I was talking to
@Da Jumbo Mutombo about this in another thread and figured I’d share my line of thinking. If the committee was smart and wanted to save themselves from an insane amount of criticism, then this is what they SHOULD do tomorrow night:
#9 — Miami
#10 — Notre Dame
#11 — Bama
#12 — BYU
Why is this perfect?
1) Miami is given their flowers for beating ND. 90% of the CFB universe would argue this is a good move.
2) ND is STILL in the playoff. Their fans will be irritated for a second, but they will eventually acknowledge that it’s a rational decision. They will also be happy to still be in the playoff.
3) BYU / Bama have an opportunity to prove themselves — win your conference title games and you’re IN the playoff, bumping Miami and ND out. Both fan bases will be frustrated, but they will still control their own destiny. If they lose, they have no one to blame but themselves.
4) The committee is no longer boxed in with Bama. The problem with leaving them at #10 is they are in the playoff no matter what, even if they lose in the SEC championship game. You cannot punish a team for getting there. And even if you disagree with me about that line of thinking, it will never happen. But that’s why bumping them down one spot to #11 solves all of their problems. Now Bama can lose and they can keep them out of the playoff. It wouldn’t be a punishment anymore because they were already on the outside looking in to begin with. And after their performance the last few weeks, this isn’t a hard sell. They are not playing good football right now, so they should fall in the rankings. If they are good enough to beat UGA, then they will earn a spot back in.
5) Everything I just said above holds true for BYU. Reward them for beating Tech. If it happens, they will have earned the right to be in the playoff.
This all makes way too much sense to me. It’s a solution that would create the least amount of controversy, so, naturally, it won’t happen. The only two fan bases that will want to burn everything to the ground are Vandy and Texas.
Vandy is 10-2 without beating a single team that will finish the season ranked. At the end of the day, that’s what holds them back. Beating an 8-4 Tennessee team — who didn’t beat single power 4 team with a winning record — headlines their resume. That’s not good enough to jump any of the teams mentioned above.
Texas has 3 losses — one of them to a Florida team that we body bagged. I agree that they shouldn’t be punished for losing to Ohio State, and, in my opinion, they aren’t. Instead, you are punishing them for that Florida loss and the overtime wins against two terrible teams in Kentucky and Miss. State. They are not a consistent team, which means they don’t deserve a playoff spot.
What do you all think?
@DMoney, if you’re right about Miami getting in, then I believe this is the most likely path for us.