CFP Complaints here!

[GASabresIUFan]

I don’t have any real complaints of who the CFP selected, except their lack of transparency regarding ND vs Bama vs Miami

 

I personally don’t think Bama or ND or Miami earned their playoff berths, but since only two slots were open because of the 5 conference champs rule, I thought Bama, with multiple CFP final ranking top 25 wins and Miami with their Head to Head win over ND “deserved” the slot over ND.  That said, the CFP ranking of ND ahead of Miami for weeks despite them both have the same record for a month was stupid.  
 

My biggest complaint was how was OSU ranked ahead of GA in the final poll? Both had the same record.  GA won their championship game and had more quality wins.  I’m also unsure how Oregon was ranked ahead of TexAM and Ole Miss.  Oregon’s best win was over USC.  The Aggies beat ND and Ole Miss Oklahoma.  I’d have ranked them Ole Miss 5, Texas AM 6 and Oregon 7.  
 

I also think the CFP ranked the teams a little bit for matchups.  Bama stayed 9 after getting killed by GA because the CFP wanted a Bama vs Okla rematch.  Go Sooners! 
 

Overall I think the CFP rankings are pretty straight forward.  If you are a Power 4 conference team and go undefeated or have only one loss, you’re in the playoffs.  If you have 2 losses, you are on the bubble. It’s really that simple. At that point head to head comes in and maybe other factors such as strength of schedule.  A third regular season loss is pretty much an eliminator.
 

Back to ND for a second.  They played two teams in the playoff and lost to them both.  BYU played one playoff team all season and got killed by them twice.  Vandy played two bubble teams, Bama and Texas and lost to both. Utah played one CFP team and one bubble team and lost to both.  
 

IMHO Texas is the hardest one of the bubble teams, except 3 losses should be an eliminator.  They beat CFP teams Oklahoma, Texas AM and bubble team Vandy, but lost to OSU, GA and a terrible Florida team.  If they had beat Florida they’d be the 8th seed.  
 

To me Bama is comparable to Texas.  They beat CFP team GA, and bubble Vandy, but got killed by GA when it counted, lost to Okla and lost to terrible FSU.  To me they also should have been eliminated from the playoffs, except they skate because only 2 of their losses were in the regular season and one was out of conference.  

Edited yesterday at 06:46 PM by GASabresIUFan

[May Day 10]

I think Notre Dame should have to join a Conference or be ineligible.  They make things even more apples to oranges than they already are, and their fake rivalries are an advantage.  They game the schedule every year and it finally came back to bite them.

 

Seeding does annoy me though and I cant help but always suspect that they push certain match-ups or make easier roads for teams.

 

I believe that there should be hard slots for the teams.  Base it on a ranking, I would even go back to a quantified computer calculation.  Top 4 Conference winners get the first 4 spots, the next Conference winner gets an auto-bid, and the rest filled by the committee, but slotted based on the computer ranking.  This would put importance back into Conference championships.  It would also take a lot of the mystery out of it.  

 

And everything would be pretty fine right now, but Notre Dame's awful schedule has ruined everything.

[US Egg]

In the bizarro world of the CFP does sprinkling in a JMU, Tulane, Boise St., hurt sos?

[SCBills]

Notre Dame is on everyone’s last nerve. 
 

Somehow have a guaranteed spot next year if they’re ranked in the Top 12.  
 

Now today they’re crying about the ACC. 
 

So f’n leave!  Where are you going to go?   SEC/B1G don’t want you as a partial member.  

 

ACC should kick them out and all P4 conferences should boycott scheduling them. 
 

Have fun playing G5 schools and the service academy schools. 

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by SCBills

[GASabresIUFan]

6 hours ago, US Egg said:

In the bizarro world of the CFP does sprinkling in a JMU, Tulane, Boise St., hurt sos?

Like all things there is politics.  It wouldn’t be politic to have 50% of all FBS teams to be ineligible for the Championship.  I honestly have no problem with JMU or Tulane in the playoff.  They were the best teams in their part of college football.  As an IU fan, we realize how good JMU’s players have been in recent years.  (Cignetti brought many of his JMU players to Indiana).  
 

People are under the wrong impression that the goal of the CFP is to get the top 12 teams in college football.  It’s really the top 8 and plus 4 teams to expand opportunity.  
 

The only way to get a top 8 or 16 best on best tournament is to get ND in a conference and create a new top end end division of college football.  Essentially Division 1, Division 1A and Division 1B.

Edited 16 hours ago by GASabresIUFan

[May Day 10]

18 hours ago, SCBills said:

Notre Dame is on everyone’s last nerve. 
 

Somehow have a guaranteed spot next year if they’re ranked in the Top 12.  
 

Now today they’re crying about the ACC. 
 

So f’n leave!  Where are you going to go?   SEC/B1G don’t want you as a partial member.  

 

ACC should kick them out and all P4 conferences should boycott scheduling them. 
 

Have fun playing G5 schools and the service acadamies. 

 

2026 schedule looks even worse than 2025 somehow.  Ranked out of 136 teams right now

 

@ Wisconsin (Green Bay neutral site) (#81)

Rice (#106)

Michigan State (#86)

@ Purdue (#110)

@ North Carolina (#91)

Navy (Foxboro Neutral Site) (#26)

Miami (#10)

Boston College (#109)

SMU (#31)

Stanford (#89)

@ Syracuse (#105)

@ USC (#16)

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by May Day 10

[US Egg]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Like all things there is politics.  It wouldn’t be politic to have 50% of all FBS teams to be ineligible for the Championship.  I honestly have no problem with JMU or Tulane in the playoff.  They were the best teams in their part of college football.  As IU fans, we realize how good JMU’s players have been in recent years.  (Cignetti brought many of his JMU players to Indiana).  
 

People are under the wrong impression that the goal of the CFP is to get the top 12 teams in college football.  It’s really the top 8 and plus 4 teams to expand opportunity.  
 

The only way to get a top 8 or 16 best on best tournament is to get ND in a conference and create a new top end end division of college football.  Essentially Division 1, Division 1A and Division 1B.

It’s money foremost. Best teams in their part of college football, agreed. Yeah, guilty as charged for wrongly thinking the goal is to have the best play the best. Additionally, can’t perceive what the expanded opportunity served, for lack of a better term, having inferior teams partaking, though sure there’s some kind of logic to the notion. Pinning the crux on non-conference N.D. as to why there isn’t a best on best tournament escapes me as well. 
 

As the way the over used term goes, it is what it is.

[YoloinOhio]

I just don’t see any way Tulane or JMU are going to win the title so why take up bracket spots. Sue me for being “unfair to conference champs” but who can disagree with that premise. 

[SirAndrew]

9 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I just don’t see any way Tulane or JMU are going to win the title so why take up bracket spots. Sue me for being “unfair to conference champs” but who can disagree with that premise. 

I agree, but this is where the end game needs to happen sooner than later. Those teams deserve a chance, much like March madness, if they are supposed to be D1 teams. You’re not wrong, but the Big Ten and SEC need to team up to exclude the rest. Let the other conferences have their own playoff. It makes no sense for other conferences to exist, when no one considers them legitimate. 

[SirAndrew]

3 hours ago, SCBills said:

Notre Dame is on everyone’s last nerve. 
 

Somehow have a guaranteed spot next year if they’re ranked in the Top 12.  
 

Now today they’re crying about the ACC. 
 

So f’n leave!  Where are you going to go?   SEC/B1G don’t want you as a partial member.  

 

ACC should kick them out and all P4 conferences should boycott scheduling them. 
 

Have fun playing G5 schools and the service academy schools. 

 

 

I never liked Notre Dame, but they became more obnoxious than ever. It seems that Notre Dame and everyone associated are a group of individuals who think it’s 1960. There are plenty of teams with clout these days, ND isn’t that important. 

Edited 19 hours ago by SirAndrew

[Orlando Buffalo]

The complaint is simply that the only reason Hong that matters is money. Being a great football team is a distant second to making the tournament, and they can't even come up with a unified theory after the fact of what makes you belong where you are ranked 

29 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I just don’t see any way Tulane or JMU are going to win the title so why take up bracket spots. Sue me for being “unfair to conference champs” but who can disagree with that premise. 

There was no way Tennessee or SMU were winning it last year but were ranked that highly. Is the argument who can win it or who had the best season because I am sure Bama is not winning this year

[US Egg]

23 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I just don’t see any way Tulane or JMU are going to win the title so why take up bracket spots. Sue me for being “unfair to conference champs” but who can disagree with that premise. 

Some sort of feel good compromise with the 3/4 of Dl programs who can only dream of being part of it? Highly unlikely they’re going to swipe blue chippers, land big money TV contracts or have a shot at a big boys conference.

[May Day 10]

I think typically the acc is better, and you would get a mwc team, or at least an oddball outlier like we have seen like the paxton Lynch n Illinois teams or coastal Carolina a few years back.

 

The intent wasn't for the rule to open the door for 2 of those teams

[PromoTheRobot]

I'm stunned they included two non-power conference teams. Personally I wish the playoff was only for conference champs.

[BigDingus]

I couldn't care less about ND's whining. I haven't been able to stop smiling after seeing Texas Tech not only make their first CFP, but to win the Big 12 Championship & earn a 1st round bye!

 

Back in my day, we were the underdog to UT, OU & Texas A&M, but they all pissed off to the SEC, schools can now pay college players, and the paradigm has shifted!

 

It would be sad to see them go one & done, but either way, it's just cool seeing them make it in the first place.

[May Day 10]

36 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I'm stunned they included two non-power conference teams. Personally I wish the playoff was only for conference champs.

 

I guess they had to?  The top 5 ranked conference winners are automatically in.  Duke winning the ACC and the MWC having an off-year created some havoc

[Shortchaz]

As a fan of nd, I’m griefed they didn’t make it but don’t think they’re the caliber of the top 5, Alabama is an awful entry imo.

[cgang]

Speaking selfishly, two of my kids go to JMU and I’m pretty involved at the school.  So I think it’s pretty cool.  If they do beat Oregon, it will probably be the biggest win in the history of the school (apart from winning the FCS national championship twice).

 

JMU is trying to expand its stadium and program.  Cignetti coached there before going to Indiana with a few players he recruited, Chesney is departing for the head coaching job at UCLA, and they just hired Billy Napier (former U of Fla and Louisiana) to be their head coach next year.  Winning the Sun Belt and getting into the CFP is huge momentum

for the school.  
 

all of this to say- I get the “they don’t belong” point of view but I’m glad they have their shot. 

[GASabresIUFan]

1 hour ago, cgang said:

Speaking selfishly, two of my kids go to JMU and I’m pretty involved at the school.  So I think it’s pretty cool.  If they do beat Oregon, it will probably be the biggest win in the history of the school (apart from winning the FCS national championship twice).

 

JMU is trying to expand its stadium and program.  Cignetti coached there before going to Indiana with a few players he recruited, Chesney is departing for the head coaching job at UCLA, and they just hired Billy Napier (former U of Fla and Louisiana) to be their head coach next year.  Winning the Sun Belt and getting into the CFP is huge momentum

for the school.  
 

all of this to say- I get the “they don’t belong” point of view but I’m glad they have their shot. 

Despite the ND tears, I actually think there is a benefit from the current structure.  Seeing teams like Indiana and Texas Tech breakthrough and having a few upstarts like Tulane and JMU expands the interest in the game.  

[US Egg]

2 hours ago, cgang said:

Speaking selfishly, two of my kids go to JMU and I’m pretty involved at the school.  So I think it’s pretty cool.  If they do beat Oregon, it will probably be the biggest win in the history of the school (apart from winning the FCS national championship twice).

That’s not selfish. Fact is I got a “little egg on my face”. Went and read about JM football. It’s a great story there. I was off the mark minimizing the benefits for next to no-chance teams(sorry). Nice to see a burgeoning smaller Dl program, but don’t think it too dismissive saying they’re exception, not the norm on that front. 

Edited 14 hours ago by US Egg