Should playoff teams be expanded?

[Brutus Buckeye]

What was the last SEC power to be "out of the race" after a singular loss?

[rolltidefan]

What was the last SEC power to be "out of the race" after a singular loss?

2013 alabama (kick 6 game), though it was replaced by the victor in that game, another sec team (au)

[Cincydawg]

Still, congrats to Georgia for heading to the West Coast for the first time since JFK was walking on Earth.

UGA played this year on the west coast, and played Arizona State fairly recently, which is close.

[Cincydawg]

If UGA will schedule UCLA, they'd schedule Wisconsin.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Yes, ADs have to factor in more things than "wouldn't it be cool?".  
A reason to travel to UCLA and not Wisconsin is in-your-neighborhood recruiting exposure.  The AD is supposed to put the HC in a position to be successful, just as the HC is supposed to put each player in a position to be successful.  The AD can tell the coach the trip to southern California is for the long-term success of the program.  The message a HC might get from the AD planning a trip to Madison in late November would be "F-you".  

[OrangeAfroMan]

What was the last SEC power to be "out of the race" after a singular loss?

Probably sometime before the 7 consecutive NCs?  I know in '94, Alabama's only loss was by 1 point to Florida in the SECCG.  Florida's loss @ FSU in '96 was damning at the time.  The Gators needed 3 unlikely things to happen to get the rematch (which they did, and won).  In 2001, two SEC teams headed for a showdown vs Miami lost out (Florida vs Tennessee, then Tennessee vs LSU in Atlanta).  In 2002, Georgia suffered its only loss to Florida in late October, and almost certainly would have been ranked above OSU, with all their unimpressive, close wins.  

[OrangeAfroMan]

As I was looking that up, there's an easy reason for the perceived SEC bias, guys.  We all know the SEC won 7 straight NCs...7 in 7 years.  You have to go back 60 years to find the last 7 Big Ten NCs.  Maybe that's why we get a pass.  Maybe it's wrong.  But maybe it's obvious.  Those 7 NCs in 7 years were by 4 different schools.  Now, the last ten years has obviously been all Bama, but what happened, happened.  

[Cincydawg]

Big Ten teams don't play many OOC games late in the year anyway.

UGA obviously is willing to schedule just about anybody, Wisconsin would be no different.  That would be a cool series IMHO.

I doubt playing in South Bend is going to help them with recruiting in the midwest any more than playing in Madison would, maybe a trifle?

What does help IMHO is playing more nationally significant games OOC.  I think a potential recruit would see that as more exciting than playing Tech and three pastries.

[betarhoalphadelta]

2013 alabama (kick 6 game), though it was replaced by the victor in that game, another sec team (au)

Probably sometime before the 7 consecutive NCs?  I know in '94, Alabama's only loss was by 1 point to Florida in the SECCG.  Florida's loss @ FSU in '96 was damning at the time.  The Gators needed 3 unlikely things to happen to get the rematch (which they did, and won).  In 2001, two SEC teams headed for a showdown vs Miami lost out (Florida vs Tennessee, then Tennessee vs LSU in Atlanta).  In 2002, Georgia suffered its only loss to Florida in late October, and almost certainly would have been ranked above OSU, with all their unimpressive, close wins.  

FYI, I think the question was in the current CFP era, when a singular loss would have immediately excluded an SEC team. Which isn't the most fair question, because obviously it hasn't kept them out. 
2013 was still BCS era, so it was top 2. Bama dropped to 4 in the AP after the Auburn loss, but then moved up to 3 ahead of MSU, who had just beaten then-#2 OSU to win the B1G. So in the CFP era, the loss to Auburn wouldn't have knocked them out. 
In 1994, Bama dropped from 3rd to 6th after losing in the SECCG. Florida actually only moved up to 5th, as they were 9-1-1. According to the AP, that would have given us a CFP of Nebraska, Penn St, Miami, and Colorado. 
In 1996, Florida only dropped from 2nd to 4th after that FSU loss, and recovered up to 3rd in the final pre-bowl rankings. So in the CFP era, that loss would not have knocked them out of the running. Oh, and of course this was back in the AP beauty pageant days, so despite entering bowl season as the #3 team and there being no BCS, they were put into what basically became the national championship game per the Bowl Alliance, as #2 ASU played in the Rose Bowl instead. So Florida got to rematch FSU and was named national champion after ASU lost in the Rose.

[rolltidefan]

you're right, limiting it to the cfp isn't really a fair question, especially when taking things into context.

one p5 conf (pac) has effectively eliminated themselves 80% of the time by way of producing only 1 presentable team in the 5 years. opening the door for all the other p5 conf to catch a break.

bama is also on one of the most impressive runs in cfb history, which happens to coincide with the introduction of the cfp. almost any team (and certainly any of the blue bloods) on a similar run from any p5 conf would be virtually in the same positions annually as bama is in.

if this were a 15-20+ year sample and sec was getting every benefit of the doubt over other confs, there'd be an argument. but the sample size is way to small and the context in which it happened leaves it at most inconclusive if not outright false.

having said that, bama is probably still the right answer for last 1-loss sec team left out in a probable cfp. just in 2008, not 1994. 2008 bama lone loss is to uf in seccg. uf is in at 1-loss sec champ, you also had 1 loss bigten champ psu, 1 loss pac champs usc, plus the 1-loss trifecta of co-champs from the bigxii (texas, ou and tt). that doesn't even include the undefeated utah (beat mich, ore st, tcu and byu) and undefeated boise (beat top 10 oregon in eugene and the epic 06 bowl win over ou was still pretty fresh).

[medinabuckeye1]

The issue remains the same. They need better non-conference wins. And they need at least two very good ones. And they need the good programs they play to go on to good seasons. And they need a very weak No. 4 seed. And they need a team that good. And even then, we’ll hear about how they haven’t played anyone in months.

The system will not allow for this without a particularly odd set of circumstances.

It does require some help but part of my objection to all the whining from UCF supporters is that they didn't even try.  
They KNEW when they made their OOC schedule that they would be playing eight conference games in a Mickey-Mouse conference such that, at best, no more than one or two would be against a ranked team and likely 16-25 at that.  Then they scheduled an OOC of:

• A Pitt team from the ACC that hasn't generally been very good lately
• An FCS team that isn't even a good FCS team (SCST)
• A UNC team from the ACC that hasn't generally been very good lately
• An FAU team from C-USA.  

They didn't even try.  The FCS opponent thing is bad when SEC teams do it but at least they play quality games in conference and most of them have at least one quality OOC game.  UCF's OOC, even if the UNC game hadn't been canceled, would have been bad even for a P5 team that actually played quality opposition in conference.  

When you play in a weak conference you have to make up for it OOC.  Like @Cincydawg said, tug on superman's cape a few times and see what happens.  

[betarhoalphadelta]

having said that, bama is probably still the right answer for last 1-loss sec team left out in a probable cfp. just in 2008, not 1994. 2008 bama lone loss is to uf in seccg. uf is in at 1-loss sec champ, you also had 1 loss bigten champ psu, 1 loss pac champs usc, plus the 1-loss trifecta of co-champs from the bigxii (texas, ou and tt). that doesn't even include the undefeated utah (beat mich, ore st, tcu and byu) and undefeated boise (beat top 10 oregon in eugene and the epic 06 bowl win over ou was still pretty fresh).

Are you sure, though? 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_rankings

After the CCGs that year, Texas was still 3rd and Bama was still 4th in the AP, Coaches, and BCS ranks. So fully two of the top 4 teams were 1-loss conference non-champions. By BCS ranks, USC was 5th, Utah 6th, PSU 8th, and Boise 9th. 
Now, I think the committee might have tried to avoid having two SEC and two B12 teams in the CFP, so perhaps you're right that they'd have found ways to make sure that other teams, such as 1-loss conference champions, got in. But I think it's hardly a slam dunk of a case. 

[rolltidefan]

Are you sure, though?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_NCAA_Division_I_FBS_football_rankings

After the CCGs that year, Texas was still 3rd and Bama was still 4th in the AP, Coaches, and BCS ranks. So fully two of the top 4 teams were 1-loss conference non-champions. By BCS ranks, USC was 5th, Utah 6th, PSU 8th, and Boise 9th.
Now, I think the committee might have tried to avoid having two SEC and two B12 teams in the CFP, so perhaps you're right that they'd have found ways to make sure that other teams, such as 1-loss conference champions, got in. But I think it's hardly a slam dunk of a case.

actually, i'd say slam dunk is a great analogy. almost 100%, but there's an off chance they clang it off the back iron and put bama in. it's so low and remote it's hardly worth mentioning, but it's a possibility.
first, texas was co-champ and had as much claim to it as ou (and tt for that matter). hell, they beat ou. i don't see anyway bama is in over usc AND psu AND Texas. remember, this is before bama's run of dominance and reputation was rebuilt.
bama's would be 5th for the same reason uga is 5 and osu 6th this year, because the committee (or polls then) conveniently doesn't have to worry about it. had it been a playoff spot up for grabs, i doubt very seriously uga is above osu. and same for bama.

[OrangeAfroMan]

if this were a 15-20+ year sample and sec was getting every benefit of the doubt over other confs, there'd be an argument. but the sample size is way to small and the context in which it happened leaves it at most inconclusive if not outright false.

This was my point about Georgia this year.  The committee wasn't going to include them because they were an SEC team, but because they were a Georgia team with Georgia's resume and Georgia's talent.