Interesting CFP Dilemma

[silverscreenselect]

Well, Georgia Tech will not be playing in the ACC Championship game this weekend, but the actual matchup presents a possible embarrassing development for the conference and dilemma for the Selection Committee. The current rules state that the five highest-ranking conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams get bids. Because of the way the ACC tiebreakers work, Virginia, with a 7-1 conference record and 10-2 overall record, will play Duke 6-2 in the conference, but only 7-5 overall.

If Virginia wins, it will be one of those five highest ranked teams. However, if Duke wins, it's very possible that both James Madison (11-1 in the Sun Belt) and either Tulane or North Texas (playing for the American Conference Championship) will finish ahead of Duke. If that's the case, James Madison and the American Champion would get the automatic bids, and Duke would be shut out. Miami lost out on the ACC tiebreaker, but is currently ranked 12th in the AP poll at 10-2. They could get an ACC at-large bid, depending on how many SEC and Big 10 teams get bids. If five SEC teams get bids (Ga, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Alabama, and Oklahoma or Vanderbilt) and three Big 10 teams (Ohio State, Indiana, Oregon), along with two Big 12 teams (Texas Tech, BYU), that makes 10 with the two remaining slots for conference champions. It's also possible Notre Dame could get an at-large bid. It's possible that if Alabama or BYU loses their conference championship by a large score, they could drop below Miami in the rankings, but the Selection Committee has said they don't want to penalize teams for losing their conference championship game vis-a-vis a team that doesn't play in a championship game.

[silverscreenselect]

The next-to-last CFP rankings are out.

1) Ohio State
2) Indiana
3) Georgia
4) Texas Tech
5) Oregon
6) MIssissippi
7) Texas A&M
Oklahoma
9) Alabama
10) Notre Dame
11) Conference Champion #4
12) Conference Champion #5

BYU, which is playing in the Big 12 Championship is ranked 11 Miami is ranked 12. The only top 10 team playing this week in the conference championships at possible risk of falling out is Alabama with a third loss. If BYU wins the Big 12, that would probably bump Notre Dame out. If BYU and Alabama both lose, Miami could climb to 10.

[Beebs52]

I see whatcha did...

[BackInTex]

How does the committee reconcile Alabama not dropping a single position after being decimated by Georgia? The game wasn’t even as close as the 21 point differential suggests.

Georgia dropped 7 positions earlier in the year when Alabama beat them by only 3 point. Now Georgia beats them by 21 (should have been 28) and Alabama goes from 9th to 9th. SMH

The silver lining is that Notre Dame is out. But still.


Boomer Sooners!

[silverscreenselect]

Georgia dropped 7 positions earlier in the year when Alabama beat them by only 3 points. Now Georgia beats them by 21 (should have been 28) and Alabama goes from 9th to 9th.

And if Alabama had beaten Georgia by one point this time around, they would have probably have jumped into the top four, certainly ahead of Oklahoma and Mississippi.

[silverscreenselect]

The silver lining is that Notre Dame is out. But still.

Notre Dame is all the way out. They announced they will not play in any bowl games this year.

Georgia Tech will play BYU (one of the teams involved in the last week's shuffle) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando on December 27. Despite the silly name, it's considered one of the top non-CFP bowl games. Tech received the invitation after Notre Dame turned it down.

For those eager for bowl game season to start, you won't have a long wait. Boise State meets Washington this Saturday in the "Bucked Up LA Bowl." (I think they misspelled the first word.)

[BackInTex]

The silver lining is that Notre Dame is out. But still.

Notre Dame is all the way out. They announced they will not play in any bowl games this year.

Georgia Tech will play BYU (one of the teams involved in the last week's shuffle) in the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando on December 27. Despite the silly name, it's considered one of the top non-CFP bowl games.

I think no Power 5 conference team should play Notre Dame. They need to be forced to join a conference. Or forced to play by themselves....the cry babies.

[silverscreenselect]

I think no Power 5 conference team should play Notre Dame. They need to be forced to join a conference.

Notre Dame joined the ACC in all sports except football in 2013. As part of that agreement, they play five games a season against ACC teams on a rotating basis. Notre Dame is also eligible for all the bowl games with which the ACC has tie-ins. That's how they received the bid to the Pop-Tarts Bowl this year and turned it down before Georgia Tech accepted. (Tech hosted Notre Dame in 2024 and will go to Notre Dame in 2027.) Notre Dame has a very lucrative agreement with NBC to televise all their home games. When Notre Dame hosts Georgia Tech the game is on NBC, and they keep all the TV money. When Tech hosts Notre Dame, the game is on ABC or ESPN, and the money is split 17 ways.

Logistically, it would be fairly easy for Notre Dame to join the ACC. They could keep their game with Southern Cal, cancel games against teams like Navy and Rice, and add four more ACC games a year. But there's no way they could join the Big 10 for example and still honor their commitment to play 5 games a year against ACC teams.