Bowl Selection Thread

I have a conspiracy theory on this…

Reminds me a lot of 2011 but with an additional twist. I think ESPN played a huge role in this to get an SEC school in.

But I think they also wanted to send FSU a message to leave the ACC.

This all seems super shady. ESPN has too much influence over this.

THIS 1000%. Was thinking exact same thing. Everyone should have seen this coming the week following the QBs broken leg when FSU dropped in ranking and the discussions pivoted to 'best team' rather than 'most deserving'. The committee has been waiting for them to lose a game but they didn't and thus gave them the nightmare scenario of being faced with leaving out an SEC team.

Once a QB1 goes down/out the season is over, right? I mean, there's no precedent for a QB2 to lead their team to a Cinderella ending...or is there? cough, cough... In 2017 it happened 2x !!! How quickly people forget.

2021 Stetson Bennett (UGA) - In second stint at UGA as 5th year Sr took over for JT Daniels; MVP and back to back Champ.
2018 Trevor Lawrence (Clem) - started after wk 4
2017 Tua Tagovailoa (Bama) - never started, but took over for Hurts in NCG. History repeated a month later by QB2 Nick Foles
2014 Cardale Jones (Ohio St) - QB3's first start was B1G CCG
1985 Jamelle Holieway (OU) - came in after Aikman went down

It even happens at the highest level...

Nick Foles (SB LII) - Philly's season was supposedly over when Wentz went down in Wk 14. Foles was SB MVP with win over Brady's Patriots and never has buy another cheesesteak the rest of his life.
Tom Brady (SB XXXVI) - the 6th round pick, whom was backup at Michigan, took over for Bledsoe in Wk2 and the rest is history; SB MVP
Trent Dilfer (SB XXXV) - Took over midway thru only season with Ravens and became SB MVP
Curt Warner (SB XXXIV) - bending the rules here but all believed season was lost when Trent Green went down and Rams named the former grocery store worker QB1; league MVP, SB MVP
Jeff Hostetler (SB XXV) - Took over for Sims in Wk 15; SB MVP. This sounds familiar...“I can still remember all the media experts out there saying that our season was over, there was no way that we could advance to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback like that,” said team president John Mara.
Doug Williams (SB XXII) - Became starter last two weeks of season; SB MVP
Jim Plunkett (SB XV) - Week 6 was still QB3 behind Pastorini and Wilson and became SB MVP
Terry Bradshaw (SB IX) - sat bench thru week 4
Earl Morrall (SB VII) - It wasn't Bob Griese that led the Dolphins to the undefeated season
Roger Staubach (SB VI) - took over midway thru season; SB MVP

Good thing my Eagles playoff run wasn't arbitrarily predetermined by a corrupt committee not held accountable with proper level of transparency. It's time to reintroduce the computers to decide who is in, and let the committee just rank them.

I have no love for FSU but I hope they beat Georgia and declare themselves National Champs.
 
I'm just still so hot over this I can't handle it. I was frustrated about the game, but I got over it pretty quickly. That at least was honest on the field competition.

This crap with FSU though!?!?! I always thought the system was biased toward a helmet sticker or conference. I always though it was unfair. Never did I think it was intentionally corrupt or rigged. That all changed yesterday. If they had the audacity to do something like this there is ZERO chance it was the first time. I'm questioning everything now. I'm looking back at 2011 and thinking that it HAD to have been rigged. Someone somewhere fiddled with the numbers to keep OSU out and put Bama in. No question in my mind anymore.
 
I'm just still so hot over this I can't handle it. I was frustrated about the game, but I got over it pretty quickly. That at least was honest on the field competition.

This crap with FSU though!?!?! I always thought the system was biased toward a helmet sticker or conference. I always though it was unfair. Never did I think it was intentionally corrupt or rigged. That all changed yesterday. If they had the audacity to do something like this there is ZERO chance it was the first time. I'm questioning everything now. I'm looking back at 2011 and thinking that it HAD to have been rigged. Someone somewhere fiddled with the numbers to keep OSU out and put Bama in. No question in my mind anymore.
For all the talk about the NIL and Transfer portal ruining the game....What really ruins it is this crap. If you are an FSU football player...why do you even care about playing in this stupid game against Georgia? If none of the other 13 Effing games mattered before why should this one matter? Other than pride or maybe NIL money, I'd recommend these guys all take a team trip to Cancun instead. Invite all of their fans to go w/ them and just drink Corona's on the beach for a week.

This is what... the 3rd time a major brand has to have strings pulled for it so that it can get in over a different team? Money and power and influence all decide who really gets in apparently and those games on Saturday are a distant 3rd or 4th. The whole thing is a sham.
 
@PokitN Better yet. Go. Do all the things. and then with the game actually gets here every and the game is about to start. Every single player on their team takes a knee. Maybe even just straight up walks off the field. Make a statement so loud that no one in college football can ignore it.
 
For all the talk about the NIL and Transfer portal ruining the game....What really ruins it is this crap. If you are an FSU football player...why do you even care about playing in this stupid game against Georgia? If none of the other 13 Effing games mattered before why should this one matter? Other than pride or maybe NIL money, I'd recommend these guys all take a team trip to Cancun instead. Invite all of their fans to go w/ them and just drink Corona's on the beach for a week.

This is what... the 3rd time a major brand has to have strings pulled for it so that it can get in over a different team? Money and power and influence all decide who really gets in apparently and those games on Saturday are a distant 3rd or 4th. The whole thing is a sham.
How do you leave FSU in the top 4 for weeks after Travis went down, then decide to drop them now?
 
I'm just still so hot over this I can't handle it. I was frustrated about the game, but I got over it pretty quickly. That at least was honest on the field competition.

This crap with FSU though!?!?! I always thought the system was biased toward a helmet sticker or conference. I always though it was unfair. Never did I think it was intentionally corrupt or rigged. That all changed yesterday. If they had the audacity to do something like this there is ZERO chance it was the first time. I'm questioning everything now. I'm looking back at 2011 and thinking that it HAD to have been rigged. Someone somewhere fiddled with the numbers to keep OSU out and put Bama in. No question in my mind anymore.
It has been ESPN every time. They push the reporting to create bias for the SEC with whom they are partners. $$$$$$$$ is what it’s all about.
 
It has been ESPN every time. They push the reporting to create bias for the SEC with whom they are partners. $$$$$$$$ is what it’s all about.
Yep, and it's why I cringe every year when people say the early season polls don't matter. Every year though the polls remain littered with SEC and B1G schools, which means they're either beating or losing to a ranked team. This helps further the narrative that conference X is always so loaded and so much tougher. And to be clear, I'm not talking about Bama and UGA here, but teams like A&M, Penn State.

Now you factor in ESPN's all in with the SEC and FOX has the B1G. Both networks are gonna shove those conferences down our throats moving forward.

Really unbelievable how good the Big 12 was less than 20 years ago compared to today. Just sad.
 
Now that there only 4 conferences and they get automatic bids no one should complain. Just consider your CCG a part of the playoffs. If you lose you have no complaint


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2 of the playoff teams shouldn't even be there. Michigan cheated this season and is somehow allowed to participate in the playoff and Alabama was the odd team out.

Maybe the PAC 12 remnants, the Big 12 and the ACC should just merge and create their own league. They would have more collective bargaining power and its not like we all are going to be included other than the absolute bare minimum in the 12 team playoff. It will be 4-5 SEC teams, 4-5 Big 10 teams, 1 token big 12 team, 1 token ACC team and a token G5. Mark my words.
 
2 of the playoff teams shouldn't even be there. Michigan cheated this season and is somehow allowed to participate in the playoff and Alabama was the odd team out.

Maybe the PAC 12 remnants, the Big 12 and the ACC should just merge and create their own league. They would have more collective bargaining power and its not like we all are going to be included other than the absolute bare minimum in the 12 team playoff. It will be 4-5 SEC teams, 4-5 Big 10 teams, 1 token big 12 team, 1 token ACC team and a token G5. Mark my words.
The only thing that's going to keep the last couple of weeks of the season compelling is going to be who's playing to get a first round bye.

We all have short memories too, and should have seen this coming. It was different members, but the Committee's just made $hit up on the spot in two notable instances before. What was it, 2014 when TCU & Baylor were #2 & #5 when they played for the Big 12 title only to have the Committee drop them both out and cite 'the 13th data point' as the reason? Then 2020 putting tosu in despite playing only 6 games.
 
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2 of the playoff teams shouldn't even be there. Michigan cheated this season and is somehow allowed to participate in the playoff and Alabama was the odd team out.

Maybe the PAC 12 remnants, the Big 12 and the ACC should just merge and create their own league. They would have more collective bargaining power and its not like we all are going to be included other than the absolute bare minimum in the 12 team playoff. It will be 4-5 SEC teams, 4-5 Big 10 teams, 1 token big 12 team, 1 token ACC team and a token G5. Mark my words.
I don't think they realize (or maybe they do and don't care) how much they have hurt the legitimacy of the sport.
 
2 of the playoff teams shouldn't even be there. Michigan cheated this season and is somehow allowed to participate in the playoff and Alabama was the odd team out.

Maybe the PAC 12 remnants, the Big 12 and the ACC should just merge and create their own league. They would have more collective bargaining power and its not like we all are going to be included other than the absolute bare minimum in the 12 team playoff. It will be 4-5 SEC teams, 4-5 Big 10 teams, 1 token big 12 team, 1 token ACC team and a token G5. Mark my words.
Spot on. I think you will see the drumbeat from FSU, Clemson and UNC get so loud at this point the ACC is in real danger of going through exactly what the PAC just did.

If you're any school that is not a bluest of the blue blood or already in the p2, you have to be looking out for yourself right now. And if I am Yormark, I am looking to create a league so big with so many votes/power that the BIG and SEC can't keep swinging their you know what's around.

Edit: the Northwestern's, Vanderbilts, Mississippi schools, Arkansas, Purdue, Rutgers, Indiana, Iowa's of the world are also in for an extremely rude awakening. Won't be very long before the "why are they getting the same amount as us" rhetoric starts in both p2 leagues and this time it won't just be Texas doing it.
 
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I don't think they realize (or maybe they do and don't care) how much they have hurt the legitimacy of the sport.

They DON"T. College football has turned over control to two conferences whose only aim is to make their take bigger and secure the largest advantages they possibly can, that message is clear. You're either in the club or you're out. There have always been programs who have more resources, tradition, etc... but that gap is rapidly increasing and it's hard to see it going any other direction.

Following the domination of the NFC for the decade of the 80's and into the 90's, the NFL realized they had a real problem and that parity was growing more non-existent. They were smart enough to understand that their product is better when there's parity, so they instituted the salary cap to complement the way the draft distributes talent. Just take a look at how many teams have played in Super Bowls over the last 30 years, and how widespread the interest is in the NFL today. Unfortunately college FB has no guiding authority, so here we are.
 
Yep, and it's why I cringe every year when people say the early season polls don't matter. Every year though the polls remain littered with SEC and B1G schools, which means they're either beating or losing to a ranked team. This helps further the narrative that conference X is always so loaded and so much tougher. And to be clear, I'm not talking about Bama and UGA here, but teams like A&M, Penn State.

Now you factor in ESPN's all in with the SEC and FOX has the B1G. Both networks are gonna shove those conferences down our throats moving forward.

Really unbelievable how good the Big 12 was less than 20 years ago compared to today. Just sad.

If the dominos fell slightly differently just a few times the Big 12 absolutely could have been in the position the SEC is in now. Go back to the 90s and early 2000s and the Big 12 WAS clearly better than the SEC. Yet the screwed it all up. They were not united when the SEC and Big Ten were. Though Texas was the biggest offender, it wasn't just Texas. It was also Nebraska, OU, and A&M thinking selfishly and independently rather than seeking to make the whole better and benefit from it that way.
 
I don't think they realize (or maybe they do and don't care) how much they have hurt the legitimacy of the sport.
THIS THIS THIS!!! They don't realize elsewise they wouldn't have done it. They think they can get away with it and it will blow over because they have almost certainly done it before. It has just never been this obvious.

Anyway, the reason this matters is because it kills fan interest. Look at 2011. Putting two SEC teams in killed the ratings. I fully expect a similar thing to happen this year. They are 100% driving down the road of killing interest in the sport we all love. If people think the system is rigged the will stop caring about it.
 
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