Sunday, October 26, 2014

College Football notes 10/26

The 1st rankings for the College Football playoff are set to be released, and it is time as we enter November next weekend to look at who the Final 4 will be for the 2014 season.  The main arguing points look to be whether or not to place conference champions in over non conference champions with better resumes.

As of now, the candidates appear to be:

The SEC West champ - I think the winner of this division will have 1 or fewer losses and should be in regardless of the result in the SEC Championship game.

The SEC East champ - If it's Georgia, they could lose to Auburn, win the East with 2 losses, and have a shot to get in by winning the SEC.

The SEC West runner up - If Miss State wins the SECW and the Auburn-Alabama winner has 1 loss, they should represent a second SEC bid.

One loss Big 10 champ - If it's Michigan St or Ohio St, there's definitely a chance the Big 10 gets a bid.  Michigan State needs to win out, have Oregon lose again, and have the SEC West winner win the SEC.

One loss PAC 12 champ - This will probably have to be Oregon on the strength of their win over Michigan St.  Arizona, Arizona St, and Utah all have 1 loss from the South, but have to play each other and Arizona St has Notre Dame as well.

Florida State - Should win out easily and will likely be #1 seed for the playoff.

Notre Dame - Will have the best loss of 1 loss teams if they win out, still have USC and Arizona St

The Big 12 Champ - A 1 loss Big 12 Champ would definitely be in the mix as well, but don't count on it being Kansas State as they still have trips to WVU, Baylor, and TCU.  The Horned Frogs have a great shot at getting in position for the Final Four with a win over WVU next week.

So worst case scenario for Big 12/PAC 12/Big 10 fans is unbeaten Miss St wins SEC Champ game, 1 loss Auburn beats Alabama, and FSU/Notre Dame win out.  I think that would put us with:

1). Miss St
2). FSU
3). Auburn
4). Notre Dame

I assume the committee will try and avoid rematches in the 1st round like 2 SECs or FSU/ND.

If there are no 0 or 1 loss SEC teams besides the champ and Notre Dame loses to say, Arizona St, that opens up spots for potential 1 loss champs from Big 10/PAC 12/Big 12.  We could have this scenario:

1). FSU
2). Alabama
3). TCU
4). Oregon

This is where my "Michigan St needs Oregon to lose" comment comes into play.  If they both have 1 loss, it's an easy choice for the committee to put Oregon in on the strength of their H2H win.Michigan St

Still lots of possibilities, I say there are still 17-18 teams that have a legitimate shot at the Final Four if they win out.

Heisman Poll 10/26

1).  Dak Prescott
2).  Melvin Gordon
3).  Ameer Abdullah
4).  Marcus Mariota
5).  Nick Marshall

Top 25 10/26

1).   Miss St
2).   Florida St
3).   Notre Dame
4).   Auburn
5).   Mississippi
6).   Alabama
7).   Kansas St
8).   Baylor
9).   TCU
10). Arizona
11). Oregon
12). Michigan St
13). Georgia
14). LSU
15)  Nebraska
16). Oklahoma
17). West Virginia
18). Ohio St
19). Clemson
20). Arizona St
21). Utah
22). Wisconsin
23). UCLA
24). USC
25). Stanford

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