From: james.m.gibson@gmail.com   
      
   On Monday, December 11, 2023 at 4:33:29 PM UTC-5, j...@mich.com wrote:   
   > On Sun, 10 Dec 2023 07:49:07 -0800 (PST), michael anderson  wrote:   
   > >On Monday, December 4, 2023 at 9:58:27?AM UTC-6, JE Corbett wrote:    
   > >> The four best teams is a completely subjective and arbitrary standard.   
   There is    
   > >> no way to measure that. What I think are the four best teams probably   
   won't be    
   > >> what somebody else thinks are the four best teams. Furthermore, if you   
   were    
   > >> to really put the four best teams in the playoff, you might have to put   
   in a great    
   > >> but underachieving team (Ohio State, Georgia?). In some years that could   
   be    
   > >> a team with two or three losses. There is no way to measure the four   
   best.    
   > >>    
   > >> What we can measure are accomplishments. By that criteria, Michigan,    
   > >> Washington, FSU, and Texas would get the nod. The first three because   
   they    
   > >> are undefeated Power 5 conference champions and Texas would get the nod    
   > >> over Alabama because they beat them head-t0-head.    
   > >>    
   > >> The committee neither selected the four best teams nor the four most    
   > >> accomplished teams. Their choices were political. They didn't want to   
   ruffle    
   > >> feathers by leaving the SEC out. They had to take Alabama over Georgia   
   but    
   > >> they couldn't justify putting Alabama in and leaving Texas out so they   
   took    
   > >> put them both in and gave the finger to FSU. I truly believe that if   
   Georgia    
   > >> had won the SEC, they would have selected the four unbeaten conference    
   > >> champions and left Texas out.    
   > >    
   > >I completely agree with this, and it wasn't talked about enough.    
   > >    
   > >Alabama being thrown in the mix is probably what saved texas too.    
   > >    
   > >I'm someone who believes that HTH doesn't *always* have to trump everything   
   else(assuming similar number of losses). But a lot of people do, so when the   
   committee decided that they had to take alabama due to the significant of the   
   win against georgia(   
   which is a reasonable stance in my opinion.....I mean you have to reward those   
   type of wins, of which there was only 1 this year and only 1 every 3-4 years   
   probably) they also decided they had to take Texas due to the HTH(or people   
   would really lose it).    
   So FSU is the odd team out, and the travis injury was their supposed cover.....   
   > HTH doesn't necessarily yield the best team, often it doesn't. A lucky   
   turnover, a bad call, etc. can keep the better team from winning. HTH is fun    
   > for rivals and fans, but should not mean the winner must always and forever   
   be ranked above the loser. The rest of the season must also be looked at,    
   > especially closer to season end. Bowl game and conference championship   
   rematches have demonstrated this many times. My favorite is FSU and UF in    
   > 1997. #2 FSU beat #1 Florida final game of the regular season by 3 points, a   
   game when UF's entire offense line was out with injuries. Both were then    
   > chosen as the best teams for the Sugar Bowl. Bowden shit, he knew the Gators   
   were the better team, and FSU could likely win a NC against any other    
   > team but lose one if they played the Gators. In the rematch with their line   
   back, the Gators won by 32 points.    
   >    
   > In 1993 #2 Notre Dame beat #1 FSU by intercepting an endzone pass at the   
   end. Next game ND lost to #17 Boston College then beat #7 T-A&M by 3.    
   > while FSU crushed NS State by 60, beat #6 UF and then #2 Nebraska, and there   
   are still those who think ND should have jumped past FSU to #1. If ND and    
   > FSU had played 10 times that season, it probably would have been 8-2 in   
   FSU's favor. It's BS to think one close HTH meant ND should always be ranked    
   > higher than FSU regardless of how the season progressed.    
   >    
   > And, anyway, the pros demonstrate the insignificance of mid-season HTH   
   regularly.    
      
   Nobody's arguing HTH is the be-all end-all.  Otherwise, people would be   
   arguing that Oklahoma should be in over Texas and then find themselves in a   
   giant loop.  The point is that HTH is used as a tie-breaker for close   
   situations.   
      
   But if we are going to hold out teams that are worse but won their games from   
   the postseason, why don't we nix Washington's place in the CFP and give it to   
   Oregon?  Sure Washington beat Oregon twice, but it was very close both times   
   and the first time    
   Washington was at home.  7 other data points from comparative Pac-12 games   
   suggest that Oregon is actually the better team than Washington.  And all the   
   predictive computers agree: Oregon is a better team than Washington.  But we   
   don't reward on that, we    
   reward on W-L.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)