Which SEC team currently in is un deserving ? Your anger should be with Penn St being at 4 and an Indiana team at 5 who has zero ranked wins and has beaten no one with a pulse. Than you have ND who has 1 ranked win and a loss to an NiU team whose 5-4… that's where your anger should be directed

SEC Homer right behind Paul Finebaum

Why not just have 10 SEC teams in the playoffs?

Honest question, does anyone actually think Indiana, BYU, Miami or Notre Dame would beat Alabama, Ole Miss or Georgia on a neutral field? I don’t. These playoff rankings are a joke. pic.twitter.com/sN8irgWSay

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 13, 2024

IowaBear said:

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There's a lot of Garbage on NDs resume. I mean look at the resume if PSU and Indiana… neither have beaten anyone with a pulse.
Indianas SOS is sub 100! That's a 2-3 loss team if they had played teams with pulses. I said it before and I'll say it again. If/when they get bulldozed in Columbus they should be out

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For Penn State, its win over Illinois is currently a better win than anything ISU, Colorado, or Arizona State have.

For Notre Dame, its wins over Texas A&M, Navy, and Louisville are better than anything ISU, Colorado, or Arizona State have.

For Indiana, it's resume is a bit of a joke, but an undefeated P5 is an undefeated P5. It will be reassessed if/when he loses.

Illinois!??? Come on lol. That's on par with Tech. Penn St has zero zero impressive wins.
Same Navy team who's beaten 0 teams with a pulse? I'll give you Tx AM. But they'll still end up at 9-3 at best. Either way you spin it those resumes are not supporting of their rankings that simply cannot be denied

IowaBear said:

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Illinois!??? Come on lol. That's on par with Tech. Penn St has zero zero impressive wins.
Same Navy team who's beaten 0 teams with a pulse? I'll give you Tx AM. But they'll still end up at 9-3 at best. Either way you spin it those resumes are not supporting of their rankings that simply cannot be denied

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The example aren't to prop up anyone; it's to show how bad ISU's, ASU's, and Colorado's resumes are relative to the teams ranked ahead of them. They're pretty bad, unfortunately.

What do those schools have to do with this discussion.
What has PSU,ND or Indiana done to deserve being ahead of BYU? What has Miami done to deserve being in the CFP at this point? If we're using Illinois to make a point about justifying a team currently being in the CFP than we've reached an all time low bar. Because Illinois blows. Isu beating Iowa in Iowa City is more impressive than anything Penn St has done. That's how utterly pathetic PSU schedule has been. And as pathetic as theirs is. Indiana's is even worse. Sure Indiana is the cool story. But there needs to be context behind that cool story. A sub 100 SOS is worse than the elite Briles teams

BYU definitely should be higher. I still think any team 8-0 should be ranked pretty high even with a bad sos. Maybe not too 10, but they should be in the top 20. There are so few of them and let's face it, there aren't many programs with a stellar record. Honestly, perhaps only Oregon has a truly great record this year.

Oregon has earned their ranking. Where Oregon and Indiana differentiate are the SOS. Oregon has beaten Ohio St, Boise St among other decent wins. Indiana has beaten… checks notes… Stevie Wonders School for the Blind

IowaBear said:

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What do those schools have to do with this discussion.
What has PSU,ND or Indiana done to deserve being ahead of BYU? What has Miami done to deserve being in the CFP at this point? If we're using Illinois to make a point about justifying a team currently being in the CFP than we've reached an all time low bar. Because Illinois blows. Isu beating Iowa in Iowa City is more impressive than anything Penn St has done. That's how utterly pathetic PSU schedule has been. And as pathetic as theirs is. Indiana's is even worse. Sure Indiana is the cool story. But there needs to be context behind that cool story. A sub 100 SOS is worse than the elite Briles teams

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ND isn't ranked ahead of BYU in the rankings that matter.

Illinois sucks, but a win over them is still better than any win those three Big 12 teams have.

Indiana is still undefeated and is a darling of advanced stats, however, it will be ranked under BYU if it loses to Ohio State.

You do realize KSU beat a currently ranked Tulane squad right ?
So no PSU doesn't have a win that trumps anything KSU, CO, or ISU have done. And yes a win by ISU in Iowa City also trumps a win over Illinois

IowaBear said:

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You do realize KSU beat a currently ranked Tulane squad right ?
So no PSU doesn't have a win that trumps anything KSU, CO, or ISU have done. And yes a win by ISU in Iowa City also trumps a win over Illinois

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From strictly a win/loss record perspective, beating a 6-3 team is better than beating a 6-4 team, but people can disagree.

Who said anything about KSU? Did I mention KSU?

Was confusing KSU with ASU. I'm not really sure why you even brought those 3 up to begin with as they were never part of any discussion. Regardless nothing PSU has done from a resume stand point is impressive. And that's undeniable. You using Illinois to prop up Penn St is both hilarious and typical. I usually agree with your takes on the SEC teams. However you justifying or even trying to justify Penn St is dumb. They've done NOTHING to deserve that ranking. Other than of course the name on the jersey.

Jack Bauer said:

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SEC Homer right behind Paul Finebaum

Why not just have 10 SEC teams in the playoffs?

Honest question, does anyone actually think Indiana, BYU, Miami or Notre Dame would beat Alabama, Ole Miss or Georgia on a neutral field? I don’t. These playoff rankings are a joke. pic.twitter.com/sN8irgWSay

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 13, 2024

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No ND lor Miami lover, but the idea they'd be hopeless against those teams is hilarious. I bet the line would be near a push, which ... wait for it ... is what you'd expect for teams ranked around each other.

I actually don't think BYU would be hopeless either, but understand the skepticism.

I don't think SMU could beat UT… But on paper UT's resume is not that spectacular.

Résumé comparison 📊

#14 SMU (8-1) -
• Ranked win: #19 Louisville by 7 on road
• Next best win: Beat 7-2 Pitt by 23
• Third best win: Beat 7-3 Duke on road
• Loss: By 3 at home to #6 BYU

#3 Texas (8-1) -
• Ranked win: NONE
• Best win: Beat 6-4 Vanderbilt by 3
• Next best… pic.twitter.com/hcZemhiwy5

— CFB Kings (@CFBKings) November 13, 2024

Ole Miss lost to crap UK team In their own back yard. Bama got beat on the road by an Ok Vandy team. GA is clearly down.
I'm gone on record saying the SEC is far an away the best conference. But those 3 are definitely vulnerable to the right matchups. That said I'm a firm believer PSU, Miami, ND, Indiana are all incredibly overrated. GA is as well.

A real college football playoff would match the following teams:

Big Ten
SEC
Big 12
ACC
Mountain West
MAC
C-USA

With the #1 ranked team getting a bye in the first round.

SMU has a better resume than Texas.
It’s not even debatable.
But they’re ranked 11 spots lower.
ELEVEN!!!
Big brand bias at its finest.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 13, 2024

Let's talk about Indiana AFTER they play a bowl eligible team.

Wild Scenario:

If every SEC Favorite wins the next 3 weeks + Arkansas beats Missouri

Then LSU is in the SEC Championship Game vs the winner of Texas and A&M. pic.twitter.com/s0qByUYlRN

— Peter Burns (@PeterBurnsESPN) November 13, 2024

Team A is currently ranked #14, Team B is currently ranked #3. 🤷 https://t.co/NeR8V4ub6O

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) November 14, 2024

Oregon clearly has earned their ranking. They might be the only one who has, at least of the top teams.

Beating the worst schools in the SEC and Big 10 are still considered better wins than beating anyone in the Big 12 or ACC. This much is evident.

I don't fret much over the rankings with multiple games left to play. It is the final rankings that matter. But I will say there needs to be clear metrics. Either create a list of clear cut criteria that teams have to meet or admit it is just the big 10 and sec invitational with a few other teams invited (3).

It would be nice if SEC/B1G/ACC/B12 all increased the number of cross-P4 non-con matchups to 2 per year

boognish_bear said:

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It would be nice if SEC/B1G/ACC/B12 all increased the number of cross-P4 non-con matchups to 2 per year

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No incentive for the Big10 or SEC to do so. Big 12 could do this to make their SoS better.

These ridiculous mega conferences have such imbalanced schedules that you can barely even make intraconference assessments, much less judgments across conference. The SEC can be the best conference, but you can still climb to the top of the conference standings without high-quality wins.

GoldenBear007 said:

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Beating the worst schools in the SEC and Big 10 are still considered better wins than beating anyone in the Big 12 or ACC. This much is evident.

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Yes and it's totally bogus. We proved that in 2018: we were in the bottom half of the Big 12 and still beat Vandy. A few years ago Texas Tech beat Arky in Fayetteville, although I don't remember their standing in the conference at the time. IIRC, it was Mahomes's last year there.

ursamajor said:

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These ridiculous mega conferences have such imbalanced schedules that you can barely even make intraconference assessments, much less judgments across conference. The SEC can be the best conference, but you can still climb to the top of the conference standings without high-quality wins.

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Which begs the question: Is the SEC the best conference from top to bottom or are they "the best" because they have Georgia & Bama? True, several other teams have had stellar seasons (LSU, Auburn, Florida, etc) but most of those were 15+ years ago. The conference has been dominated by two teams for over a decade. Right now, none seems particularly great.

historian said:

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GoldenBear007 said:

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Beating the worst schools in the SEC and Big 10 are still considered better wins than beating anyone in the Big 12 or ACC. This much is evident.

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Yes and it's totally bogus. We proved that in 2018: we were in the bottom half of the Big 12 and still beat Vandy. A few years ago Texas Tech beat Arky in Fayetteville, although I don't remember their standing in the conference at the time. IIRC, it was Mahomes's last year there.

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Beating a 6-6 Vanderbilt didn't really show much given that they finished one spot above the bottom of their division, and Baylor finished 5 spots from the bottom in the Big 12.

BigGameBaylorBear said:

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Missouri, South Carolina, and LSU should not be ranked. Same old story of inflating SEC school resumes

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South Carolina should absolutely be ranked. They are a couple of bad calls and missed field goal from having 1 loss. They got screwed in the LSU game and they missed a fg to lose at bama.

One thing to say a ranked week one opponent that fell off a cliff is not a quality win.
But it's completely misleading to look back at week 11 and say "so and so isn't good because all the ranked teams they beat are no longer ranked". Getting beat is why teams lose their rank.

One great thing about the old format Big12 is that every team had high risk games. But often the league was penalized because of an inevitable loss.

There is no perfect way to pick the playoff teams.

Even if you say "conference champions only" you're still admitting mid teams in lower leagues ahead of great teams with a key loss.

There is no way to please everyone and appear completely fair and unbiased in selection. But this system is way better than last one.

Killing Floor said:

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One thing to say a ranked week one opponent that fell off a cliff is not a quality win.
But it's completely misleading to look back at week 11 and say "so and so isn't good because all the ranked teams they beat are no longer ranked". Getting beat is why teams lose their rank.

One great thing about the old format Big12 is that every team had high risk games. But often the league was penalized because of an inevitable loss.

There is no perfect way to pick the playoff teams.

Even if you say "conference champions only" you're still admitting mid teams in lower leagues ahead of great teams with a key loss.

There is no way to please everyone and appear completely fair and unbiased in selection. But this system is way better than last one.

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Yep...we went from just 2 getting picked to 4 and now to 12. It may not be perfect...but way better.

Georgia has the #1 strength of schedule and the #3 strength of record.

Texas has the #56 strength of schedule and #10 strength of record.

Why put these people in a room if they can’t look at schedules and understand what a grind it is to play 3 Top 12 teams on the road?

— Graham Coffey (@GrahamCoffeyDC) November 13, 2024

Aberzombie1892 said:

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historian said:

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GoldenBear007 said:

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Beating the worst schools in the SEC and Big 10 are still considered better wins than beating anyone in the Big 12 or ACC. This much is evident.

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Yes and it's totally bogus. We proved that in 2018: we were in the bottom half of the Big 12 and still beat Vandy. A few years ago Texas Tech beat Arky in Fayetteville, although I don't remember their standing in the conference at the time. IIRC, it was Mahomes's last year there.

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Beating a 6-6 Vanderbilt didn't really show much given that they finished one spot above the bottom of their division, and Baylor finished 5 spots from the bottom in the Big 12.

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You are kinda making my point

historian said:

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Aberzombie1892 said:

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historian said:

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GoldenBear007 said:

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Beating the worst schools in the SEC and Big 10 are still considered better wins than beating anyone in the Big 12 or ACC. This much is evident.

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Yes and it's totally bogus. We proved that in 2018: we were in the bottom half of the Big 12 and still beat Vandy. A few years ago Texas Tech beat Arky in Fayetteville, although I don't remember their standing in the conference at the time. IIRC, it was Mahomes's last year there.

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Beating a 6-6 Vanderbilt didn't really show much given that they finished one spot above the bottom of their division, and Baylor finished 5 spots from the bottom in the Big 12.

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You are kinda making my point

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To rephrase the argument, in 2018 a middle of the road Big 12 team beat the #6 team in the 7 team SEC East by 7 points. If accurate, the takeaway from that is unclear.

Using that as a sole example, one could argue that the lower portion of the SEC is roughly around the middle of the Big 12.