This article posted at ESPN by David Hale makes a strong case for why Ohio State should be considered a team seriously contending for the playoff. I agree with him, and certainly believe that Ohio State as it is playing right now could certainly compete with any of the teams ranked ahead of it.
I do take exception to his argument about the Virginia Tech loss though, saying that the injury issues Ohio State faced against VT were more substantial than Oregon's vs. Arizona. He only says that the offensive line was in shambles, not explaining that it was just a young, inexperienced group that need time to gel. And I think that's a discredit to what our team and Bud Foster did that day in Columbus. Still, a good case and worth a look.
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I think this is a great example of what the new playoff format does. I think aOSU deserves to be in a top 4 despite the loss to VT but if we were still using the BCS system, you really couldn't discount that one loss in my opinion.
Depends... do you think the most deserving team (team with the best wins/losses) should be given a spot, or the team that looks the best (passes the 'eye' test)?
I think the former should be the only thing that matters. Unfortunately, I don't think the committee does that; otherwise a team with only one win over a current top 25 team wouldn't have the number one seed.
There is still time for some interesting things to happen. The Egg Bowl. Iron Bowl. tOSU-Missagain. Civil War.
I think as much as they are knocking tOSU for the VT loss, they need to readjust the Miss St wins over the teams previously-ranked-but-no-longer-worth-a-darn. They aren't top 10 teams, and those wins shouldn't boost the status of Miss St as much as they did a few weeks ago.
This is the entire problem with the new selection committee. There doesn't appear to be a whole lot of objectivity in the process. FSU gets knocked for only having wins over two teams currently ranked in the top 25 but then Miss St, who has a loss, only has one over a top 25 team, Auburn. The rankings are based far too much on the pre-season rankings and expectations on what the SEC was going to be. Texas A&M got a huge boost due to a win over a now .500 USC-e team and that has continued to manifest itself ever since.
Yes, Miss St probably has the best loss of anyone in the nation. However, I thought who you beat and where you beat them was more important than good losses.
Edit: The playoff is a good step forward if you want to include more teams in the process. However, I don't understand why they threw out the BCS formula as one of the primary methods of determining the top 4 teams.
Your edit is my issue with the committee. They had a system (BCS) that possibly had errors in determining who would play. Instead of fixing, or disclosing, those factors and errors, they implement a system that definitely has errors
Which is why we had such a heated discussion regarding this:
I am surprised this is not off of LSU's site. Amazing! Even have ole paaawwwwwwlllll's facial expression changing.
THE THINGS I CANT UNSEE!!!!!!!
It is inevitable that the committee will find a way to place 2 SEC teams in the playoff. If Miss St or Alabama lose a 2nd game they would still have them ahead of a 1 loss Ohio st because of the perception that their conference is so strong.
YOU SHUT THAT DIRTY MOUTH!!!
And, one of them may very well be a team that doesn't even play in the conference champ game. One of the things the playoff was trying to avoid...I think. Right?!
I'm still banging the Marshall drum, and the fact that they are not in the Top 25 playoff rankings at all is a travesty. I know that their conference is putrid, but Marshall has been flat out dominating every one of their opponents. They're still undefeated, and probably going to finish undefeated. They could probably beat a sizable number of teams in the Top 25, but are getting shut out over the likes of Minnesota and USC. Are they a Top 10 or Top 15 team? Definitely not, but the committee should at least be respecting the fact they are still undefeated.
I'm hoping by the end of the year, if they go 13-0 with the Conf USA title, they at least put them in at 21 or so. There are some losses out there, and with 8 of the teams from 15-25 losing last week, I thought they might get ranked at least as a nicety. Oh well.
If this keeps up, at least they will get the non-power 5 bid to one of the big bowls, and maybe have a shot at an $EC team? I got to see them at ODU and in the Bowl win last year against MD. They are tough. Cato is solid and Johnson is a BEAST!
There was a really nice article (on Grantland I think) about the Marshall style this year, and how they essentially "out-athlete" their competition using Power 5 caliber players who didn't have the grades, temperament, etc to get into a power 5 program. They don't have particularly exotic game plans or anything like that.
It'll be interesting to see how they stock up against equal competition in bowl season
I'm not sure how prevalent that still is. I know it definitely applied back in the days of Chad Pennington and Randy Moss in the late 90s and early 00s, and I've read articles about exactly that in that time period.
MARSHALL AIN'T PLAYED NOBODY PAWWWWWLLLLL
I feel like the playoff should always include undefeated teams. So what if you haven't played anyone yet? You'll have to beat at least one solid team before the championship game. If you're undefeated (especially if you're undefeated by domination like Marshall), the no one has any argument to say you wouldn't win other than "I don't think they would win," until you get a chance to prove it. Isn't that kind of the point of a playoff?
I mean, by that logic we should give bids to FCS teams too.
If you give a bid to Marshall this year, you're taking a bid away from another team. Who's it going to be? The SEC champ? The PAC 12 champion? It's not that black/white..
FCS teams have their own playoff.. and nobody is "taking a bid away from another team", no other team currently has a bid to take, and as of right now there is only 1 undefeated P5 team. Outside of FSU and Marshall all other teams have been defeated on the field fair and square
Someone posted this comparison on Reddit regarding Marshall and P5 teams vs common opponents so far this season..
Marshall vs Common Opponent:
Average Scoring Per Game- 48.5
Average Points Allowed- 17.5
MOV- 31
Rushing YPG- 272.5
Passing YPG- 278
Total Offense- 550 YPG
P5 vs Common Opponent
Average Scoring Per Game- 35.75
Average Points Allowed- 15
MOV- 20.75
Rushing YPG- 215.5
Passing YPG- 233.75
Total Offense- 449.25 YPG
The P5 teams in this comparison are: Michigan, Kentucky, Penn State, Pitt (twice), Mississippi State, Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, NC State, Minnesota, and Louisville.. so it's not like it's all Wake Forest and Kansas we're talking about here
Won't be surprised if OSU backs into the playoff at the end of the day.
I agree on the "offensive line in shambles" remarks. Nobody for OSU was injured. I honestly believe that Urban Meyer did not gameplan for Coach Bud's defense. I think he underestimated his attack.
On the other hand, if they are going to play against a Bud Foster Defense, they better have their offensive line straightened out.
We have a tendency to exploit this and hand out sacks like Santa's elves.
Santa brings you elves? How do I get on that list, I have a shit load of stuff that little guys could get done in a hurry around here.
You think he sends the useful ones?
OSU might be looking good right now, but I could see them stumbling if they had to play Wisconsin in the conference championship. If they do win out though, I think they deserve a shot in the playoff. I can't say I would root for them, but it would be fun to say we gave the national champs their only loss.
I hated the BCS system, I hate the Playoff system. I cannot be pleased.
My head explodes every time I see team A ahead of team B, when team A was BEAT by team B!
I always thought it was stupid that a team could be recognized as the best team in the country if they aren't recognized as the best team in their conference.
Who was the best team in the SEC in 2011? LSU. They won the championship game.
Who was the best team in the country in 2011? Alabama? Aren't they in the SEC? If winning a championship game doesn't mean you are the best, why bother playing them?
Part of me takes personal joy in being the reason tOSU isnt ranked...having lived in Columbus and hearing the disrespect some tOSU fans had for our program and Frank pissed me off...I like it when tOSU loses to anybody.
The other part of me wants them to go to the playoffs just so we can say we beat a team in the playoffs at their place pretty convincingly.
Also tOSU fans are now making the argument that the VT game should be seen as a mulligan because we are so bad and they would obiviously beat us now so the committee should just ignore it to which I say look at the PSU game, which they lost in my book, and the MINN game where they almost lost.
We need to kick the crap outta tOSU next year.
That's all I got after reading that. That and maybe..."Scoreboard, chumps".