It's accurate. Like I said, Baylor was every bit as good and probably a little better than TCU in the first half of the season. But the trouble is they tend to peak too early and run out of steam like they did last year. Neither team can be labeled in the "great" category. But few teams in college football this year can. Maybe Bama because of their top shelf talent and good stats, maybe Oregon if their mediocre defensive numbers are a result of an extra strong offensive conference. I guess we'll find that out in the Final Four. But those two teams are basically it if you even want to call them great. We have a lot of fringe teams this year. If there is a season that we need a 6 to 8 team playoff it's this one. I think the top 8 or 10 in college football this year are more than capable of knocking each other off on a given day.
i agree, a lot of parity this year which i think is good.. also think that 8 would be a good number, take the champions of the power 5 with 3 "comittee" picks, would definitively solve the TCU/Baylor issue.. would be nice to see them both get a shot, if GT gets it done they might get it.. Arizona/Oregon might be closer than the experts think imo.. any thoughts on that one?
I think the question you need to ask is not so much what Oregon will score, but how successful Zona will be on offense. They put up 500 yards on Oregon's defense in their last game. If they do that again, Oregon won't cover. That's why I said the Ducks better have a different game plan this time.
Guys all I can say is Vegas has TCU ranked ahead of Baylor (Bama, Ore, TCU, Bay, FSU...). I think they have a pretty good idea of who's better and note that Ohio St does not show up until #7. While I like to think I know it all, I'll defer the to folks in the desert as they have all those casinos as a testament to their knowledge level. LOL!! It's a great debate though
http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/top-25/vi/
http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/top-25/vi/
But you know what the argument is going to be against TCU. But, they barely beat a bad Kansas team. When people bring that up I always tell them that I cap games by the 10-80-10 rule. Which is 10% of the time a team will play a simply terrible game by their standards, 80% of the time they will play their normal game, and 10% of the time they will go above and beyond and play their best game of the year, which I believe was last week against Texas. Their close road game against WV doesn't count since WV was a very good team in the first half of the season and gave literally every team they played at home or at a neutral location everything they could handle. Those teams included Baylor, OU, TCU and Bama. Like WV, I think Baylor might have peaked a little early. I guess we'll find out this weekend. TCU is at the top of their game right now and showing no decline. As for the playoff, whether we have 4 teams or 8 teams, in today's game the team that wins the championship is the team with the best QB play going in. Winston isn't having his best season. Ohio State is playing with a backup to the backup. I think we can eliminate both of those teams if they even make the playoffs. Right now if I had to name the two best QB's it would be Mariotta and Boykin. With Sims a close third. If Satan would let Kiffin do his job and open up the offense even more I believe Sims could be really good. But I don't think he'll ever take the cuffs off of Kiffy and let him do his thing.
Okay, TCU actually out gained them by 32 yards but WVU also had 5 turnovers. Not exactly a dominating performance by TCU needing a last second FG to win by one when they were given the ball 5 times, 3 of which were fumbles which are pretty much random occurrences, not necessarily a sign of a good defense, as opposed to interceptions or sacks.
Then why play the games? Vegas may have TCU ranked higher but by every on the field measure Baylor should be ranked higher than TCU if they beat KSU. You cannot even make the unbalanced sched argument in this case like the B10 or SEC. They played every team in the conference one time and finished with the same record however Baylor beat TCU which should mean they win the conference, go to the playoff, etc. before TCU. If this was last year and the B12 had an auto BCS bid for the conf champ who would go? Baylor. Why would it be any different this year because it is a playoff.
And please don't make this about Baylor's weak OOC schedule. They both beat down SMU and beating Minny at home shouldn't push TCU over Baylor. Come on, nobody knew Minny would be decent this year, this is a team that has not won a B10 title since 1967. I wouldn't say TCU is scheduling powerhouses because they played Minny. Would it make you feel any better if Baylor had beat Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, or Colorado at home instead of playing Buffalo? No offense, but both those programs have about the same tradition as Minnesota football.
The only way one can come to the conclusion that Baylor should get the nod over TCU is to focus on one game and ignore every other game played this season. Why play the games if you're going to ignore every result except the one that seems to support your point. I remember when Appalachian St. beat Michigan, and Stanford upset USC as 41 point dogs in 2007: but to conclude what team is better based on only one game seems absurd. There is no need to castigate TCU for losing by three on the road to a team the caliber of Baylor, while at the same time minimizing a fourteen point loss on the road at 7-5 West Virginia. If you sincerely feel that others are biased in their assessment of the relative strengths of the teams, then consult something like the "College Football Ranking Composite" as compiled on the Massey Ratings site. The 115+ computer rankings and polls place TCU at #3 and Baylor at #8. It would be difficult to argue that there is some 'agenda' involved with the results there. Good luck in coming to terms with the way this season has played out for your team. It has not been a stellar one for mine.
Seems to me that the big knock on Ohio State is their bad loss to Va Tech, but there is minimal discussion comparing TCU's loss to Baylor's loss. Baylor was beaten by 14 pts at WVa despite winning the turnover margin by 3. TCU choked away a 21 pt lead in the 4th quarter at Baylor. TCU's schedule was better too. It wasn't a great non-conf schedule but at least they played a team from a major conference.
I hear a lot of head-to-head talk but I think that is only one factor.
Didn't this same thing happen with OU/Texas a few years back where Texas won head-to-head but Sooners played in national championship game?
I hear a lot of head-to-head talk but I think that is only one factor.
Didn't this same thing happen with OU/Texas a few years back where Texas won head-to-head but Sooners played in national championship game?
Look, I do not care one iota about Baylor, there are not my team. If Baylor beats KSU it does not seem absurd to focus on one game when they played the exact same conference schedule and both have the same record.
If this was last year and Baylor beats KSU, guess who is getting the auto bid to a BCS bowl? Not TCU.
If the playoffs go to 8 teams and the power 5 gets auto bids guess who would get the auto bid to the 8 team playoffs? Not TCU.
Why should it be any different this year? If the Pats and Broncos finish with the same record in the AFC this year who gets home field adavntage? Is there even an argument in that case and they even played completely different schedules but guess what, the Pats won the head to head game, so they have the advantage. No committee, no computer points, it was settled on the field and nobody even debates that fact.
Comparing Appy State to UM is ridiculous in this situation and an apples to oranges comparison. If in that year, Appy State played the exact same conf schedule as UM and they finished with the same record, then yes, on the field, Appy State was a better team than UM.
You cannot even make the case that Baylor had an easier unbalanced conf schedule like they do in the B10, SEC and Pac12 and may miss some good crossover teams. They played the exact same 9 teams in conference.
Again, the playoff should not be about the best team on paper but who played best on the field of play and there is no better way to prove it than head to head if they have the exact same schedules like in every other sport in the world except possibly FBS football.
Minnesota had a once in a decade season and has not won a B10 title since 1967. It is not like TCU scheduled OSU or Wisconsin. Would it make everyone feel better if Baylor had scheduled Vanderbilt, Wake Forest or Colorado and beat them at home instead of playing Buffalo? Does anyone think Baylor would not beat Minny at home? Minny has not beat a team currently ranked in the top 25 and only 2 of their 8 wins are vs teams with a winning record.
