2018 Playoff Rankings

[Kris60]

When OSU lost to MSU, it was "that's the ONE game that you couldn't lose! It kept you out of the Ccg"

So this year the Buckeyes lose to 6-6 Purdue, and it's "you can't lose to a .500 team and expect to get it"

Okay? So you are allowed one loss, but it has to be to a team over .500, but not quite good enough to win the divisional tiebreaker? OSU played like two teams that fit that narrow qualification zone all season.

Balderdash. Had OSU lost to Penn St instead of Purdue, it no doubt would have been "you can't lose to one of the only good teams that you play and expect to get in!"

Essentially if you are in the Big Ten then you have to be able to navigate your schedule without tripping over any of the road apples, or else you will be buried behind a two-loss non-champion from the SEC.

Fine. If that's what has to happen, then cop up to it instead of hiding behind all these weasel arguments based on ever-changing goalposts.

I know as a Buckeye fan it probably feels like they are picking on Ohio St but if you look at each year individually there was valid reasons to leave them out each time.
There has been no single team that has caused the committee as many headaches as Ohio St because their good looks so good but their bad looks so bad.

[medinabuckeye1]

I know as a Buckeye fan it probably feels like they are picking on Ohio St but if you look at each year individually there was valid reasons to leave them out each time.

There has been no single team that has caused the committee as many headaches as Ohio St because their good looks so good but their bad looks so bad.

I also think it is important to remember that each year is different so a record that would easily get you in one year might leave you on the outside looking in another year.  
This isn't set up such that all teams over X get in.  If it were, we would have to have an adjustable playoff where one year it might be a simple CG and other years we might need quarterfinals and semifinals before the CG.  Years ago @ELA suggested just such a system.  It is a great idea in theory but in practice it would be a nightmare logistically.  Consequently, instead we have a fixed number of teams (4) and the committee selects the top four.  Eventually we'll  have a year where a 2-loss champ with a bad loss gets in.  Somebody above or in another similar thread said that they thought no team would ever get in with a 39 point loss like PSU's loss to M in 2016.  I disagree because there might be a year where, compared to the other contenders for the #4 spot, that isn't too bad.  It just wasn't THAT year.  
The same is true for Ohio State this year.  Generically, they were a 12-1 conference champion with a good-but-not-great SoS, one really strong win, a few pretty good wins, and one really bad loss.  This year that wasn't enough.  Next year it might be more than enough.  

[Cincydawg]

A 12-1 conference champ will make it in MOST years, as we have seen to date.  This year was highly unusual and had ND in the mix obviously.

I think that will be very rare going forward.

[Brutus Buckeye]

This year was highly unusual and had ND in the mix obviously.

I think that will be very rare going forward.

Notre Dame being in the mix won't be THAT rare going forward.
BK has had four 10+ win seasons since taking over (2010), and has reached at least 8 wins in every other season but one.

[Cincydawg]

ND won't always catch a schedule break, like say, next season.

[OrangeAfroMan]

@ Georgia, @ Michigan
I be they thought that @ Louisville was going to look better than it will when they signed on.  Oops.

[medinabuckeye1]

ND won't always catch a schedule break, like say, next season.

It is really an illustration of how powerful the CG's are in terms of their impact on SoS.  The 10 P5 CG participants were (final rank):

• #1 Bama
• #2 Clemson
• #4 Oklahoma
• #5 Georgia
• #6 Ohio State
• #9 Washington
• #15 Texas
• #17 Utah
• #22 Northwestern
• nr Pittsburgh

With the exception of Pittsburgh (and that was a rare case), any of the other nine would have been one of the toughest games played this year by Notre Dame (or any other team for that matter).  Based on Final Ranking:

• #1 Bama was UGA's highest ranked opponent
• #2 Clemson was Pitt's highest ranked opponent
• #4 Oklahoma was Texas' highest ranked opponent (repeat so tied for first I guess)
• #5 Georgia was Bama's highest ranked opponent.  
• #6 Ohio State was Northwestern's second highest ranked opponent
• #9 Washington was Utah's highest ranked opponent (repeat so tied for first)
• #15 Texas was Oklahoma's highest ranked opponent (repeat so tied for first)
• #17 Utah was Washington's second highest ranked opponent (repeat so tied for second)
• #22 Northwestern was Ohio State's third highest ranked opponent

If you schedule Florida State you expect a top-10 opponent that will buttress your SoS but sometimes you get this year's sub .500 team and your SoS suffers.  If you make your CG you almost always get a high-end opponent that helps your SoS.  Only Clemson and, to a lesser extent, Ohio State didn't get a major SoS boost from their CG's.