Based on the latest College Football Playoff rankings, should the SEC abandon the nine-game conference schedule it is switching to next season?
Reading some of the other reaction pieces by national sports writers confirms that the CFP committee isn’t valuing strength of schedule and/or strength of record.
Look at No. 9 Notre Dame being ranked one spot ahead of Alabama.
Alabama has wins against No. 4 Georgia, No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 20 Tennessee and No. 22 Missouri. It has a loss to Florida State and No. 8 Oklahoma.
Notre Dame’s best win was against No. 15 USC and its two losses were to No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 13 Miami.
Alabama’s strength of record is No. 8, Notre Dame is No. 12. Alabama’s strength of schedule is No. 4 overall, Notre Dame’s is No. 29.
The only two places Notre Dame is ranked higher than the Crimson Tide is in Football Power Index (Notre Dame is No. 5, Alabama is No. 6) and SP+ Projections (Notre Dame is No. 5, Alabama is No. 11).
So, I ask again, if the committee isn’t valuing SOS and SOR like it said it would why add a ninth SEC game?
In fact, since losses at the end of the season clearly are more detrimental than losses at the start of the seasons, maybe the SEC puts its conference games at the start of the season?
Put the cupcake games against Samford or The Citadel or Furman in the final weeks of the season, ensuring playoff teams don’t suffer a late season loss.
CFP Committee too much like AP voters
I really liked the point ESPN’s David Hale made in his Week 13 Anger Index column. The CFP committee makes its rankings the same way the AP does and that’s the opposite of what the committee was originally established to do.
“Now, way back when we first introduced the idea of the selection committee in 2014, one of the big differentiations from more traditional rankings, like the AP poll, was that this new group would view each week with fresh eyes.
“Unlike those lazy AP voters or whichever intern drew the short straw and had to submit a coach’s ballot for the Coaches Poll, the committee wouldn’t simply take last week’s rankings and adjust based on who won or lost their most recent games. The underlying data changed each week, so the committee was obliged to reevaluate, too.”
Hale then added, “Put some respect on the Tide’s name. Their five wins vs. SP+ top-40 opponents is more than anyone except Texas A&M. Their four wins vs. ranked foes is more than Ole Miss, Oregon and Notre Dame combined. They’ve beaten the No. 4 team in the country head-to-head — arguably the best win for any team this season.”
If the committee truly believes its correct then switching to a nine-game SEC schedule is a mistake. It might be too late to undo it, but it’s only been a month and a half since the announcement was made.
Somebody could very well be sitting in an office at SEC headquarters exploring this very possibility.
