I am sure everyone knows by now the Final Four football teams are Michigan, Washington, Alabama, and Texas. In the first games Alabama will play Michigan and Washington will play Texas.
The Final Four teams can be argued forever and ever and it will be helped somewhat by adding teams but it won’t stop dissatisfied fans entirely. I am not going to go into all the possible scenarios for this year. This year, for instance, a strong case can be made that Florida State should have been there.
However, I still feel right now Georgia is the best team in the country and they didn’t make the finals. The other thing I have thought since way back is I have never been convinced that Conference Championship games should be considered. Just take into consideration the regular season. It may not be probable but it is possible a conference champion could have three or so losses.
Heartbreak was on the FBS playoff menu from the moment Georgia lost to Alabama. Looks like FSU would have been the odd team out even if Georgia had won.
I think the Big Ten will test the superconference theory pretty quickly. I could see 2 12-0 teams meeting in the conference championship on a regular basis, and there are several possible combinations that could result in 3 12-0 teams nearly every year, transferring the FSU-level heartbreak to the conference championship games. If the SEC sticks with an 8 game conference schedule, there are probably even more chances for having more than 2 undefeated teams. Can’t give up those late season breathers against Wofford and The Citadel, after all.
There is another possibility, that the Big Ten reverts to its cannibalistic behavior and has NO undefeated teams heading into the conference championship game, but a slew of 1-loss teams. The tiebreak rules will be lengthy.
I think FSU took it in the shorts as well. But, just to play devil’s advocate here there is talk every year about the final four teams and what they should be. There are those that believe the four teams should be the best four teams and not necessarily the four teams with the best record. If that criteria was truly used then Georgia should be in.
Actually, I really lean that way as it is possible, for instance, a 10-2 team might be a better team than some team with a 12-0 record. That would be determined by strength of schedule mostly. It is also possible to have more than four undefeated teams.
The point is with only four teams it is pretty much impossible to keep everyone happy. Heck, look at the NCAA basketball tournament. They take I believe 64 teams and there are still disgruntled fans and teams feeling they were overlooked. I understand there are a lot more basketball teams than football teams but the point is no matter how many teams get in it won’t satisfy everyone.
The 12 team FBS playoff format should allow quite a few 1 or 2 loss teams in, possibly even a 3 loss team if it wins a major conference championship. (Power-X)
My guess it’ll take 3 years before they decide they need to expand to 16 teams.