The Case For Wisconsin as National Champion

[Used 2 B Hu]

This just in: Wisconsin to be given 0.8 of a Championship

 

[batchaps4me]

Yep — we will see teams running from OOC games because it has cost teams in multiple years. OU is in without a loss to OSU last year and vice versa this year.

If you are a blue blood — you may as well sit back, play cupcakes and hope to win your conference, because you will get in. It is the 2nd tier teams who will have to try to schedule big OOC games to up their resume, but finding takers won’t be easy.

I am not sure about that. We played Clemson and the loss was not detrimental to our chances. IMHO the Oklahoma loss did not hurt OSU much, if any. If you are a current royalty team, you will get the benefit of the doubt with a loss. If you are not, it is the only way to gain the benefit of the doubt. Then factor in the money and recruiting and I believe that most teams will scramble for good OOC games, especially early in the season.

 

[7Samurai13]

LSU, Mississippi State, and ???

FSU is not a top 25 win.

And do you honestly think LSU or Miss State, especially the latter, are really that much tougher than Michigan or Iowa? Both overrated teams getting too much love from the committee because SEC.

Sorry I thought Fresno State was still ranked. I blame the hangover.

 

[Deep Creek]

No doubts on Clemson, Oklahoma and Auburn. IMHO that would have left Alabama and OSU for the fourth spot. I agree that OSU would have gotten in based on winning the CCG. I do not think that it would have been cut and dried, but the teams were close enough for that to factor into it. It would boil down to the quality of loss argument vs conference championship. Again, I would have no sympathy for who was left out because they both had their chance to get in.

This is the one and only reason I would agree to an expanded playoff. I say if they are that close, throw 'em all in there and let 'em settle it on the field. The old way it was settled via a bunch of national voters that may or may not have known what the hell they were talking about. Now it is settled by a pretty decent group of people in a room at a fancy ass hotel in Grapevine, TX. And they've done about as good as they could given how they are forced to split hairs. I'd still prefer it settled mano a mano.

 

[kburjr]

Re: Alabama's victory over FSU. Yes, they beat a full strength FSU. However, to assume that FSU would have stayed a Top 10 team is ludicrous. Was their starter(forget his name) worth 3-4 victories all by himself. They could have ended up a 4-5 loss team anyways as easily as a 1-2 loss team.

 

[Deep Creek]

Sorry I thought Fresno State was still ranked. I blame the hangover.

Tonight is the night you are supposed to hang one on...not last night.

Unless you are still young enough for two in a row!

 

[batchaps4me]

This is the one and only reason I would agree to an expanded playoff. I say if they are that close, throw 'em all in there and let 'em settle it on the field. The old way it was settled via a bunch of national voters that may or may not have known what the hell they were talking about. Now it is settled by a pretty decent group of people in a room at a fancy ass hotel in Grapevine, TX. And they've done about as good as they could given how they are forced to split hairs. I'd still prefer it settled mano a mano.

I agree. Make the 5 power conference champions automatic. Seed the teams 1-8 and lower rank goes on the road to the higher ranked teams home field.

 

[BigAppleBadger]

Depends — can we give the same suspension to anyone insinuating Wisconsin, who finished the year with a big win over.........Northwestern, should be in the CFP.

Wisconsin has played CFB for 128 years — there is a reason they’ve never won a National Title. It isn’t going to change anytime soon. You get recruits good enough to compete with anyone outside the top 10. You don’t get recruits to consistently beat legitimate top 10 teams.

It sucks to hear this, but the CFB is filled with teams that can be good, but will never win a national title — Wisconsin is one of those teams.

Says a sad Michigan fan. You guys have your all time win record, but weren't one of the Big Ten's five best teams this season.

And what you say is demonstrably false. Wisconsin was a TD away from the playoff this season, and they've been a score away from a NCG before. It's not that they didn't have the talent to beat Ohio State - they just needed Hornibrook to play more like last night and less like a turnover machine. They showed last night that they can beat teams with speed, too.

Clemson isn't a blue blood. Nor is FSU, really. They just built a program.

I honestly believe that if the B1G divisions stay as they are, Wisconsin will get a championship. They'll compete for the conference title every year.

 

[Moab]

Depends — can we give the same suspension to anyone insinuating Wisconsin, who finished the year with a big win over.........Northwestern, should be in the CFP.

Wisconsin has played CFB for 128 years — there is a reason they’ve never won a National Title. It isn’t going to change anytime soon. You get recruits good enough to compete with anyone outside the top 10. You don’t get recruits to consistently beat legitimate top 10 teams.

It sucks to hear this, but the CFB is filled with teams that can be good, but will never win a national title — Wisconsin is one of those teams.

WTF... are you really this fucking stupid?

 

[batchaps4me]

Re: Alabama's victory over FSU. Yes, they beat a full strength FSU. However, to assume that FSU would have stayed a Top 10 team is ludicrous. Was their starter(forget his name) worth 3-4 victories all by himself. They could have ended up a 4-5 loss team anyways as easily as a 1-2 loss team.

That is a legitimate argument. Francois is a good QB, but their O-line was horrible. But here is the thing, Wisconsin's schedule never allowed for a loss in the CCG and automatic playoff berth. Alabama scheduled and beat what was perceived as a top 5 team to start the season. Wisconsin did neither. TBH, I would have rather seen OSU or USC in the playoffs than a one loss non conference champ.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

While this is a fun exercise, I think most of us can agree its pretty meaningless. All Wisconsin did was beat another team who wasn't good enough to get into the playoffs or win their conference.

Had they been playing one of the four playoff teams, would we have seen the same result? Maybe not.

This still comes up every year, though. Such and such a team was left out, and we try to claim they should/shouldn't have been given a spot based on how they fared in their bowls.

It sucks, but the committee (and the television execs) wanted Bama-Clemson part 3, so that's what we get.

 

[broncosmitty]

So have they cancelled the playoffs yet?

 

[Smart]

Yes, it's not really that hard. Clemson beat Auburn, Miami, Virginia Tech, NC State who all finished ranked. And beat Louisville, Wake Forest, Boston College and South Carolina who all finished above .500 during the regular season.

Wisconsin beat Northwestern who finished ranked. And beat FAU, Iowa and Michigan as teams above .500. They beat 3 more ranked teams, and one more team against .500+ competition than Wisconsin did. If you want to blame something, blame the B1G west for sucking during the regular season.

Just out of curiousity, what about Wisconsin's performance seems to indicate we would have lost to Auburn, Miami, Virginia Tech, or NC State?

This seems to be my biggest beef. Again, I don't actually think Wisconsin deserves the title. But you seem to think that we should be adding certain amounts of points for good wins and deducting certain points for bad losses or something. And I think the question should be "based on their performance on the field, who do I think has shown to be the better team who would have had the better record had they played the same schedule."

When I look at Clemson, they are being rewarded for a bunch of okay wins. But Wisconsin would have beaten all of those "okay" teams that Clemson beat. Debatably, so would Penn State.

Wisconsin just beat Clemson's best win on their home field. I just hate this newfangled belief that the top-ranked team should be the one that manages to schedule enough okay teams to bolster their resume. The top team should be the best team based on performance on the field, not the one who managed to schedule the best*.

*This is especially true because there is not enough cross-conference play in the regular season to truly gauge the strength of various conferences. I think it's pretty clear that the B1G was underrated, as we're 6-1 versus the spread.

 

[batchaps4me]

Can't make a cut and dried argument to qualify for playoffs ... can't win conference .... claims Natty. You are more like Alabama than you know.

 

[Moab]

While this is a fun exercise, I think most of us can agree its pretty meaningless. All Wisconsin did was beat another team who wasn't good enough to get into the playoffs or win their conference.

Had they been playing one of the four playoff teams, would we have seen the same result? Maybe not.

This still comes up every year, though. Such and such a team was left out, and we try to claim they should/shouldn't have been given a spot based on how they fared in their bowls.

It sucks, but the committee (and the television execs) wanted Bama-Clemson part 3, so that's what we get.

These guys don't want logic, they want a box a tissues and agreeing with their lame thoughts

 

[Moab]

I do believe this is the key to the committee's decision. While Wisconsin didn't have a "bad loss", where are their any "good wins" on their resume? (Disclaimer: Some of the other teams may not have as good a win as we thought they were at the time, but still better than Wisconsin's.)

Let's look at all five teams wins through lenses other than those rose colored glasses of any of the five. Good wins are in bold from my unbaised point of view because I ain't got a dog in the fight.

Clemson's wins:Ken State, Auburn, @Louisville, BC, @VaTech, Wake Forest, GaTech, @NCState, Florida State, The Citadel, South Carolina, Miami

Oklahoma's wins: UTEP, @Ohio State, Tulane, @Baylor, Texas, @K-State, Texas Tech, @ Okla State, TCU, @Kansas, West Virginia, TCU

Georgia's wins: App State, @Notre Dame, Samford, Miss State, @Tennessee, @Vandy, Mizzou, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, @Ga Tech, Auburn

Alabama's wins: Fla State, Fresno State, Colo State, @Vandy, Ole Miss, @A&M, Arkie, Tenn, LSU, @Miss State, Mercer,

Wisconsin's wins: Utah State, FAU, @BYU, NW, @Nebraska, Purdue, Maryland, @Illinois, @Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, @Minnesota, Miami

The only common opponents I see between Wisconsin and the other four are tOSU and Miami.

Wisconsin lost to tOSU 27-21 on a neutral field and beat Miami 34-24 on Miami's home field...even if some claim it was a neutral site "The Orange Bowl".

Oklahoma beat tOSU 31-16 at the Horseshoe and Clemson beat Miami 38-3 on a neutral field so it is easy to sasy those two are more deserving than Wisky IMO. Now we are down to Georgia and Bama. Georgia has better wins...and probably even a better loss than Wisky IMO. Now we are down to Bama.

Wisconsin didn't have a quality win until the Orange Bowl. The only case I can see is to take Bama's place, not any of the other three. And it appears the CFP rewarded Bama for the FSU win more than any of Wisky's and considered the Auburn loss much better than Wisky's.

Wisconsin got screwed by their own conference via the unbalanced/division schedule, and screwed themselves with their own OOC schedule. The CFP committee didn't do it to them, the other two did.

I agree with this, but what about the losses???

 

[Deep Creek]

I agree. Make the 5 power conference champions automatic. Seed the teams 1-8 and lower rank goes on the road to the higher ranked teams home field.

I kind of look at this like the old Ben Franklin adage about our legal system, "That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer." I say "Better to allow 8 undeserving teams in the CFP than keep one deserving team out." But, that is just my opinion...what the hell do I know.

 

[batchaps4me]

*This is especially true because there is not enough cross-conference play in the regular season to truly gauge the strength of various conferences. I think it's pretty clear that the B1G was underrated, as we're 6-1 versus the spread.

I agree that the BiG was underrated. The lack of marquee OOC games lies directly on the heads of ADs. Especially coming off of a season like the Wisconsin had, I would think that playing a great matchup on kickoff week would be easy to achieve if the AD wants it.

 

[The Derski]

Penn State looked like the best team from the BIG yesterday.

Was it the part where they nearly blew a 3TD lead that impressed you the most?

 

[7Samurai13]

Tonight is the night you are supposed to hang one on...not last night.

Unless you are still young enough for two in a row!

Last night was supposed to be axe throwing and strippers but ended up just being strippers.