Red Dog

Crab Legs will never have an easier strike.

Red Dog

I don't think the QB matters for the Buckeyes. Good god, how did they lose to VT.

Red Dog

The committee is saying 'fuck us.'

bootsy

Inexperienced qb and oline at the time. If that was played now the results would look like this game tonight.

Bacon

Ga Tech gets the first on the 4th down run but that spot was pathetic

Red Dog

FSU always entertains.

dsa_shea

The worst thing about watching an FSU game is the incessant play of the whore chant.

Red Dog

Nice tackle.

Red Dog

That was an odd call.

MrX

Why in the world is he throwing?

MrX

It won't happen, but it would be hilarious if tOSU jumped FSU.

MrX

Ballgame

Red Dog

OSU and FSU just made it really easy for the committee to say fuck this B12 shit, we don't have to break that tie.

Bacon

Don't get me started
I'd rather hear a 24 hour long loop of Rocky Top

JumpCutz

MrX

Art Briles and Big 12 commish Bob Bowlsby reportedly got into a argument on the stage after the game

dolphinboy

Should be:

Alabama, Oregon, FSU, Ohio State.

Barth

I'd have Bama, Oregon, TCU, and FSU*.

The * being you're extremely lucky to be in. At this point in the season Ohio State or Baylor would beat them soundly. However, OSU and Baylor you both lost a game you shouldn't have, and FSU didn't so they get the last spot even as unimpressive as they've been.

Jericho

The only team that has to be in the playoff at this point is FSU. Mainly due to the fact they've gone undefeated. They've done something few teams have done. And they've done everything that's asked. You can't have one undefeated team and leave them out of a 4 team playoff. The fact they are also defending champs makes it even harder. They're in.

The other three spots are more arguable. There's an overwhelming majority of "experts" that feel Oregon and Alabama are the top two teams in the nation. And I understand why. and there is compelling reasons why. Of course, these same "experts" have been way wrong before too. So it's not like its anything definitive. But I'd pick those two as well given a choice.

Now you're down to one spot. It's basically TCU vs. Ohio St. vs. Baylor. And yes, you can make compelling arguments that all of them are better than FSU. But FSU's already in. Now if we're going on body of work, TCU seems to have the best argument. Strongest loss, on the road by a few points to another top 10 team. Plus they've generally looked very impressive. I think the overall perception is the Big 12 is better than the Big 10. And that's partly what's helped carry Oregon and Alabama. People believe the SEC and PAC-10 are strong conferences (which probably is true, but to an extent people are just guessing). That and both are name programs. Ohio St. is also a name program, but from a weak conference with a bad loss. I'm not sure how you can argue they should be in over the Big 12 options. I think you gotta go Big 12. The question is if Baylor's win is enough to jump them over OSU and TCU. And is beating TCU head to head enough, even with a home field advantage in that game?

Slight side note, if this were the old BCS system - the match up would almost certainly be FSU v. Alabama. FSU because they are undefeated and Alabama because any one loss SEC team seems to trump any other one loss team. I'm glad we're at least getting two more teams involved with reasonable claims

Barth

^Good write up. I agree with everything you wrote.

PhantomStranger

Do you really believe this? Ohio State lost to a team that only had 3 conference wins in the ACC. The Big 12 teams play nobody of note outside their conference, which makes both TCU and Baylor suspect. I doubt TCU or Baylor would be favored on a neutral field over FSU.

Jeremy517

TCU will be in for sure. The committee moved them up to 3 last week, which they never would have done had they been planning on dropping them to 5 this week. They won by 52, and they're going to drop two spots a week after moving up one spot? Nah.

I will be surprised if the rankings are anything but:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. TCU
4. Florida State

Tabletopjoe

I'd love, for either TCU or Baylor to be in. Sadly, since the games will be on ESPN, you know ESPN darling Ohio State, is going to be in. It's all about ratings, in fact, I could see Ohio State leapfrogging to 3, so we have a possibility of Ohio State Vs. Alabama, in the finals.

RoyalTea

You're assuming that the final rankings have to be closely connected with mid-season rankings. In the committee's own words, conference championships matter. Every one of their rankings so far has done so without having the benefit of a huge piece of information.

http://www.collegefootballplayoff.co...ittee-protocol

Conference championships is their #1 criteria and until today, they've never had that information. Were their rankings before this based on assumptions of who would win a championship? Or did they just throw that out and ignore it. The fact that their very first rankings had three teams from the same conference makes me think that the midseason rankings were who are the four best teams and ignored the incomplete criteria concerning conference championships.

So, are there any non-champions (or independents) who are "unequivocally one of the four best teams in the country?" No.

So we're left with five conferences and four spots. Who gets left out?

Alabama won a championship.
Florida State won a championship.
Ohio State won a championship.
Oregon won a championship.
TCU won a partial claim to a co-championship with Baylor.

The Big 12 could have cleared things up a bit and officially said that Baylor (having beaten TCU head-to-head) is the conference champion. But if the conference wants to roll the dice and try to get two of their teams considered "champions" by the selection committee, they may end up with neither of those teams getting that consideration.

Jeremy517

Saying "mid-season" is a little disingenuous, as we're talking five days ago, not many weeks ago.

Crazy betting action on OSU so far. They started at -300 on 5 Dimes, went to -120, and are now at -385. It looks like people have inside info and that OSU is in.