to get a first down on 3rd and 4 made a huge difference.

But you're right - Alabama has two very tough opponents ahead to get to the SEC Championship. Fortunately, both are at home, where they've played better, and Auburn has demonstrated that they can't always overcome their mistakes.
 
Roller said:
But you're right - Alabama has two very tough opponents ahead to get to the SEC Championship. Fortunately, both are at home, where they've played better, and Auburn has demonstrated that they can't always overcome their mistakes.
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It's going to come down to Alabama's defense. Both Auburn and Mississippi St. can put up points, one has a top 10 rushing attack, the other can throw the ball around. While Alabama's defense has stepped it up recently, you get that feeling the defense is going to let up because they don't have that x factor of previous teams that won championships (see: BCS vs. LSU and ND). But it's going to be a great game next Saturday, can't wait!
 
Hey, maybe something to spur some conversations - actual movement in the CFP rankings!

1. Mississippi State (9-0)
2. Oregon (9-1)
3. Florida State (9-0)
4. TCU (8-1)
5. Alabama (8-1)
6. Arizona State (8-1)
7. Baylor (8-1)
8. Ohio State (8-1)
9. Auburn (7-2)
10. Ole Miss (8-2)
11. UCLA (8-2)
12. Michigan State (7-2)
13. Kansas State (7-2)
14. Arizona (7-2)
15. Georgia (7-2)
16. Nebraska (8-1)
17. LSU (7-3)
18. Notre Dame (7-2)
19. Clemson (7-2)
20. Wisconsin (7-2)
21. Duke (8-1)
22. Georgia Tech (8-2)
23. Utah (6-3)
24. Texas A&M (7-3)
25. Minnesota (7-2)

Miss. St is a lock at 1 until they lose. Oregon jumping FSU over SOS (3-1 vs. CFP T25 compared to 2-0 FSU) with a loss is really tough to stomach, even if you hate Winston. TCU over Baylor and Bama is a little surprising. Well, just Bama, as the committee clearly doesn't care about Baylor's H2H win over TCU. Just like undefeated Marshall can't sneak into the T25. TCU is hilariously enough benefiting from having a better loss than Baylor (WVU) - to Baylor!

And for all our Alabama/SEC posters, Alabama got bumped a week late, but better late than never. However, if they keep winning with their schedule, there's no doubting they'll get back into the top 4.
 
malman89 said:
And for all our Alabama/SEC posters, Alabama got bumped a week late, but better late than never. However, if they keep winning with their schedule, there's no doubting they'll get back into the top 4.
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Hard to imagine Alabama staying out of the top four if they manage to get by Mississippi State this Saturday afternoon, admittedly their biggest challenge of the year.
 
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