ISU Bowl Projection

BYU’s not going to jump anyone if they lose. They’re not going to get an at-large.

They should be ranked above ND, but they aren’t and haven’t been. It’s not worth having a meltdown about at this point. It’s just a reality.
It would be cool if BYU got in, but I keep thinking back to how close we were to blowing them out. I’m afraid they would get embarrassed in the playoff.
 
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If the committee didn't put BYU over Bama last week after BYU won a road game at Cinci and Bama beat a G5, they wont do it this week after BYU won at home against Mid-Florida and Bama won on the road against Auburn.

ND's resume has gotten worse. Pitt will drop out of the rankings which gives ND only 1 ranked win over USC. They're losses have gotten worse too. A&M is a paper tiger and will drop and eventually head to head with Miami will matter. Meanwhile BYU has got 2 top 20 wins in Utah & Arizona and has a better loss to Tech. BYU has a better resume at season end.

Bama will jump just because of the SEC title game
 
Years ago it used to be a big deal how much the bowl payout was. Usually the closer to January 1 the game was, the more prestigious the bowl and the larger the payout.

Does the money even matter anymore? Location seems to matter more to many fans.

I am not complaining about anyone's post in the thread, and Phoenix does sound more attractive than many other locations, but I guess the game itself does not matter very much in the CFP era. Maybe dump all bowls and expand the playoffs to 24 like FCS.
The expansion of the college football playoff was the final nail in the value of bowl season, although they had receded a bunch before that. This, combined with player opt outs, has sent the message loud and clear that these are only exhibitions and travel perks for fans, but the reality is that's all most bowls ever were to begin with. That said I will watch most of them religiously because the end of college football sucks and I will hold on as long as I can.
 
ND's resume has gotten worse. Pitt will drop out of the rankings which gives ND only 1 ranked win over USC. They're losses have gotten worse too. A&M is a paper tiger and will drop and eventually head to head with Miami will matter. Meanwhile BYU has got 2 top 20 wins in Utah & Arizona and has a better loss to Tech. BYU has a better resume at season end.

Bama will jump just because of the SEC title game
But NDs name is ND. That is worth a couple wins to the committee
 
ND's resume has gotten worse. Pitt will drop out of the rankings which gives ND only 1 ranked win over USC. They're losses have gotten worse too. A&M is a paper tiger and will drop and eventually head to head with Miami will matter. Meanwhile BYU has got 2 top 20 wins in Utah & Arizona and has a better loss to Tech. BYU has a better resume at season end.

Bama will jump just because of the SEC title game
It shouldn’t matter, but the only team in the country that would be favored over Notre Dame on a neutral field is Ohio State. BYU would be underdogs to Missouri.
 
But NDs name is ND. That is worth a couple wins to the committee
I don't disagree. The committee has been better about that with SMU over Bama last year. BYU still has to beat Tech no matter what
 
ND's resume has gotten worse. Pitt will drop out of the rankings which gives ND only 1 ranked win over USC. They're losses have gotten worse too. A&M is a paper tiger and will drop and eventually head to head with Miami will matter. Meanwhile BYU has got 2 top 20 wins in Utah & Arizona and has a better loss to Tech. BYU has a better resume at season end.

Bama will jump just because of the SEC title game
I agree with everything you said. But BYU isn’t leapfrogging ND.
 
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The expansion of the college football playoff was the final nail in the value of bowl season, although they had receded a bunch before that. This, combined with player opt outs, has sent the message loud and clear that these are only exhibitions and travel perks for fans, but the reality is that's all most bowls ever were to begin with. That said I will watch most of them religiously because the end of college football sucks and I will hold on as long as I can.
I won't plan around random bowl games (non-playoff games) but if I am bored I will check in on some. What ruined the bowl season for me is that they now feel like glorified spring games (yes, I know they aren't scrimmaging against their teammates)! The non-playoff bowl games feel more attached to the "next" season than they do the season they are supposed to be wrapping up.
 
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I thought seeds 5-8 have home games against seeds 9-12?

Also, didn't all 4 teams with a bye last year end up losing their first playoff game? I don't think the bye is as much of an advantage as you're making it out to be. I'll be rooting for BYU & both to get in.

not exactly comparing apples to apples here, last year Boise St and Arizona St had first round byes and were very heavy underdogs in the first games and as a reward to Oregon for being the #1 seed they got to play the best team in the field in the first round (and not all that much hindsight even in the moment people were suggesting Oregon would be better off not winning the big 10 title game and being the 5 seed and getting an easy path to the semi finals.)

The new seeding rules should help with that though once you get to the second round of matchups after the byes and first round, These teams are even enough that I fully expect there will be plenty of upsets.
 
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When you have a bunch of players sitting out and the supposedly top 10 to 12 teams in their own grouping. People I talk to say they don’t care about the bowls that much anymore outside the team that they support.

I figured that viewership would drop too, but the vast majority of bowls saw increases in bowl viewership last year. Many saw their highest viewership in 10 or 20 years.

It will be interesting to see if 2024 was a single blip or if it's a trend that continues this season.
 
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ND's resume has gotten worse. Pitt will drop out of the rankings which gives ND only 1 ranked win over USC. They're losses have gotten worse too. A&M is a paper tiger and will drop and eventually head to head with Miami will matter. Meanwhile BYU has got 2 top 20 wins in Utah & Arizona and has a better loss to Tech. BYU has a better resume at season end.

Bama will jump just because of the SEC title game
I'm not arguing against BYU; they should be in the top 8. I thought for sure BYU would jump Bama last week and they didn't. I'm just saying it wont happen this week. Bama will jump ND this week, but I don't see BYU jumping ND.
 
Any thought that Liberty has much larger payout than rate does. Last numbers I could find from 2024 seems to say rate bowl is cheap. 800k payout. Liberty is 2.4 million.