(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:07 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 08:45 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  ND deserved to make it in

Should have been the 4th seed instead of Oklahoma though.

Remember, Oklahoma got blown out Alabama a lot worse than ND did by Clemson. The Clemson/ND game wasn't over until the last two minutes before halftime. Oklahoma was beaten halfway through the first quarter.

Don't let garbage time/letup points fool you.

31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 10:07 AM)TopperCard Wrote:  No, they certainly deserved to be in the CFP. The only argument against it is they don't have to play a conference championship game. Make the playoff 8 teams, everyone has to be in a conference. Five P5 conference champions, auto-bid for best G5 champion, two at-larges.

I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:07 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 08:45 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  ND deserved to make it in

Should have been the 4th seed instead of Oklahoma though.

Remember, Oklahoma got blown out Alabama a lot worse than ND did by Clemson. The Clemson/ND game wasn't over until the last two minutes before halftime. Oklahoma was beaten halfway through the first quarter.

Don't let garbage time/letup points fool you.

31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

(01-03-2019 11:57 AM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 10:07 AM)TopperCard Wrote:  No, they certainly deserved to be in the CFP. The only argument against it is they don't have to play a conference championship game. Make the playoff 8 teams, everyone has to be in a conference. Five P5 conference champions, auto-bid for best G5 champion, two at-larges.

I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

The dropped P5 Champ could be qualified as at-large if its rank is high enough. But if it is ranked outside top 20, it should not be in the CFP.

I'd rather they dropped the conference championship games and replace with the first round of the 8-team CFP.

Get rid of matchups like #2 Clemson v. unranked Pitt, and #6 Ohio St. v. #21 Northwestern, and #5 Oklahoma v. #14 Texas (rematch), and #11 Washington v. #13 Washington St. (rematch), and #8 UCF v. unranked Memphis (rematch)...meanwhile, why punish #4 Georgia by making them play #1 Alabama? (Or force #1 Alabama to play a top-4 team while all the other highly-ranked teams get relative CCG cakewalks?)

Instead:
Atlanta: #1 Alabama (12-0) v. #8 UCF (11-0)
Arlington: #2 Clemson (12-0) v. #7 Michigan (10-2)
Indianapolis: #3 Notre Dame (12-0) v. #6 Ohio St. (11-1)
Las Vegas: #4 Georgia (11-1) v. #5 Oklahoma (11-1)

Then, assuming the higher seeds win, the NY6 looks like this:

Orange: CFP - #1 Alabama v. #4 Georgia
Cotton: CFP - #2 Clemson v. #3 Notre Dame

Rose: #6 Ohio St. (B1G) v. #11 Washington (PAC)
Sugar: #9 Florida (SEC) v. #14 Texas (B12)
Peach:#7 Michigan (at large) v. #10 LSU(at large)
Fiesta: #5 Oklahoma (at large) v. #8 UCF (G5)

(01-03-2019 01:23 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 11:57 AM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 10:07 AM)TopperCard Wrote:  No, they certainly deserved to be in the CFP. The only argument against it is they don't have to play a conference championship game. Make the playoff 8 teams, everyone has to be in a conference. Five P5 conference champions, auto-bid for best G5 champion, two at-larges.

I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

The dropped P5 Champ could be qualified as at-large if its rank is high enough. But if it is ranked outside top 20, it should not be in the CFP.

I kind of agree with the cap on ranking for a P5 AQ.

Of course this becomes moot if the B1G and ACC are allowed to simply pick the two highest ranked schools doing away with round robin play and divisions (the P12 would likely follow suit, and possibly the SEC as well, allowing more traditional cross games to be permanent). There would always be the risk, as is the case in the B12, of the same two teams meeting back to back (e.g., Michigan and Ohio State, Alabama and Auburn, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State). But the CCGs would be unlikely to ever produce a team ranked outside the top 15.

(01-03-2019 12:23 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:07 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Remember, Oklahoma got blown out Alabama a lot worse than ND did by Clemson. The Clemson/ND game wasn't over until the last two minutes before halftime. Oklahoma was beaten halfway through the first quarter.

Don't let garbage time/letup points fool you.

31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

Didn't see the game so I'll take your word for it. Not at all surprising given it's Alabama.

(01-03-2019 12:23 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:07 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  Remember, Oklahoma got blown out Alabama a lot worse than ND did by Clemson. The Clemson/ND game wasn't over until the last two minutes before halftime. Oklahoma was beaten halfway through the first quarter.

Don't let garbage time/letup points fool you.

31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

OU got within range and stayed there. Notre Dame didn't. To call it a worse loss is just ridiculous. It was a worse first quarter. It was the only game other than UGA that Alabama won by less than 22.

And Saban was nervous. I've never seen him get so upset during a game.
Makes me think he is getting close to retirement.

(01-03-2019 02:49 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 12:23 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

OU got within range and stayed there. Notre Dame didn't. To call it a worse loss is just ridiculous. It was a worse first quarter. It was the only game other than UGA that Alabama won by less than 22.

And Saban was nervous. I've never seen him get so upset during a game.
Makes me think he is getting close to retirement.

Oklahoma never got 'in range'. Eleven points down is in range of nothing. ND didn't trail by more than 6 points until 28 minutes into their game. OK was down by more than that 3 minutes into the game and never got closer.

Look, I know some hate Notre Dame but OK was easily blown out worse.

As for Saban, you must not watch much Alabama football. I've seen him get the most agonized look on his face, throw his headset to the ground and yell at whoever is around him when Alabama is ahead by 40 versus Louisiana Tech. Saban is always agonized and pissed off until the final whistle.

Alabama didn't have experience this year managing a huge early lead vs a *good* team. That can be tricky, because it is just plain natural for players to lose focus and start celebrating when they score early and often. That doesn't hurt you against Kent because Kent can't do anything.

(01-03-2019 03:51 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 02:49 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 12:23 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

OU got within range and stayed there. Notre Dame didn't. To call it a worse loss is just ridiculous. It was a worse first quarter. It was the only game other than UGA that Alabama won by less than 22.

And Saban was nervous. I've never seen him get so upset during a game.
Makes me think he is getting close to retirement.

Oklahoma never got 'in range'. Eleven points down is in range of nothing. ND didn't trail by more than 6 points until 28 minutes into their game. OK was down by more than that 3 minutes into the game and never got closer.

Look, I know some hate Notre Dame but OK was easily blown out worse.

As for Saban, you must not watch much Alabama football. I've seen him get the most agonized look on his face, throw his headset to the ground and yell at whoever is around him when Alabama is ahead by 40 versus Louisiana Tech. Saban is always agonized and pissed off until the final whistle.

Alabama didn't have experience this year managing a huge early lead vs a *good* team. That can be tricky, because it is just plain natural for players to lose focus and start celebrating when they score early and often. That doesn't hurt you against Kent because Kent can't do anything.

45-34 vs. 30-3. To say the latter is a closer game is absurd. OU has the best yards per play of any team in history. Their 4 TD drives against Alabama(!) were 2:35, 1:13, 2:03 and 4:35. 11 points in 5 minutes is nothing for them, let alone 15.

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:31 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 09:07 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 08:45 AM)Gamecock Wrote:  ND deserved to make it in

Should have been the 4th seed instead of Oklahoma though.

Remember, Oklahoma got blown out Alabama a lot worse than ND did by Clemson. The Clemson/ND game wasn't over until the last two minutes before halftime. Oklahoma was beaten halfway through the first quarter.

Don't let garbage time/letup points fool you.

31-20 going into the 4th quarter??? Over???

Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

1- Luck had very little to do with Baylor’s comeback vs TCU. Owning the line of scrimmage though did. Baylor ran it four times for a TD to start the rally, ran over TCU all game, and TCU couldn’t consistently run outside of one long carry. Baylor outgained TCU per Drive by around ten yards in a game with 17-19 possessions for each team. Baylor also threw for more yards than TCU gained.

2- If Bama took their foot off the gas why couldn’t they just start stopping OU from scoring on at least one of their final 6 drives? (Excluding the clock doing it for them before the half).

After the first quarter OU averaged 68 Yards per Drive and 5.67 points per drive. Allowing one or two scores is explainable but allowing six is ridiculous to try and explain away.

(01-03-2019 03:51 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 02:49 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 12:23 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 09:38 AM)NIU007 Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:25 AM)Scoochpooch1 Wrote:  Down 28-0 in 1Q??? Means you played great???

You're falling into the CFB media trap that coming back has anything to do with the resiliency of the losing team. Alabama took their foot off the gas.
Another thing that happens when a team is down 28 - the officiating changes. The NFL and CFB has learned a lot from watching the NBA manipulate games. Refs aren't going to call holding penalties, etc. The powers that be want a competitive game and the refs are there to ensure that.
If you are really watching often, check out how many comebacks they are each week. Even OSU almost lost yesterday. It really makes the game look stupid when the first 3Q don't matter at all and it's not worth tuning in until the 4Q. I remember Greenberg and Golic mentioning the same thing after Baylor's luckback against TCU in 2014. The "Basketball on Grass" version is getting ridiculous.

If you let your foot off the gas that early in the game and the other team comes back, you aren't that good. I'm sure a lot of teams do that to some extent, but letting your foot off the gas is not an excuse for being in a close game later on.

The orange bowl wad never close. Alabama had a double digit lead from about 8 minutes in onward. Once it was 14-0 there was zero doubt as to who would win.

OU got within range and stayed there. Notre Dame didn't. To call it a worse loss is just ridiculous. It was a worse first quarter. It was the only game other than UGA that Alabama won by less than 22.

And Saban was nervous. I've never seen him get so upset during a game.
Makes me think he is getting close to retirement.

Oklahoma never got 'in range'. Eleven points down is in range of nothing. ND didn't trail by more than 6 points until 28 minutes into their game. OK was down by more than that 3 minutes into the game and never got closer.

Look, I know some hate Notre Dame but OK was easily blown out worse.

As for Saban, you must not watch much Alabama football. I've seen him get the most agonized look on his face, throw his headset to the ground and yell at whoever is around him when Alabama is ahead by 40 versus Louisiana Tech. Saban is always agonized and pissed off until the final whistle.

Alabama didn't have experience this year managing a huge early lead vs a *good* team. That can be tricky, because it is just plain natural for players to lose focus and start celebrating when they score early and often. That doesn't hurt you against Kent because Kent can't do anything.

Each of the following points can all be true:

1- OU has a horrible defense that contributed to falling behind Early by a giant margin. This took their % chance to win the game down to the single digits

2- The game was a two possession game with over a quarter remaining. That’s plenty “in range” should they have lucked into a stop or two. Plenty of two score games turn he other way every week. Also OU was not stopped from scoring after the first quarter by anything other than the first half clock expiring after a 25 second 51 yard “drive”.

3- If it was all a matter of Bama losing focus they would have held OU scoreless on at least ONE real Drive in the final three quarters. They couldn’t do it. 2/3 of OU’s drives and every real drive after the first quarter ended in points.

4- Notre Dame was down 27 at the same point in time. Clemson pulled starters and Bama didn’t.


In no way was the Notre Dame game closer. It’s total margin at some point of the game might have gotten bigger but when it came to the start of the 4th quarter only one game was really winnable and it wasn’t ND’s.

My two prior posts are also beside the point-

Notre Dame, Oklahoma, UCF, Bama, and Clemson all finished the year having won their most recent game over their entire schedule. They all earned the right to be there. The only one to lose a game (OU) lost by 3 and beat that team worse in the rematch.

Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan? Each got blown out at least once and two of them lost twice. No justification for them.

(01-03-2019 01:23 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 11:57 AM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 10:07 AM)TopperCard Wrote:  No, they certainly deserved to be in the CFP. The only argument against it is they don't have to play a conference championship game. Make the playoff 8 teams, everyone has to be in a conference. Five P5 conference champions, auto-bid for best G5 champion, two at-larges.

I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

The dropped P5 Champ could be qualified as at-large if its rank is high enough. But if it is ranked outside top 20, it should not be in the CFP.

I know that it’s unusually popular on this forum to try to figure out ways to leave an “undeserving” P5 team out of the playoff for being ranked too low, but the practical reality is that the most likely reason why we would see an 8-team playoff in the first place is that the P5 commissioners and presidents get together to explicitly call for P5 champ auto-bids. That in and of itself is the most powerful economic reason for going to an 8-team playoff. The P5 champs need to be in the playoff without qualifications, committees, opinions or anything else entering into the equation. That’s pretty much the only thing that I believe will be mandatory in practicality if/when we have an 8-team playoff. Everything else (access for the G5, whether to use the bowls, the timing, etc.) are all on the periphery by comparison.

(01-03-2019 06:07 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:23 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 11:57 AM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 10:07 AM)TopperCard Wrote:  No, they certainly deserved to be in the CFP. The only argument against it is they don't have to play a conference championship game. Make the playoff 8 teams, everyone has to be in a conference. Five P5 conference champions, auto-bid for best G5 champion, two at-larges.

I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

The dropped P5 Champ could be qualified as at-large if its rank is high enough. But if it is ranked outside top 20, it should not be in the CFP.

I know that it’s unusually popular on this forum to try to figure out ways to leave an “undeserving” P5 team out of the playoff for being ranked too low, but the practical reality is that the most likely reason why we would see an 8-team playoff in the first place is that the P5 commissioners and presidents get together to explicitly call for P5 champ auto-bids. That in and of itself is the most powerful economic reason for going to an 8-team playoff. The P5 champs need to be in the playoff without qualifications, committees, opinions or anything else entering into the equation. That’s pretty much the only thing that I believe will be mandatory in practicality if/when we have an 8-team playoff. Everything else (access for the G5, whether to use the bowls, the timing, etc.) are all on the periphery by comparison.

Agreed.

(01-03-2019 10:17 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 06:07 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 01:23 PM)ArQ Wrote:  

(01-03-2019 11:57 AM)FloridaJag Wrote:  

(01-02-2019 12:38 PM)ArQ Wrote:  I would recommend four of five P5 conference champions (drop the one with the worst records), best ranking G5 team and three at-larges.

Would you not see the dropped P5 Champ as one ot the at-larges?

The dropped P5 Champ could be qualified as at-large if its rank is high enough. But if it is ranked outside top 20, it should not be in the CFP.

I know that it’s unusually popular on this forum to try to figure out ways to leave an “undeserving” P5 team out of the playoff for being ranked too low, but the practical reality is that the most likely reason why we would see an 8-team playoff in the first place is that the P5 commissioners and presidents get together to explicitly call for P5 champ auto-bids. That in and of itself is the most powerful economic reason for going to an 8-team playoff. The P5 champs need to be in the playoff without qualifications, committees, opinions or anything else entering into the equation. That’s pretty much the only thing that I believe will be mandatory in practicality if/when we have an 8-team playoff. Everything else (access for the G5, whether to use the bowls, the timing, etc.) are all on the periphery by comparison.

Agreed.

Absolutely, the presidents are answerable to their alumni. Most likely via the governor or state congress which select the trustees that select the college presidents.