2020 College Football Discussion and Pick 'Em Thread

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Auburn is #24, and Liberty is #25. My goodness. Trump willed this into existence for this last AP Poll as a non-lame duck president. A year ahead of his expected schedule too.

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Liberty has a 0.0 percent chance, and I like Liberty probably more than anyone. Major kudos if they somehow upset Virginia Tech, NC State and Coastal Carolina, but the other 129 teams all detest them, they are bad for the image of football and have zero historical prestige as a national football brand name program like BYU offers. They also have zero talent, and Alabama would beat them by triple digits, if they so desired.

It's insane to speak about hypotheticals like that when they have three games left as an underdog while BYU and Cincinnati each have but one 'toss-up' that they really ought to win.

BYU's schedule has been unbelievably bad. Zach Wilson was never an elite quarterback but he looks great against the second rate programs they scrounged up to fill up this season. I expect BSU to handle them, it's a classic trap game.

No doubt about how bad it is. Certainly wouldn't be surprised if Boise beats them (though even last year BYU handled them pretty easily with Romney at QB - neither team had their start - and despite bad 4Q).

However, they are still fifth in resume-adjusted strength of victory as Connelly noted in the headline article this morning so it's not like they aren't deserving though Cincinnati has been clearly better. Of course, they would get killed by Alabama or Ohio State in a semifinal, but so would just about every team, except perhaps Clemson. I certainly don't buy that Notre Dame is better. Or Oregon. Maaaaaybe Wisconsin.

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Heh, Boise is down a lot of players, don't feel too bad!

I think both BYU and Cincinnati are slightly better than Frost's UCF teams. And they aren't programs that came out of nowhere, they've been here for a century and have regularly had competitive seasons. Still fear the ND/Clem split, but it's not hard to see these elite teams being real top 5 contenders.

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WE DID IT! WE DID IT, FOLKS! WE MADE JIM HARBAUGH A LAME DUCK COACH!

Let's make his last two months memorable!

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Graham Harrell is well-positioned for a head coaching job, but he might be able to do even better than Utah State. Interesting sleeper might be Troy Taylor from Sacramento State who has a ridiculous first season turnaround for a program with no history. Get out before everyone graduates? Not that I have special insights.

Gary Andersen has got to be unemployable now lol. Leaving Wisconsin has got to be one of the worst decisions ever.

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Notre Dame unilaterally declares COVID-19 completely and totally over! Congratulations! Thank you Big Joe! The Catholics did it! We just needed you in office.

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I'm actually almost in complete agreement with NYE this week. Everything seems almost set. Probably flip Clemson and Notre Dame (since Clemson will have a conference title and the victory at neutral site at full strength) and swap out Liberty for Indiana (or potentially Wisconsin/Northwestern winner?). Big Ten will get two.

Also sort of doubt that the Cowboys have what it takes not to choke this year, but they are a fine Big XII placeholder given all the doubt). Still hoping for the Cyclones.

Poor Coastal and Marshall picked the wrong year to be an undefeated G5!

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Illinois has cancelled on the Buckeyes. Ohio State will now be ineligible for the Big Ten title game if either Michigan or Michigan State has to cancel one of their next two games. In other news, pressure mounting on Gretchen Whitmer to end all COVID restrictions.

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Illinois has cancelled on the Buckeyes. Ohio State will now be ineligible for the Big Ten title game if either Michigan or Michigan State has to cancel one of their next two games. In other news, pressure mounting on Gretchen Whitmer to end all COVID restrictions.

Unlike Wisconsin, Ohio State probably can get into the playoff anyways, if they remain undefeated.

5-0 Ohio State with just a TD win at home over Indiana or 9-0 Northwestern with a conference championship, a win over Wisconsin and likely a win over Indiana on a neutral site. Hmmmmm.

5 win Ohio is probably no higher than 6.

Sorry to Justin Fields, the most talented QB in the game.

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For all the hype about the first woman to play in a P5 game, we all overlooked the possibility that Vandy's offense won't get into field goal range

I was saying this all morning to temper my sister's lofty expectations. You just knew Vandy wouldn't allow her to be the first woman to score.

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Re-evaluate the Mormons. Can't be worse than the rest of the crop.

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I've long known Jamey Chadwell as one of the best coaches in the game (what he did at Charleston Southern, a school with significantly fewer resources and recruiting draws than nearly any D1 school, was nothing short of a miracle). But I truly thought the talent disparity between Coastal and BYU would be too much to overcome. Short turnaround and travel considerations aside, Coastal deserves to skyrocket if they finish this off - #12 at least and a New Year's At-Large.

I sure hope he sticks around because I adore the teal and black! One of my favorite FCS schools turned into an actually likable national sensation (unlike, say, Boise State). They have the resources to do it.

The Sun Belt was once the laughing stock of the FBS and now has four pretty ferocious programs. Plus Georgia State with its plenty of resources and Arkansas State usually doing ok. Can you believe James Madison turned them down!

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What a game! What a life! To live in this moment of human history! Of underdog excellence - How lucky are we! The chanticleer will not be waking us up tomorrow, even the rooster will need to sleep in after the night we are about to have. Cock-a-doodle-doo! Wake up, December the Fifth, Two Thousand and Twenty is just getting started.

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If BYU loses, they should fall out of the top 25. There's nothing about their resume that makes me think they would even be .500 in the SEC.

Honestly, the problem with a year like this is that rankings are close to impossible without much crossover between the conferences.  I suspect that a SEC team that goes 5-5 is actually a Top 25 team, but I have no way to prove that, as the SEC is existing in an insular universe this year.

The same issue happened in the MLB this year.  They made East, Central, and West pods that had no overlap.  The top 2 from each division go in automatically (fair), and then there were 2 wild cards in each league.  The Central pod happened to have the most parity of all the pods (plus a few absolutely terrible teams), so the Central divisions claimed 3 of the 4 wild cards.  So, the Central got 7 teams in, the East got 4, and the West got 5.  The Central teams went on to go 0-7 in the first round of the playoffs.  If I were a team in the East or West who just missed the playoffs, I would be pointing out that fact (the counterpoint is that they expanded the playoffs, so those same teams would have missed in a normal year).

A) I've always said that the non-conference games could never go away for this very reason. Big fanbases aren't going to put up with losing seasons where they can't even be hopeful of getting to .500 (which usually means only needing 2-6 or 3-5 in conference).

B) This is an excuse. The SEC in 2020 is pretty weak. You have blind homer goggles on. I love taking pride in the SEC being the best conference, and it still is (though I think the Big Ten is way deeper, there is just more parity), but it is way down from its peak. Georgia's resume is not particularly impressive in any way either. A&M and UGA are both getting overrated this year just by being members of the conference.

Missouri is not top 25 for good reason. Because Kentucky, Vandy and South Carolina are three free wins.

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There is no serious Heisman contender that we can look back upon for this season. Trask is the only choice among the media annointed candidates. I'd probably offer a vote to Devonta Smith if it weren't such a close race amongst mediocrity.

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There is no serious Heisman contender that we can look back upon for this season. Trask is the only choice among the media annointed candidates. I'd probably offer a vote to Devonta Smith if it weren't such a close race amongst mediocrity.

Justin Fields is the best player in college football. He's getting screwed by tOSUs scheduling woes.

1000 percent agree. He's an iconic talent. There's only been a few mistakes this year, certainly significantly less than Lawrence. He might be the first offensive player on OSU that I've ever liked.

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Not a huge Auburn fan, but I don't see Hugh Freeze working out at a "Near Blue Blood" program. I really thought this was Napier's big shot (after South Carolina was similarly tailor-made for him...) I think this is going to be an ugly marriage if it goes through. At least keep your program respectable 'til Saban leaves the state so you can take the big leap...

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This committee is so backwards. No other sport is living in such a comparable Stone Age. Can we get literally anyone who understands advanced metrics beyond H2H win placement? Florida is good but they literally can't fall because they beat Georgia and Georgia won? Georgia should be much, much lower, right ahead of BYU.

Agree that Iowa is better than Iowa State (slightly). Even if you can't necessarily rank them that way, they should be close.

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People are seriously picking Illinois over Penn State?

I mean, I don't know ... both suck, haha.  However, I certainly wouldn't pick the Coachless Illini over PSU on the road.

Penn State had a horrendous start, but isn't a bad team and look to have turned the corner. Losing to Ohio State was expected, and in retrospect, losing to Indiana and Iowa wasn't that bad. I'd put Penn State in the middle of the Big Ten pack, and I'd put Illinois at the bottom only maybe ahead of Rutgers.

And they really did beat Indiana, much as I (and surely you!) hate to admit it. The call simply couldn't be overturned, and they had a 99.9% in-game win probability and a 95% post-game win probability (revenge for last year's 27% post-game probability in a game they stole from the Hoosiers). They also dominated Nebraska in a game they lost and even outgained Maryland. Just extremely poor luck.

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I have always dreamed about championship weekend pairings across divisions for entire conferences. Shame COVID is killing it but I hope the Big Ten and others keep this under consideration going forward. An even better reward than most bowl games.

Everyone deserves to have a "Best 7th place game I've ever been a part of"

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I have always dreamed about championship weekend pairings across divisions for entire conferences. Shame COVID is killing it but I hope the Big Ten and others keep this under consideration going forward. An even better reward than most bowl games.

Everyone deserves to have a "Best 7th place game I've ever been a part of"

There's no doubt that Nebraska-Rutgers is the game the nation's been waiting for.

My hometown seems hyped. Finally a chance to prove that Jersey Fresh isn't just a marketing slogan to make people forget about our polluting factories. Our agricultural output can go toe-to-toe with even the best.

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Five times in six years we have to deal with this playoff match-up. Thanks, I hate it here.

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The only good thing about an eight team playoff is for long term recruiting purposes, incentivizing recruits to choose alternative schools. And even that is flimsy because most are choosing Alabama/Clemson for the superior coaching and the lack of playing time putting less wear on the body for the professional ranks.

I don't really want to watch any of those proposed games this year. I don't even want to watch the semifinals. This week decided it.

Texas A&M can't possibly get in. It would be a laughing stock. They are 14th in efficiency and 23rd in resume rank. (And 10th in the overly SEC generous FPI.) It's significantly worse than putting Cincinnati in and would end my faith in the process entirely.

The "correct" decision is probably Oklahoma, sadly. The reason for Notre Dame is defensible and probably what they will do because it's the easy decision. (Cincinnati barely defensible at all.) Doesn't matter, both will be blown out and will continue to be a CFP meme.

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I'd be ahead if Chip Kelly hadn't gone for 2 in 2 OT

Homer pick pays off!

The selection committee chose the most popular team over the team who earned it. Any team that makes it through the SEC with only 1 loss deserves to play for the title, period.

Getting blown out by 28 against Bama does not confer upon a team a right to get blown out by 28 against Bama again.

You could say literally the exact same thing about Faux Irish. The beat a depleted Clemson, got wrung out when they met again, and will likely have the floor wiped with them if they meet again (which they won't, they will also get blown out by Bama.)

The worst and most mind-numbingly stupid fan base in football is also one of the most numerous, so they keep getting invited to the playoffs despite being clearly inferior. F*** ND. I don't give a rat's ass about Texas A&M but they would have been a better choice, so was Cincinnati.

Doesn't Texas A&M literally have the largest fan base? Notre Dame has the most filthy casuals that don't even enjoy the sport, but I think most delusional fan bases like Alabama, Tennessee, Penn State, and TAMU are clearly worse since they live and breath this stuff and yet still have no clue.

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Portnoy was right this morning to tell the A&M girl that they should hope to be #5 so they can say "coulda shoulda woulda" forever instead of facing the consequences. Gifted the single worst team in a New Years Six bowl. If they can't beat UNC, that would be a mighty stain on the SEC.

The whole nation ought to be praying for Cincinnati to end up perfect. Cincinnati-Georgia is obviously the same to be most geared up for outside of the title. Georgia legitimately became a decent team near the end of the year.