3 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Alabama lost soundly, but they didn't get blown out. If the committee takes Bama out, they're 100% going against the fact that playing in a conference championship game can't hurt you compared to teams that aren't playing in one. 

Three touchdowns isn’t getting blown out? They had -3 yards rushing for crying out loud. They were dominated. Also don’t forget they were moved up on the heels of struggling with a losing record Auburn team. They’ve looked bad for weeks and they desperately try to keep them in.

BYU isn’t even being included in the discussion despite being 11th coming in. How does that “playing in a conference championship can’t hurt you” working out for them? 

7 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

I don’t like Miami, but there’s no question that they deserve it of those three. They literally beat Notre Dame head to head and Bama has been looking poor for a while now. Bama has the best win but the worst loss (to a team Miami beat, no less). Their resumes are close enough to go to the eye test, and eye test says Miami. 

I get that, but I'll add this. Does Miami have the same record or better than Alabama if they played Alabama's schedule?  I know that's hypothetical but there is a reason strength of schedule is supposed to be factored in. 

I am going to bed gentlemen and rest up for another great day football tomorrow. This was a great 2 days and with 3 high school championship games yesterday 3 more today and all of the college conference title games. Then tomorrow we have the CFP show at noon and some really good NFL games. I can't wait!

2 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

I get that, but I'll add this. Does Miami have the same record or better than Alabama if they played Alabama's schedule?  I know that's hypothetical but there is a reason strength of schedule is supposed to be factored in. 

Because you admitted it is hypothetical I’m not going to hit you with the meme.  I’ll say this at least - we know there’s one team Alabama lost to (and fairly dominated at that) that Miami wouldn’t have lost to, and that’s Florida State. 

If we want to step into the hypothetical, it’s my opinion that Miami would beat Alabama in a head to head matchup right now.  They’re supposed to factor that in too. The “best” teams, if I remember my 2023 justifications. Is the current Bama team we’ve watched the last month one of the best at-large? No .

 

14 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

Because you admitted it is hypothetical I’m not going to hit you with the meme.  I’ll say this at least - we know there’s one team Alabama lost to (and fairly dominated at that) that Miami wouldn’t have lost to, and that’s Florida State. 

If we want to step into the hypothetical, it’s my opinion that Miami would beat Alabama in a head to head matchup right now.  They’re supposed to factor that in too. The “best” teams, if I remember my 2023 justifications. Is the current Bama team we’ve watched the last month one of the best at-large? No .

 

Miami and ND didn't play in a championship game. Alabama was ranked higher than both and had an opportunity to play in a championship game in a conference that could get up to 5 teams in CFP. Miami and ND played a conference schedule that likely gets no one in the CFP. The end. 

30 minutes ago, DragonFire said:

Because you admitted it is hypothetical I’m not going to hit you with the meme.  I’ll say this at least - we know there’s one team Alabama lost to (and fairly dominated at that) that Miami wouldn’t have lost to, and that’s Florida State. 

If we want to step into the hypothetical, it’s my opinion that Miami would beat Alabama in a head to head matchup right now.  They’re supposed to factor that in too. The “best” teams, if I remember my 2023 justifications. Is the current Bama team we’ve watched the last month one of the best at-large? No .

 

Alabama would have likely beaten Louisville and SMU both handily...if that's the measuring stick that you want to use.

Miami may have beaten Florida State but I could say they'd probably lost twice to Georgia. 

I don't care which gets in as long as one does, because they both deserve to get in over Notre Dame.

CBS predictions after Saturday night's Conference Championship games.

7 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Alabama would have likely beaten Louisville and SMU both handily...if that's the measuring stick that you want to use.

Miami may have beaten Florida State but I could say they'd probably lost twice to Georgia. 

I don't care which gets in as long as one does, because they both deserve to get in over Notre Dame.

Honestly, I don’t want to use that measuring stick at all. The SEC absolutely lives in the hypotheticals, and quality losses, and it is exhausting. My post was a response to a postulation about whether or not Miami would have the same or better record against Alabama’s schedule. Even if I grant you two losses to Georgia, that’d still leave a single loss to find. As for Alabama beating Louisville and SMU handily, based on… what exactly? Is it because Alabama showed no capability of playing down to their competition? The FSU result aside, they hardly impressed against Auburn or South Carolina, two teams I believe to be not on par with either Louisville or SMU. Yes, I would probably pick Alabama over both, but if you told me Miami was playing either tomorrow, I would also pick Miami over both. Upsets happen.

All we have are the actual resumes. Remove the SEC Title game from it if we want to go with the argument that Bama shouldn’t be punished for playing in it. Same record. Same amount of top 25 wins. Same amount of top ten wins. Alabama has the better win, and the worst loss. If we want Alabama in based on that, so be it. I simply find the hypotheticals to be exhausting and annoying. It is an unprovable crutch relied upon for SEC arguments. 

8 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

Miami and ND didn't play in a championship game. Alabama was ranked higher than both and had an opportunity to play in a championship game in a conference that could get up to 5 teams in CFP. Miami and ND played a conference schedule that likely gets no one in the CFP. The end. 

I could get real conspiracy theory on why Alabama was ranked higher, but I’ll simply go with that happened because Alabama’s worst loss happened to come early. It’s the same reason Notre Dame is ranked higher than the very team that beat them. That right there should point out the flaw in your rankings argument. Why would Notre Dame, a team with a demonstrably worse resume (no top ten wins, fewer top 25 wins) be ranked ahead of a Miami team that beat them and has the same record? Humans do rankings, and they use all sorts of moving criteria to do it. 
 

You feel Alabama has a better record than Miami would have playing same schedule and neither one of us has a way to prove or disprove that. You are likely going to be correct that Alabama gets in over Miami, and probably due to that benefit of the doubt. Doesn’t change the fact that Alabama has looked like crap for a month+, and not exclusively against very good teams. 
 

BTW, I don’t even WANT Miami in the CFP. I dislike them intensely. But I stand by my statement - the resumes are equal and the eye test I believe favors Miami. I think the eye test is every bit as legitimate as “I think Alabama did better than Miami does against this schedule.”

1 hour ago, DragonFire said:

I could get real conspiracy theory on why Alabama was ranked higher, but I’ll simply go with that happened because Alabama’s worst loss happened to come early. It’s the same reason Notre Dame is ranked higher than the very team that beat them. That right there should point out the flaw in your rankings argument. Why would Notre Dame, a team with a demonstrably worse resume (no top ten wins, fewer top 25 wins) be ranked ahead of a Miami team that beat them and has the same record? Humans do rankings, and they use all sorts of moving criteria to do it. 
 

You feel Alabama has a better record than Miami would have playing same schedule and neither one of us has a way to prove or disprove that. You are likely going to be correct that Alabama gets in over Miami, and probably due to that benefit of the doubt. Doesn’t change the fact that Alabama has looked like crap for a month+, and not exclusively against very good teams. 
 

BTW, I don’t even WANT Miami in the CFP. I dislike them intensely. But I stand by my statement - the resumes are equal and the eye test I believe favors Miami. I think the eye test is every bit as legitimate as “I think Alabama did better than Miami does against this schedule.”

I agree Alabama has looked bad for the last few games, absolutely has. Miami has looked better, though playing lesser teams.

The argument should not be between Alabama and Miami, it should be against Notre Dame.

10 hours ago, Jumper_Dad said:

Agreed.

Full disclosure, I'm a Buckeye fan.  That said, do you think they drop Ohio State 2 spots after losing to #2 by 3 points in a conference title game?  At the end of the day it wouldn't matter a whole lot because they would play Georgia regardless (if they both win out), but it does impact who they play before that.  

 

 

 

Predictive Rankings from TeamRankings.Com

Iowa St. and Kansas St. turn down bowls. Going to probably see more of this in the future.

2 minutes ago, Tigerpride94 said:

Iowa St. and Kansas St. turn down bowls. Going to probably see more of this in the future.