Iowa's schedule strength, largely overlooked nationally, is resonating in the committee room. Northwestern continuing to win is big, and Wisconsin has entered the rankings. The Wildcats and Badgers play next week but both could finish with 9+ wins. That's very good news for Iowa. Hawkeyes need to win Big Ten title, but possibly could survive a bad regular-season loss.

11/10/2015 7:28:39 PM

Disagree, I think they have to run the table.

11/10/2015 7:42:48 PM

Alabama will magically drop to 5 the last week if everybody wins out.

11/10/2015 7:42:53 PM

If Alabama wins out, they will stay. Noway Bama is left out...

Iowa reminds me of what it would be like if we were in the running. We would have to go undefeated and then hope a big name 1-loss didn't leap frog us.

11/10/2015 8:17:32 PM

If Bama wins out that means they won the SEC and that conference champion will never be left out.

11/10/2015 8:22:05 PM

What we have learned over 2 years is the committee doesn't look one bit at who you lost to as long as you only have one loss and its early in the year. Ohio state was a perfect example last year they had by far the worst loss and it didn't cost them. Right now Alabama has the worst loss by far of those one loss teams and it didn't hurt them a bit.

11/10/2015 9:44:37 PM

Have to give the committee credit, they aren't fooled by UNC's record. Lotta butthurt UNC fans thinking they should have a legit shot at the playoffs.

11/10/2015 10:40:57 PM

Quote :

"Iowa's schedule strength, largely overlooked nationally, is resonating in the committee room."

That reasoning is fine, but my gripe is this...if that's the case, why did they jump 4 spots after beating Indiana? I mean, their schedule was just as strong last week as it is this week...so why the big jump? It just seems like the committee is inconsistent with its reasoning on things like this. Which is why I'd be totally cool with them waiting until the end of the year to release the rankings.

Quote :

"Hawkeyes need to win Big Ten title, but possibly could survive a bad regular-season loss."

To me that would be a very interesting scenario. A 1 loss Iowa, who beats Ohio St for the Big 10 title or a 1 loss, defending national champ Ohio St who lost in the title game to Iowa.

Quote :

"Alabama will magically drop to 5 the last week if everybody wins out."

Who is "everybody"? If Iowa and OSU win out, they'll play each other in the Big 10 title game. Baylor, OU, Ok St will all play each other. Stanford and ND play each other. Obviously not everybody can win out, so I'm not sure I understand which teams you're referring to. And besides, a 1 loss SEC Champ Alabama isn't missing the playoff anyways.

11/10/2015 10:48:59 PM

Quote :

" why did they jump 4 spots after beating Indiana? I mean, their schedule was just as strong last week as it is this week...so why the big jump?"

NU was 21 last week and UW was unranked

now 18 and 25

their schedule got stronger over the past week

11/10/2015 10:53:26 PM

That's the seemingly arbitrary part to me, though. Wisconsin and Northwestern didn't suddenly get way better over the last week. The committee thinks Iowa's wins are stronger because now they have more wins over teams the committee ranked this week but the same committee chose not to rank last week. Wisconsin beat a terrible Maryland team and Northwestern beat a pretty meh Penn St team. And I think Northwestern and Wisconsin are good teams, but why are they suddenly good wins now when very little has changed with those teams since last week? I'm not even disagreeing with Iowa's ranking. It just seems inconsistent to me. I get what you're saying. Those wins are looking stronger than they previously looked. But part of the reason those wins didn't look as strong is because the committee chose to rank those teams lower. Now, after Wisconsin took care of mighty Maryland, the committee can now consider that a good win? That logic makes no sense to me.

[Edited on November 10, 2015 at 11:37 PM. Reason : H]

11/10/2015 11:32:21 PM

Quote :

"A 1 loss Iowa, who beats Ohio St for the Big 10 title or a 1 loss, defending national champ Ohio St who lost in the title game to Iowa. "

Imo neither would get in under that scenario. I think you would see a 1 loss ND jump them assuming ND wins out.

11/11/2015 8:22:57 AM

Only Big Ten fanboys think a 1-loss Iowa has a legit chance at making the Playoff

11/11/2015 8:42:26 AM

^yeah that's probably right. and obviously, as has been said many times, a lot of this will likely resolve itself over the next few weeks.

11/11/2015 8:42:55 AM

As of right now the only spot that matters is that 4th spot.

1. Clemson
2. Ok State/Baylor
3. Ohio State/Iowa
4. SEC Champ

All things go according to plan its really that simple. This is what the committee is hoping for because it makes their job real simple.

11/11/2015 8:43:05 AM

Quote :

"All things go according to plan its really that simple."

And then the actual games happen and that gets blown to hell in a matter of moments.

[Edited on November 11, 2015 at 8:53 AM. Reason : I don't watch Big 10 football because it's a snoozefest. Is Iowa really that good? Really?]

11/11/2015 8:52:14 AM

^^ i agree - with one caveat, even if the baylor/okst winner finishes undefeated (still a strong chance that WON'T be the case) the winner of ND/Stanford could take that spot.

with OU and TCU still ahead for baylor, and OU for okst, i'll actually be kind of surprised if the big 12 finishes with an undefeated team. will be fun to watch this all play out.

11/11/2015 9:01:04 AM

No chance they are gonna leave an undefeated power 5 team out unless there are more than 4.

I'd argue they would drop the big 10 team, especially if its iowa, before the big 12 as well but again that would never happen.

[Edited on November 11, 2015 at 9:15 AM. Reason : .]

11/11/2015 9:14:03 AM

^^^^that's essentially right, IMO. except things hardly play out as expected in these kinda scenarios, it seems.

^agree.

Quote :

"I don't watch Big 10 football because it's a snoozefest. Is Iowa really that good? Really?"

haven't seen them play much this year, tbh. but the advanced rankings aren't high on iowa at all.

the f/+ rankings have them at 17. the s&p+ has them at 20. espn's fpi has them at 29.

but...you might wanna take some of that with a grain of salt. the f/+ has us 30, the s&p+ has us at 18, and espn's fpi has us 34. according to that, there's little difference between State and Iowa. i don't know a ton about the advanced stats and rankings, but in football you obviously have smaller sample sizes than a sport like basketball where you have significantly more games. one interesting thing, imo, is that iowa actually dropped a few spots in each of those rankings this week except for the fpi where the held at 29.

[Edited on November 11, 2015 at 9:20 AM. Reason : f]

11/11/2015 9:20:21 AM

I take those advanced metrics with a grain of salt, but that's not painting a great picture for the Hawkeyes. Odds are they'll slip somewhere and fall back anyway it seems.

Quote :

"with OU and TCU still ahead for baylor, and OU for okst, i'll actually be kind of surprised if the big 12 finishes with an undefeated team."

So OU still has Baylor, TCU, and OKST left? All those opponents are above them currently in the standings. If they run the table they could come from nowhere and sneak in like OSU last season.

11/11/2015 9:26:02 AM

^yeah that's what I think with OU as well. obviously if they don't run the table, none of it matters. but that'd be a very impressive end to the season with their only loss coming early in the season to a bad team (much like Ohio St last year). i think OU could definitely play themselves into the playoff at this point.

11/11/2015 9:28:33 AM

One things for sure this system is dumb as hell. Who seriously sat down in a meeting and came up with this shit?

11/11/2015 9:51:48 AM

Need 8 team playoff with 3 wildcards and all P5 champions included. Then you've got a defacto tournament going the whole season. Win your division >>>win your conf title game>>> advance to the playoff.

That way every team in America has an equal shot at winning the title because everyone controls their own destiny.

11/11/2015 12:08:54 PM

Yeah the weekly playoff selection show is only for TV ratings...

That and to psychologically influence the players and coaches of the teams that are vying for a spot.

11/11/2015 12:10:04 PM

Yeah like TCU going out and winning by like 70 in their last game and dropping from 3 to 6 that will surely motivate teams going forward haha

11/11/2015 12:28:31 PM

Teams like LSU shouldn't be penalized for playing in a great division.

Common sense playoffs

Automatic bids: 9 power 5 division winners
At large bids: 2 highest ranked non power five teams
Wild cards: 5 remaining highest ranked teams


Clemson
North Carolina
Alabama
Florida
Utah
Stanford
Iowa
Ohio State
Baylor
Notre Dame
Oklahoma State
Navy
Michigan State
Oklahoma
Michigan
TCU

http://challonge.com/tournaments/bracket_generator?ref=uY3wwgyr4x

11/12/2015 4:07:50 PM

Holy hell UNC. Just throttling people these past few weeks. Got to hope VT can fuck up their momentum next week as it could be when they come into C-F.

[Edited on November 14, 2015 at 5:23 PM. Reason : D]

11/14/2015 5:23:05 PM

I have a bad feeling they're gonna return the favor for 45-7

11/14/2015 6:12:53 PM

I have an even worse feeling that they could possibly beat Clemson in the ACCCG

11/14/2015 6:23:14 PM

No!

11/14/2015 6:24:21 PM

It'd be funny in a weird way for them to win the ACC and get left out of the playoffs. They'd just whine a lot.

But it'd be funnier for Clemson to destroy them. But they're having a hard time with Syracuse...

11/14/2015 6:24:54 PM

It'd be funny in a hilarious way if they won next week along with Pitt, and then Pitt won the noon game the following week & we beat UNC keeping them out of the ACCCG

11/14/2015 6:28:03 PM

they need to lose to VT and us and Pitt win out to miss the ACCCG

11/14/2015 6:29:29 PM

Yeh, that. My scenario would be far less funny

11/14/2015 6:41:54 PM

UNC will beat Clemson in the ACC Championship. Guaranteed.

11/14/2015 7:30:15 PM

UNC will win out, be ranked 5. Beat the shit out of somebody in new years bowl and hang a national championship banner.

11/14/2015 8:02:35 PM

I wanna see Bammer and Arkansas play again, this Arkansas team has caught fire again late in the season and I think they can beat anybody right now.

11/14/2015 10:28:48 PM

half of the top 10 in trouble right now.

LSU
Baylor
Stanford
Iowa
Utah

[Edited on November 14, 2015 at 10:33 PM. Reason : 4 of them trailing in the 2nd half?]

11/14/2015 10:32:16 PM

It's really annoying that we by far care the most about football amongst all the Tobacco Road schools, and to see Duke and UNC have success that we could only wish for the past few years. I know it doesn't help that we are in the same division as Clemson and FSU. That year where we had to just beat Maryland to go to the ACCCG seems like our last realistic chance for awhile.

11/15/2015 12:29:38 AM

the only way to overcome fsu and clemsons talent level will be to have a special player like rw

[Edited on November 15, 2015 at 12:38 AM. Reason : and a good overall team at the same time]

11/15/2015 12:37:37 AM

^ and someone that can recruit the HELL out of South Florida, VA and a bit of South Carolina. Chuck with someone else handling the Xs and Os

11/15/2015 12:49:52 AM

that was a different era before miami and vt were in the acc. before usc was a strong program and before clemson was an elite program. theres nowhere to plunder talent from besides nc.

11/15/2015 12:54:18 AM

how will he give us our best season ever with that trash talking?

11/15/2015 1:05:16 AM

Unc at 12 in the AP. If they were to win out and beat Clemson they would have to get a serious look at the playoff

Please excuse me while I go barf

[Edited on November 15, 2015 at 4:24 PM. Reason : wild comma]

11/15/2015 4:23:25 PM

they'd definitely get a serious look. i think it'd depend on what everybody else did, for the most part. as it stands, even with a win over clemson they'd be on the outside looking in...assuming Bama doesn't lose, ND doesn't lose, Ok St doesn't lose, and either Iowa or Ohio St finish undefeated. they wouldn't get in over any of those teams, IMO. but with things breaking their way, they could definitely find their way in. i'd also guess 1 loss OU would get in over UNC (way better wins) and 1 loss UF, if they beat Bama in the SECCG may get in over them as well.

[Edited on November 15, 2015 at 4:33 PM. Reason : f]

11/15/2015 4:31:50 PM

Yea it's still early, for sure. But they would have a win over a #1 ranked team. My money is on OSU losing to Michigan. Iowa won't win out, and ok st and OU will choke somewhere. I don't actually think they will get in tho

11/15/2015 6:02:21 PM

Quote :

"Iowa won't win out"

ummm

they have Purdue and Nebraska remaining. combined record of 7-14

11/15/2015 6:12:03 PM

^are they going to win the BiG championship game?

11/15/2015 6:17:02 PM

are you asking whether Iowa could beat either OSU or UM in the title game? I think the answer is without a doubt

11/15/2015 6:27:06 PM

Well you didn't mention the title game in your post

11/15/2015 6:38:33 PM

thats the point though. you're forgetting that them making it there unbeaten pretty much guarantees there will be an unbeaten B1G team in the dance.

11/15/2015 6:54:52 PM