I don't think that you'd put an 8-4 USC team into the CFP over an 11-1 Iowa team, no.
But I think you'd not hesitate one bit to consider that Iowa team unworthy, to gloat when they get stomped in a CFP game, and to refer to the outcome with disgust, as you often do in these arguments with responses like "Ew" and "Gross".
I mean, doesn't this very reply above suggest that despite TCU actually winning a damn game, you view them as unworthy and don't think they should have been there at all?
- TCU: "Ew. Gross"
- Mid-majors: "Ew. Gross."
- 13-0 FSU who had lost their QB: "Ew. Gross."
- 2015 MSU who gets stomped: "Ew. Gross."
Who doesn't get your ire? The elite of the elite shiny helmet teams. Particularly if they're in the SEC. The teams that win. The teams that are double-digit favorites vs teams who had a great season, but not so much when context is taken into account.
The point is that it's all "eye test". And your "eye test" is going to be more dominated by talent/recruiting, which is dominated by helmet team status, which is another way of saying that if a non-elite team ever even gets into the playoff: "Ew. Gross."
Yeah, you might not take a team with STARZ who finished 8-4 and let them in. But that doesn't mean you ever want to see a team without STARZ because you think they just don't belong.
It's not about helmet at all. It's about talent, sure, but I actually care little about talent if it doesn't DO anything.
Individual players often are held in high esteem due to their "talent" - a la 40 time, ht/wt, peak performances....but who cares what his 40 time is if he averages 3.9 ypc??? Roger Staubach is worshipped as an all-time great, thanks to being a good scrambler (ie - Vince Young) and having a great season. No one mentions his follow-up season of putrid trash.
Same with teams.
Everyone worships 2001 Miami for all it's talent, but would the best team ever have a late scare @ unranked BC or a 2-point win vs VT? Maybe that was the most talented team ever, but if so, why was it at-risk of losing twice to non-elite teams?
2022 TCU had a great season with a nice, shiny record. And that's where my opinion of them is supposed to stop? Fuck that. You're saying I'm Captain Eye Test for the crime of looking deeper. Sorry/not sorry. 5 one-possession wins, none against great teams. Then the CCG loss.
News flash: that's not a great team.
Based on what they did. Not helmet. Not even eye test. Simply based on what happened on the field.
I haven't once mentioned how their preseason ranking of 7th by the Big XII media suggested limited talent on the roster. BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE TO. That's not what it's about. It's about looking deeper than W/L record. Oh, the humanity!!!
"Mid-Majors: Ew, gross" - again, this is simple and not the bastardized version in your head. Look at G5 results vs P5 programs. Done.
No, no G5 "deserves" any playoff spot, inclusion, or anything else of the sort. They have not earned it. Their schedules, collectively, are shit. End of story. Getting up for a 1-off big-time game is obviously easier than numerous landmines spaced throughout the season.
And something you didn't cite, but that I'm found guilty of in the court of herd mentality is that I'm not a slave to h2h. Ooops! There I go again, being crazy.
Except that many seem to hold h2h above the other 11 games. THAT'S crazy. In every (yes, every) single example of elite teams playing, the winner automatically has a worse loss. They may have the better win (in the game in question), but they BY DEFAULT have the worse loss. So when people say h2h should determine things when all else is equal.....ehhh, they're never really equal. Every 11-1 is different, some radically so. But it's quick-n-easy to look at the same record, shrug, and assume it's all equal.
It's lazy.
The people who do this are lazy. All of it. They're tasked with a job and are lazy at it. Not that they don't watch lots of football (which they happen to enjoy) or talk a lot about it (which they happen to enjoy). But they're lazy mentally. They form a lazy consensus and nod together, and say "job well done."
It's embarrassing.
