***Bowl Games Thread***

[Urbandale2013]

I have seen people reportly say that ND didn't deserve the spot, but there isn't any team that actually deserved it more. I think most people saying this just have an inherent bias against ND. They were 10-1, and their only loss was to Clemson, ranked #3 at the time. A&M struggled with UNC until the last few minutes of the Orange bowl, and lost in a blowout to Alabama in the regular season. Arguably speaking they may have been equally deserving, but it is understandable the committee would avoid a rematch of a blow-out loss.

OU had two losses, but there has never been a team in the CFP with more than 1 loss. And while they looked good against a FL team, I didn't see anything in the Cotton bowl that would indicate they would have done any better against AL than ND. The game, at best, would have been the same. Clearly FL had no business being in the discussion-and shouldn't have been after their loss to OU. Cincinnati was undefeated, but didn't have a good enough resume to leap over 5 other teams. And they lost their bowl game.

If Notre Dame was competitive against Clemson that would have been one thing. I think Oklahoma deserved to be in there. I also don’t get how you can say Oklahoma wouldn’t have done better. The SEC championship was a competitive game. Even accounting for opt outs OU destroyed Florida. I think at worst OU is competitive.

 

[Die4Cy]

I have seen people reportly say that ND didn't deserve the spot, but there isn't any team that actually deserved it more. I think most people saying this just have an inherent bias against ND. They were 10-1, and their only loss was to Clemson, ranked #3 at the time. A&M struggled with UNC until the last few minutes of the Orange bowl, and lost in a blowout to Alabama in the regular season. Arguably speaking they may have been equally deserving, but it is understandable the committee would avoid a rematch of a blow-out loss.

OU had two losses, but there has never been a team in the CFP with more than 1 loss. And while they looked good against a FL team, I didn't see anything in the Cotton bowl that would indicate they would have done any better against AL than ND. The game, at best, would have been the same. Clearly FL had no business being in the discussion-and shouldn't have been after their loss to OU. Cincinnati was undefeated, but didn't have a good enough resume to leap over 5 other teams. And they lost their bowl game.

Passing up a one loss ND would have been controversial, but they did get beat by four scores in the ACC championship which, with the benefit of hindsight, was a pretty good indicator of how they ultimately performed against Alabama.

 

[MeanDean]

After yesterday's "disappointment" with the tOSU win over Clemson, I'm gonna say I'm 100% past that now. Mostly becaucs

Hot take would be that the ACC was so down this year that neither Clemson nor ND "deserved" their spot.

The other side of that coin is that the conference's 2 top teams were in the play-offs. That bumped their also-rans up the conference selection bowl hierarchy. So in a sense their lesser teams were playing higher finishing teams from other conferences.

I don't buy it 100% but it is a reasonable hypothesis.

 

[StPaulCyclone]

After yesterday's "disappointment" with the tOSU win over Clemson, I'm gonna say I'm 100% past that now. Mostly becaucs

The other side of that coin is that the conference's 2 top teams were in the play-offs. That bumped their also-rans up the conference selection bowl hierarchy. So in a sense their lesser teams were playing higher finishing teams from other conferences.

I don't buy it 100% but it is a reasonable hypothesis.

Did it really though? ND was going to be in and isn’t really an ACC team. NC was going to be the second best team and get the auto-bid to orange.

 

[Die4Cy]

After yesterday's "disappointment" with the tOSU win over Clemson, I'm gonna say I'm 100% past that now. Mostly becaucs

The other side of that coin is that the conference's 2 top teams were in the play-offs. That bumped their also-rans up the conference selection bowl hierarchy. So in a sense their lesser teams were playing higher finishing teams from other conferences.

I don't buy it 100% but it is a reasonable hypothesis.

This is a common effect and we see it often.

 

[cyclones500]

Roundup of bowl results, by conference.

2020-21 College football bowl records by conference: Big 12 and MAC are perfect, while ACC disappoints

Here's where every conference stands at the end of the 2020-21 bowl season

www.cbssports.com

 

[ISUTex]

If Notre Dame was competitive against Clemson that would have been one thing. I think Oklahoma deserved to be in there. I also don’t get how you can say Oklahoma wouldn’t have done better. The SEC championship was a competitive game. Even accounting for opt outs OU destroyed Florida. I think at worst OU is competitive.

Oklahoma couldn't beat Kansas State. That was a killer for them. Shouldn't have lost that game.

 

[ISUTex]

If Notre Dame was competitive against Clemson that would have been one thing. I think Oklahoma deserved to be in there. I also don’t get how you can say Oklahoma wouldn’t have done better. The SEC championship was a competitive game. Even accounting for opt outs OU destroyed Florida. I think at worst OU is competitive.

Teams have gotten in that haven't even won their division before. There are no rules to the CFP. It always comes down to who they think the best four teams are and they will use the data points they want to. They felt Notre Dame was 4th. Just because they aren't as good as Alabama or a motivated Clemson squad doesn't mean they aren't better then aTm and OU.

One thing for sure, Alabama, Ohio State and Clemson are head and shoulders above the next tier of teams.

 

[HFCS]

Like Dabo...I also would have voted Ohio State and any team with so few games outside the top ten. The committee had previously said teams with only 12 games can't get in, so obviously 6 game teams should be nowhere near this playoff EVER when 9, 10 and 11 game teams are available.

However...I might not have done it if I were playing Ohio State in the playoff. I'd have voted them 2nd or 3rd if they were my opponent and not made a big deal about it.

Talk about the motherload of bulletin board material.

 

[BigJCy]

This could be big for Bama to get this guy back if he does actually play:

 

[Aclone]

Y’know what? I was pretty indifferent to who won the NCG. Not exactly a Big Ten fan, definitely not an SEC fan.

But seeing Alabama rake in all these awards? Now I know for sure who I want to lose.

 

[jctisu]

Y’know what? I was pretty indifferent to who won the NCG. Not exactly a Big Ten fan, definitely not an SEC fan.

But seeing Alabama rake in all these awards? Now I know for sure who I want to lose.

Screw that. Roll Tide! I can't stand Ohio State and Bama is going to keep getting their awards, which over Saban's tenure they have earned mostly everything. I don't like the precedent the committee set with Ohio State this year in the amount of games they played. If they win it all, like in 2014 when it was a debate too, it just provides even more ammo for the committee to just do whatever the hell they want in the future and continue leaving out non-blue blood programs. Ohio State could lose 3 games now and they could just say, "Well we think they are still one of the 4 best teams". And after 2014 and this year, nobody can argue too much since the Buckeyes would have won the title in each of the two controversial years.

 

[discydisc]

OOF

 

[Stewo]

OOF

The Big 12 finally makes the big game. We've arrived.