Notre Dame does have that road win in College Station (which is looking more unimpressive by the week) which is more than one can say about any of Penn State, Indiana, Texas (for now) and Miami but it's also somewhat offset by the Northern Illinois loss which is the worst, BY FAR, of any playoff team so Notre Dame is mainly getting the bump because of the eye test and because the field is so darn weak this year especially with all the carnage leftover from this past week.
Anti-Big 12 Bias: A Brief Study
- Thread starter HFCS
- Start date
Chris, it benefits the league if you make sure you lose to us Saturday. Stand behind your words and let us blow you out for a good bump.
Kansas singlehandedly destroyed the Big 12 chances of getting an at large. A team good enough to be in the playoff conversation if they had played up to their talent/experience level underachieving most of the season then finally playing up to their potential just in time to knock out 3 potential Big 12 at large playoff teams in 3 straight weeks.
Regardless, with this being an Iowa State centric forum, if Iowa State merely takes care of their business they pretty much control their own destiny to get in to the playoff so...just win baby.
Penn State is NOT in the elite category this year. Not even close. Their schedule has been pathetically weak since the majority of the B1G is total a$$.
ND's schedule has been dog nuts but they are absolutely mowing through teams. Still though, that NIU loss should hold their ranking back some. We were told over and over back in 2020 after we lost to Louisiana that that type of loss is unforgiveable.
This is where I'm at. I just automatically assume that teams from the SEC/Big Ten/and others with big name brands will have a +1 game advantage on a Big 12 team.
I think it's safe to assume a 9-3 SEC or B!G team will always get in over a 10-2 Big 12 team.
As you said, the playoff is really just a made for TV invitational. Life is way better for me once I quit trying to find the logic in the process, because there isn't any.
I'm just grateful that every year, our conference champ is guaranteed to have a seat at the table. This is an improvement from the past.
Maybe perception changes if our teams kick tail in the tournament, but right now, that just isn't the reality.
Agree with your post but the problem is technically I don't think this is accurate, the Big 12 conference champ could actually be left out completely if Tulane/Boise St are ranked higher for example.
Here are the current composite computer rankings from the 5 used during the BCS era (Colley, Massey, Wolfe, Sagarin, Billingsley). Anderson & Hester no longer exists from what I can tell. Using these for seeding and selection, Alabama would be the last team in, Tennessee first team out and ISU would get the first round bye over Boise. I am assuming tonight's CFP reveal will have Oregon instead of Ohio St as the #1 seed and Tennessee as last team in instead of Alabama (and rightfully so IMO). They may still have Boise as the #4 seed tonight but if ASU, ISU or BYU win their last two games, the B12 champ should end up ahead of one loss Boise due to B12 SOS upgrades for the B12 champs the next two weekends. If two loss BYU misses the CCG, there could be an at large path for them but that is very narrow with losses needed by Bama, Clemson, ND and Ole Miss this weekend or SMU in the ACC CCG.
Regarding so called B12 bias vs the other 3 P4 conferences, it is somewhat difficult to argue based solely on these rankings but we shall see how the final CFP rankings shake out. I am not going to get worked up about how tonight's rankings shake out and I completely ignore the AP poll at this point:
1 Ohio State
2 Oregon
3 Texas
4 Notre Dame
5 Penn State
6 Georgia
7 SMU
8 Miami FL
9 Indiana
10 Alabama
11 Tennessee
12 Clemson
13 Mississippi
14 Iowa St
15 South Carolina
16 Brigham Young
17 Kansas St
18 Boise St
19 Arizona St
20 Tulane
21 Texas A&M
22 Louisville
23 LSU
24 Missouri
25 Colorado
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This is correct, I believe. It's the highest 5 rated conference champs. If I had to put money on it, I would say Boise State will be the 5th ranked champ, and the Big 12 winner will be an at-large rated 12.
I find it terrifying that we the Big 12 could be left out totally. I think that would do great harm to our reputation which is already hanging on by a thread.
Here are the revised composite BCS computer rankings now including Anderson and Hester (and without human polls). Oregon and Ohio St now tied for first and Penn St moves ahead of Notre Dame:
T1 Ohio State
T1 Oregon
3 Texas
4 Penn State
5 Notre Dame
6 Georgia
7 SMU
8 Miami FL
9 Indiana
10 Alabama
11 Tennessee
12 Clemson
13 Mississippi
14 Iowa St
15 South Carolina
16 Brigham Young
17 Boise St
18 Kansas St
19 Arizona St
20 Texas A&Mu
21 Tulane
22 Louisville
23 LSU
24 Missouri
25 Illinois
Highest 4 ranked conference champs get byes - but the 5th highest ranked conference champ is still automatically in, although without a bye. How could the Big 12 not be at least the 5th highest conference champion? (Under potentially the SEC, Big, ACC, and even Mountain West)
I don't see how Tulane could vault the AAC over the Big 12 champ.
With the basic dissolution of the Pac12, is there thought of going to only 4 conference champs as automatic qualifiers in the future?
Currently Boise State is rated over every Big 12 team and is likely to win their next game and the Mountain West Championship, so the committee would have to find a reason for a Big 12 champ to leap them. I hope there is some sanity in that the MW is a worse league than the Big 12 by a good margin.
Tulane I am less worried about leaping the Big 12, but if the worst case scenario happens and a team that is 6-3 in the Big 12 wins the championship we could be leapt.
My understanding is that this current format is only going through 2026(?), if the Big 12 can get a deal on the table to get 2 teams every time they should 100% take it. There were rumors of a deal that was 4 Big 10, 4 SEC, 2 ACC, and 2 Big 12.
Yeah, I guess that is the small potential for the Big12 to drop to the sixth highest ranked conference championship - if chaos reigns supreme and a currently unranked Big12 team wins the conference championship (which is still possible in the complicated championship determinations.
Better for your CFP ranking to lose to Bama than beat KSU.
Some years I say ignore the AP, but so far this year everything obviously a little off about the AP has also been wrong with the CFP.
They need to bring back a ranking like this, I know it won't be 1/3 of the ranking like it used to be (unfortunately), but they should reference something as a tool the way the basketball committee has for decades.
Also having #14 ISU and #18 Boise State in a top 12...that's a REALLY strong year for top conference champs compared to the BCS era where unranked or nearly unranked ACC champs and Big East champs were regularly getting BCS auto bids. A whole lot of teams in contention for a conference championship outside the top 12 (ACC, B12, MWC, AAC) are ranked higher than several ACC/Big East teams that got auto bids in that era. IIRC UConn got an autobid as an unranked team.
