2 weeks ago

Is the College Football Playoff bracket fair? Here are some tweaks that would have changed things

The committee that chose the 12 contenders for college football’s national title was only worried about one thing — ranking the teams. The choices could, in some eyes, undermine the College Football Playoff’s main mission, which is providing more “access” — in other words, a fair shake to more than four deserving teams. Under a reseeding scenario, the Ohio State matchup could only happen if every home team — Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and the Buckeyes — were to win its first-round game. This tweak also would prevent this year’s possibility of Clemson vs. Arizona State in the quarterfinals — two teams that weren’t in the top 12 a week ago.

Football College Football Game Teams Texas Big 12 College Ohio Oregon State Committee Penn State Conference Ducks Boise State Ohio State Bracket Conference Champions ohio conference teams committee fair big 12 football college tweaks playoff things changed state bracket game

History of this topic

What Everyone Is Missing About the College Football Playoff

Trending News

54 years, 11 months ago

What Everyone Is Missing About the College Football Playoff

Slate

The first 12-team iteration of the College Football Playoff had four chances to produce a competitive first-round game. ProFootballTalk opined, “A 12-team college football playoff sounds like a great idea until it’s all lesser teams going on the road to play better teams in late December and getting their asses kicked.” These people are all making different points but missing …

1 day, 13 hours ago

College playoffs looks for good matchups after snoozy first round of blowouts

Associated Press

For those who dozed through it, or flipped to more compelling fare in the NFL, here’s a brief recap of the rollout of the much-anticipated College Football Playoff. One part that did feel like a success was that the stands were full in all four stadiums — at Texas, Notre Dame, Penn State and Ohio State. “I think college football …

College Football Playoff quarterfinals first look: Oregon-Ohio State has national title vibes

Trending News

2 days, 5 hours ago

College Football Playoff quarterfinals first look: Oregon-Ohio State has national title vibes

New York Times

The second round of the first 12-team College Football Playoff will be a combination of turn-back-the-clock traditional bowl games and odd matchups in strange sites. But the best offenses Penn State faced this season — USC, Ohio State, Oregon — all ran for at least 170 yards and 4.2 yards per carry against the Nittany Lions, who are active up …

1 week, 6 days ago

College Football Playoff bracket: CFP committee picked SMU over Alabama—for good reason.

Slate

SMU is in the College Football Playoff. The selection committee finally biffed out, making the outrageous decision to exclude undefeated Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State in favor of a one-loss Alabama team that had won the vaunted Southeastern Conference. Rather than selecting four teams, the committee was picking 12 for the first year of the college game’s expanded playoff. …

2 weeks, 2 days ago

College Football Playoff bracket revealed: Oregon No. 1 overall, SMU gets in over Alabama

New York Times

Follow live updates and reaction to the 12-team College Football Playoff field. The first 12-team College Football Playoff will include SMU but not Alabama. The Crimson Tide were the first team out of the field when the selection committee released its final ranking Sunday, setting the bracket for the first expansive, pro-style playoff in the history of major college football: …

2 weeks, 2 days ago

2024 College Football Playoff guide: What to know about the new 12-team format, at-large bids

New York Times

College football entered a new era Sunday with the unveiling of the first 12-team Playoff bracket. For most of its century-plus existence, college football had a “mythical national champion.” The sport’s season champion was determined after teams played in bowl games by various polls and rankings, which, of course, led to significant debate. The four quarterfinal games and both semifinals …

2 weeks, 2 days ago

No. 1 Oregon to face winner of No. 8 seed Ohio State vs. No. 9 seed Tennessee in Rose Bowl

LA Times

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks earned the No. During a College Football Playoff Selection Sunday filled with drama, the undefeated Oregon Ducks had the luxury of sitting back and smelling the roses. Oregon may need to beat Ohio State again to complete a perfect run to the first national championship in school history after two unsuccessful attempts in …

College Football Playoff takeaways: Clemson kickstarts SMU-Alabama debate for final spot

Trending News

2 weeks, 2 days ago

College Football Playoff takeaways: Clemson kickstarts SMU-Alabama debate for final spot

New York Times

By Ralph D. Russo, Matt Baker, Justin Williams, Joe Rexrode and Sam Khan Jr. The first 12-team College Football Playoff field will be revealed on Sunday, but a lot was still to be determined by Saturday’s Power 4 conference championship games after Boise State locked up the first automatic bid on Friday. pic.twitter.com/GmNL2hnoO0 — ACC Network December 8, 2024 It’s …

3 weeks ago

What the College Football Playoff rankings say about Ohio State after its loss to Michigan

New York Times

The final College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed on Sunday, but Tuesday night’s penultimate Top 25 gave us an idea of what Ohio State’s fate will be. Tuesday was close to the best-case scenario for Ohio State Eight teams are a lock for the Playoff: Oregon, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, Tennessee and Indiana. It could …

3 weeks, 6 days ago

SEC losses are big gains for SMU and Indiana in latest College Football Playoff rankings

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The Southeastern Conference’s losses were almost everyone else’s gain in the College Football Playoff rankings, with SMU nudging its way into the top 12 and Indiana staying in the mix at No. “They dropped five but we still felt their body of work was strong enough …

1 month ago

What we learned about the College Football Playoff: SEC upsets, Big 12 chaos, Indiana’s hopes

New York Times

The weekend before Thanksgiving often feels like the calm before the storm in college football. Interesting to read analysis from others as they examine “strength of schedule” in college football…it does seem there is a trend to be identified… pic.twitter.com/pXSfxRMxvL — Greg Sankey November 21, 2024 But at a certain point, it doesn’t seem like too much to ask these …

1 month, 1 week ago

Oregon tops Week 2 College Football Playoff rankings and Georgia drops out of the bracket

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Undefeated Oregon stayed on top in the second batch of College Football Playoff rankings, while Tuesday’s poll shoved Georgia completely out of the bracket after its lopsided loss to Mississippi. Those byes go to the four highest-ranked conference champions, meaning Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference …

1 month, 1 week ago

College Football Playoff rankings, ranked: Texas has done what to deserve this?

New York Times

So the College Football Playoff selection committee is gaining the necessary respect for BYU while still showing too much to Texas and Miami. The Hoosiers struggled in the second half at home against Michigan and didn’t bludgeon an opponent for the first time, but that 20-15 win against a 5-5 team was worth a jump from No. It’s very simple: …

1 month, 1 week ago

College Football Playoff rankings: Georgia bumped out of bracket while Oregon, Ohio State hold steady at top

New York Times

Georgia plummeted from No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday following a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss, its second loss of the season, while previously undefeated Miami dropped from No. “Their defense has been solid, though in their loss to Ole Miss, with their offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.” Oregon and …

1 month, 1 week ago

Ranking 134 college football teams after Week 11: Will shaky contenders feel an SEC squeeze?

New York Times

Editor’s note: The Athletic 134 is a weekly ranking of all FBS college football teams. The ACC and Big 12’s hopes of sending multiple teams to the first 12-team College Football Playoff took a big hit over the weekend. Meanwhile, Ole Miss’ win at Georgia brought more SEC teams into the Playoff mix rather than knocking one out with a …

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Predicting the first 12-team College Football Playoff selection committee rankings

New York Times

The first College Football Playoff rankings will be revealed Tuesday night, and once again I’ll be using my projections model to try to predict how the selection committee will rank the teams each week. Here’s what I expect Tuesday’s rankings to be: Next five: Missouri, South Carolina, UNLV, Arizona State, Tulane Biggest question: What to do with Notre Dame? There …

1 month, 2 weeks ago

Will the first College Football Playoff rankings of 12-team era favor Big Ten, SEC?

New York Times

Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings will surely be the most picked-apart first installment of a season since the CFP debuted in 2014. It’s also the committee’s first set of rankings in the new era of superconferences, where the SEC and Big Ten are trying to position themselves as superior to everyone else. “You can come from a …

1 month, 3 weeks ago

Strength of Schedule: A Key Factor in the 12-Team Playoff Brackets

Associated Press

The 12-team College Football Playoff selection committee will consider strength of schedule as a factor in determining the bracket. Strength of schedule is a measure of how difficult it is for a team to schedule games against other teams. This factor is not included in the traditional AP Top 25 poll, but it could play a significant role in determining …

2 months ago

How 30-plus College Football Playoff contenders and their conference races collide in the weeks ahead

New York Times

As November approaches, more and more programs’ College Football Playoff hopes are dropping like autumn leaves from the trees. Key games before first CFP rankings: BYU at UCF, Oct. 26; Cincinnati at Colorado, Oct. 26; Texas Tech at Iowa State, Nov. 2. A failed drive for a last-second field goal cost them at Oregon, but games against Penn State, Indiana …

2 months ago

Our experts’ midseason College Football Playoff, national championship and Heisman picks

New York Times

How much has the outlook for the college football season changed since the preseason? Ohio State is still on top of the national championship race in Austin Mock’s College Football Playoff projections model, winning the national title in 21 percent of our simulations. Team Votes Texas 11 Ohio State 9 Oregon 6 Georgia 4 Not only is Texas our most …

2 months, 1 week ago

What we learned about the College Football Playoff race after Oregon-Ohio State classic

New York Times

Two losses don’t necessarily eliminate a team from College Football Playoff contention anymore. Ryan Barker, right, made a game-winning field goal in overtime to lift Penn State over USC and likely end the Trojans’ chances of getting into the College Football Playoff. GO DEEPER Morales: After another close loss and a 3-3 start, USC simply needs more from Lincoln Riley …

2 months, 3 weeks ago

What we learned about the College Football Playoff in Week 5: Buckle up, Big 12

New York Times

The biggest, most-anticipated game of the season so far took a while, but No. In The Athletic’s updated College Football Playoff projections model, Alabama now has the best chance to make the Playoff at 94 percent, though Texas is still favored to win the SEC. Notre Dame still has to play at USC to end the regular season, and a …

3 months ago

CFP Bracket Watch: Texas, Ohio State, Miami, Utah are top seeds as SEC hoards 1st-round home games

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The top four seeds remain locked into The Associated Press’ College Football Playoff bracket projection as Miami and Utah move up the Top 25. 1 seed as the projected Southeastern Conference champion, followed by Ohio State as the second seed out of the Big Ten. ___ …

4 months, 1 week ago

Who will make an expanded College Football Playoff? A potential bracket, using the Top 25 as a guide

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! — Unpredictability lingered into 2022, when five teams that would have gone on to make a 12-team playoff started the season unranked by AP, including national runner-up TCU. — Overall, 29 teams from 2014-23 that started the season unranked by AP would have made a 12-team …

10 months ago

College Football Playoff approves 5+7 format and reduces spots for conference champions

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The field for the 12-team College Football Playoff beginning next season will comprise five conference champions and seven at-large selections after the university presidents who oversee the CFP voted unanimously Tuesday to tweak the format. The original plan for the 12-team format was to have the …

1 year ago

Michigan facing Alabama in College Football Playoff is ideal chance to earn validation

New York Times

INDIANAPOLIS — The College Football Playoff selection committee didn’t do Michigan any favors by snubbing Florida State and pitting the Wolverines against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Playing a wounded Florida State team without star quarterback Jordan Travis in the CFP would have been another opportunity for critics to say Michigan didn’t really earn its way to the top. GO …

1 year ago

College Football Picks: Awkward trophy ceremonies, CFP implications highlight championship weekend

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! 19 Oklahoma State, Big 12 championship at Arlington, Texas, Saturday The Longhorns might need some help to reach the playoff if they win the Big 12 for the first time since 2009. 23 Toledo vs. Miami, Ohio, MAC championship at Detroit, Saturday The Rockets could become …

1 year ago

College Football Playoff rankings: What a 12-team bracket would be after latest Top 25

New York Times

The Athletic has live coverage of the College Football Playoff rankings selection show. With the 12-team College Football Playoff coming next season, The Athletic is using this season’s latest CFP selection committee rankings to illustrate how the new format will work. Here’s how the bracket would be seeded and the site locations determined using the committee’s Nov. 28 rankings and …

1 year ago

Ranking 133 college football teams after Week 13: Conference title clashes will tell all

New York Times

The 2023 season comes down to conference championship weekend. GO DEEPER Behind the AP Top 25 ballot: Oregon-Washington making Pac-12 history and more takeaways The regular season has come to a close, meaning teams with losing seasons have essentially locked in their final positions in these rankings, pending some small moves due to bowl games. All of those teams could …

1 year, 1 month ago

College Football Playoff rankings projections: Should Ohio State or Michigan be ranked higher?

New York Times

The Athletic has live coverage of the College Football Playoff rankings selection show. It’s rivalry week in college football and Ohio State at Michigan is the marquee game. The College Football Playoff committee had been ranking Ohio State ahead of Michigan for the past few weeks and the numbers are starting to agree. The algorithm is simply projecting where teams …

2 years ago

CFP deja vu: TCU in third, Ohio State lurking and lobbying

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Undefeated TCU has a Big 12 championship game to play, and the best the Buckeyes can do is try to tout what they had already done before last week’s 45-23 home loss to Michigan that kept them from reaching the Big Ten title game. “When you …

2 years ago

College Football Playoff update: USC, TCU lose — how realistic is everyone’s worst nightmare?

New York Times

LAS VEGAS — USC arrived in Sin City riding the back of a quarterback who has the Heisman Trophy all but wrapped up. The result: Ohio State is going to the College Football Playoff, with more championship weekend craziness ahead. The final four could look like: Georgia Michigan Ohio State TCU That would set up a rematch of The Game …

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