1 year ago

Analysis: With expansion coming, good riddance to the 4-team playoff after unprecedented snub of FSU

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! It’s just going to be better,” The final version of the four-team playoff produced a truly unsatisfying outcome Sunday when unbeaten Florida State was left out because, essentially, its starting quarterback got hurt. But the CFP devalued the rest of the postseason: Highly ranked teams left out are tossed into what are sold as marquee bowl games — the New Year’s Six — but with low stakes and limited reason for the best players to play. The 12-team model won’t necessarily produce better champions, but if Florida State and Georgia were playing in playoff games in December we’d all be better off. “People look for perfection, and there will be some teams that don’t quite make it in 12 who are going to be asking some serious questions.” For what it is worth, here is what a 12-team playoff would have looked like this season : Missouri at Oregon — winner vs. Michigan.

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History of this topic

4 days, 7 hours ago

12-team college football playoff arrives after 100 years, a few billion dollars and many detours

Associated Press

It took more than 100 years, a few billion dollars and the cold, hard realization that you can’t fight progress forever. The first 12-team College Football Playoff kicks off Friday and Saturday with four first-round games on campuses steeped in gridiron tradition: Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State. A deal struck decades ago as part of the NFL’s …

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, 1 day 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 …

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

Trending News

2 weeks, 1 day 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 …

2 weeks, 5 days ago

How much does the CFP selection committee punish conference championship game losers?

New York Times

There’s a fear among this year’s College Football Playoff contenders that losing a conference championship game could net them a worse result than not playing in one at all. Overall, the 47 teams that lost power-conference title games in the CFP’s first decade dropped an average of two spots in the final CFP Top 25. With all eyes on how …

2 weeks, 6 days ago

College Football Playoff rankings: Miami out, Alabama in with last at-large bid as ACC implications linger

New York Times

Alabama moved into position to receive an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff and Miami was locked out of contention as the selection committee’s penultimate rankings Tuesday night narrowed the field of contenders. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said the conference was “incredibly shocked and disappointed” by Miami’s fall after the Hurricanes lost this past weekend, 42-38, at No. 16 …

3 weeks, 3 days ago

CFP rankings: Georgia, Texas, and College Football Playoff madness in Week 14.

Slate

At the onset of fall, it was clear that the growth of the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12 would make this season unlike any other. Ole Miss is likely out of the playoff race because it plays miserable Mississippi State this week, and beating a team that goes winless in SEC play should not help the Rebels …

3 weeks, 5 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 …

4 weeks, 1 day 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 ago

Florida State is losing recruits at nearly the same pace that it’s losing games in 2024

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Coach Mike Norvell spent years slowly rebuilding at Florida State and then suddenly turned the Seminoles into a championship contender last season. Pierre Louis made the move after watching the Gators upset LSU on Saturday — nearly a week after Norvell fired three …

1 month, 1 week ago

College football: Florida State’s disaster season of losses is historic.

Slate

College football has never had a disaster season like the one the 2024 Florida State Seminoles are putting on right now. Florida State is one of roughly 14 championship-capable programs at the sport’s top level, part of the select few who can recruit enough elite players to win the whole enchilada when enough things go right. While much of FSU’s …

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

Miami’s magic runs out at Georgia Tech. Can Canes still make College Football Playoff?

New York Times

This time, Cam Ward couldn’t save the Canes. Miami’s hopes of making the 12-team College Football Playoff field could now come down to winning its first ACC championship — and there’s no guarantee the Hurricanes will even get there. It was Georgia Tech’s first win over an AP top-five opponent since a 2009 victory against Virginia Tech, and the Yellow …

1 month, 2 weeks ago

College football coaches weigh in on the Playoff rankings: ‘They gave us a lot of respect’

New York Times

The first 12-team College Football Playoff ranking reveal on Tuesday didn’t stray far from the AP Top 25. “For us, it’s just keep winning because there’s so much that is gonna happen in the next three or four weeks, and then who wins the conferences matter,” Lashlee added. It’s cool momentum for our program in recruiting and it shows our …

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 …

2 months ago

College football midseason bowl projections: How new CFP format impacts rest of bowl season

New York Times

The expanded College Football Playoff will give this sport something that previously was unrivaled by the other sport: a true Selection Sunday. Texas Clemson-Alabama winner 8:45 p.m. ESPN Orange Jan. 9 Miami, Fla. Quarterfinal winner Quarterfinal winner 7:30 p.m. ESPN Cotton Jan. 10 Arlington, Texas Quarterfinal winner Quarterfinal winner 7:30 p.m. ESPN Championship Jan. 20 Atlanta Semifinal winner Semifinal winner …

2 months, 3 weeks ago

College football picks: Georgia-Alabama showdown not as consequential with 12-team CFP but still big

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! 4 Alabama on Saturday in a showdown of two Southeastern Conference superpowers who have combined to win five national titles since the College Football Playoff’s implementation in 2014. Back in the days before the Bowl Championship Series and CFP, a game like Alabama-Georgia could have essentially …

3 months ago

Florida State is college football’s most disappointing team, and it’s not even close

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! “I know that it’s a frustrating thing to sit there and look at, and it’s frustrating for everybody involved, for those guys that are out there playing,” Florida State coach Mike Norvell said Monday. Norvell turned to the transfer portal for help — a place that …

3 months, 3 weeks ago

The Worst Thing About This College Football Season Is a Win for Most Teams

Slate

In late September 2008, the fourth-ranked University of Florida football team hosted unranked Ole Miss in Gainesville. For a team aiming to win it all, one loss could mean the end and a second almost always did, and that was a unique feature of college football. The College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams this year. Whoever loses Sunday night’s …

4 months ago

The college football season is packed with mouthwatering games from coast to coast

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! 9 Michigan, Sept. 7 Perhaps the nation’s most significant non-conference game matches powerhouse programs from the SEC and Big Ten. 5 Alabama, Sept. 28 An early measuring stick game for Alabama and a chance for new coach Kalen DeBoer to grab a signature win following Nick …

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 …

9 months, 3 weeks ago

Analysis: Big Ten and SEC power play undermines credibility of playoff, marginalizes ACC and Big 12

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! There will be at least two 12-team playoffs, this season and next, but the Power Five is now down to four, dominated by a Big Two: The Southeastern Conference and Big Ten have decided to throw their weight around to protect their own interests with little …

9 months, 3 weeks ago

College Football Playoff’s 14-team model could include 3 auto-bids for Big Ten, SEC

New York Times

Among the models discussed in the potential 14-team College Football Playoff expansion in 2026 is at least one that would include multiple automatic qualifying spots for each Power 4 conference. A person aware of the discussions told The Athletic a 3-3-2-2-1 model would feature three automatic spots each for the Big Ten and SEC, two each for the Big 12 …

10 months ago

With 12-team playoff set, CFP already discussing possibly more teams for 2026 and beyond

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! DALLAS — Now that the yearslong process to finalize how the 12 teams for the expanded College Football Playoff will be selected for the next two seasons is complete, there are already discussions about maybe adding more teams for 2026 and beyond. The CFP management committee …

10 months ago

How the 12-team College Football Playoff will work

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The 12-team College Football Playoff is 10 months away from kicking off and the format for it has finally been locked in. University presidents who make up the CFP Board of Managers unanimously approved one last tweak to increase the number of at-large bids from six …

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

Column: Florida State always seemed out of place in the ACC. Now the Seminoles want out

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The ACC is vowing to hold Florida State to its end of the bargain over television rights, which would force the Seminoles to come up with a staggering pile of cash — the school’s legal counsel put the figure at $572 million — just to head …

1 year ago

Florida State to discuss future of athletics, affiliation with ACC at board meeting, AP source says

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The board is expected to consider a possible exit strategy that could involve legal action against the ACC and contracts that bind the conference’s members for 12 more years, according to the person, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because the school had not yet …

1 year ago

Florida State players and coaches are still hurting as they refocus on trying to stay unbeaten

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The CFP selection committee dropped Florida State from fourth to fifth and outside the four-team playoff, a move it justified because of star quarterback Jordan Travis’ season-ending broken leg. They’ve landed a commitment from Georgia defensive end Marvin Jones Jr., the son of one of the …

1 year ago

What is Florida State’s next move? Life at the epicenter of CFP and realignment drama

New York Times

Burnt orange flashed and the University of Texas logo filled the screen, as the Big 12 champion Longhorns locked in the first College Football Playoff berth in program history as the No. “Florida State or Alabama — one spot,” said Rece Davis, host of ESPN’s selection show. “Nationally, the narrative around the ACC is that it’s a weaker, inferior conference …

1 year ago

Column: College football delivers the perfect fiasco to cap the four-team playoff era

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference got it all wrong when he sent out a defiant statement Sunday claiming “college football deserved better.” Actually, college football got just what it deserved. The 12-team playoff will finally arrive with the 2024 season, but that’s too late …

1 year ago

Who’s in the CFB playoffs? College football’s selection committee picks Alabama over Florida State.

Slate

The College Football Playoff selection committee has an easy job most years, and the committee members do it well. Best can mean many things, but in the context that playoff officials have used to explain it, the concept of “best team” is separate from “best résumé.” As College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock said last week, “ ‘Most deserving’ …

1 year ago

No. 4 Florida State beats No. 15 Louisville 16-6 for ACC title, but could miss playoff at 13-0

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Florida State coach Mike Norvell said the possibility of leaving his unbeaten Seminoles out of the College Football Playoff shouldn’t even be discussed. Seminoles fans held up signs reading “Win and we’re in!” But Florida State’s offensive performance and unsettled quarterback situation created …

1 year ago

Alabama bumps Florida State for controversial last spot in CFP

LA Times

Top-seeded Michigan will play No. The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, adding eight games to the postseason grind for “student-athletes” who still don’t directly share the revenues from those highly lucrative contests. For the first time in College Football Playoff history, an undefeated Power Five conference champion was denied a spot, as the selection committee chose 12-1 …

1 year ago

What the College Football Playoff got wrong: Leaving out Florida State

New York Times

Next year, all this College Football Playoff arguing will be moot with the CFP expanding to 12 teams. There wasn’t a second-best team in the Big 12 this year, but Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma, the team Texas stumbled against and, as expected, Texas hammered the Cowboys Saturday. That wasn’t going to help Texas’ cause, but do we just forget that …

1 year ago

3 teams, 2 spots: Florida State, Texas, Alabama leave CFP selection committee difficult choice

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! One of these three teams will not make the College Football Playoff: Alabama, Florida State and Texas. Last season, TCU lost its conference title game and made the playoff and Ohio State didn’t even make it to the Big Ten championship and both managed to make …

1 year ago

Commentary: Alabama and Florida State at the center of a College Football Playoff conundrum

LA Times

Alabama players celebrate after defeating top-ranked Georgia in the SEC championship game Saturday. The last year of the four-team College Football Playoff, fittingly, will present the selection committee with its toughest decision yet — one so hard and fraught with political drama that the 13 humans probably are going to wish they were Bowl Championship Series computers for the next …

1 year ago

Loaded field of CFP contenders for last 4-team playoff fuels championship weekend drama

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Florida State The Seminoles are perfect and in playoff position heading into their Atlantic Coast Conference title game against Louisville, but an injury to star quarterback Jordan Travis creates some uncertainty. If Florida State muddles past Louisville and Alabama beats Georgia in a competitive game, leaving …

1 year ago

Commentary: Mourning the death of the best regular season in sports — college football’s

LA Times

In America’s two greatest college football rivalry games, a last-minute pass spun through the autumn air, carrying with it the fortunes and fates of iconic institutions. In Ann Arbor, Mich., 110,000-plus held their collective breath as Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord’s throw aimed toward the best wide receiver in the country seemed likely to be one more dart putting the …

1 year, 1 month ago

No. 4 Florida State earns spot in ACC title game by pulling away from game Pitt 24-7

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! PITTSBURGH — Ja’Khi Douglas was there during the dark days at Florida State when the losses piled up and the program’s reputation as a national power seemed like a distant memory. “It’s great that we get a chance to show the ACC, the whole world that …

1 year, 1 month ago

No. 4 Florida State can clinch spot in ACC title game with win over struggling Pitt

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! “They asked me ‘What do you want to win at Florida State?’” the redshirt sophomore defensive lineman said. “And I said, ‘Just trying to be part of bringing Florida State back.’” The fourth-ranked Seminoles are nearly there. “That’s something that we’ve held true to over the …

1 year, 1 month ago

Ohio St., UGA, Michigan, FSU are CFP top 4. NCAA investigation of Wolverines not considered in rank

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! The NCAA investigation hanging over Michigan as it heads into the final month of the season as a national championship contender is not affecting the College Football Playoff selection committee’s assessment of the Wolverines. 1, followed by Georgia, Michigan and Florida State in the season’s first …

1 year, 3 months ago

Realignment prompts fresh look at the number of automatic bids in 12-team College Football Playoff

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! IRVING, Texas — The conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff met Wednesday for the first time since a wave of realignment tore apart the Pac-12, raising the possibility that the number of automatic bids in the 12-team postseason format to be implemented next year …

1 year, 4 months ago

With super conferences and CFP expansion on horizon, 2023 is the end of an era in college football

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! “I’m resigned to it,” said ESPN’s Rece Davis on The AP Top 25 College Football Podcast. “This thing was driven by money and by football and to say these decisions benefit the student-athletes, in most cases, I’m not sure I believe that,” said Brian Polian, a …

1 year, 4 months ago

Greg Sankey calls for CFP format to be reconsidered after realignment: ‘Circumstances have changed’

New York Times

Greg Sankey called for the 12-team College Football Playoff format, debuting next season, to be reconsidered after the recent wave of conference realignment, the SEC commissioner said Tuesday in his first time speaking publicly since the Pac-12’s near dissolution. The net of that is circumstances have changed, and I think it’s wise for us to take a step back and …

1 year, 5 months ago

College football conference realignment timeline: 124 years of drama, money and bitterness

New York Times

The Western Conference, known today as the Big Ten, was formed in 1896 by the universities of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, Wisconsin and Chicago. GO DEEPER Journey back to Sewanee, a founding SEC member that has no regrets Dec. 12, 1948: Nearly a decade after original member Chicago dropped football, the Western Conference becomes the Big Ten again by …

1 year, 11 months ago

‘Been Everywhere': TCU conference-hopping run to title game

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! “It’s like that old song by Hank Snow, ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ — our fans, they’ve traveled all over the place,” said John Denton, the Horned Frogs’ kicker for their 1984 Bluebonnet Bowl team who has been part of their radio broadcasts since 1988. whether it’s 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, 3 months ago

Analysis: Will a bigger College Football Playoff be better?

Associated Press

The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! While enthusiastically announcing plans to expand the College Football Playoff, those in charge of the postseason system downplayed the revenue windfall that will come with tripling the number of participants and declined to speculate about whether a new format will tap the brakes on conference realignment. …

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