2022 CFP Projections

No shade but beating Illinois isn't going to strengthen Michigan's resume. We saw Illinios true colors last week, losing to a struggling Michigan State team. Look, once you dive into these conferences you have some bad teams who are just going to acquire wins against other bad teams. The big ten uses this as a big smoke screen. Penn State is typically always going to win between 8-10 games they lose to Ohio State and (insert whoever is the flavor of the year - Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State). And they pile up wins vs. Rutgers, Purdue, Indiana, Nebraska and the rest of the doormats.
LOOKING ahead, Michigan SHOULD have scheduled a good team from another conference this season to offset the weakness of the league. Big ten teams can't let the league stand for itself.
That isn't true. Illinois is still ranked and currently will be the other side of the B1G Championship Game, so for now it still matters. If they lose to Purdue on Saturday, then they likely won't be ranked and then it won't matter. As you said, Michigan's non-conference schedule was bad, they need ranked wins and Illinois could give them another one.

Also to your second point about "diving into these conferences" - that is literally the definition of the ACC this year. Which is why Clemson should have never been ranked 4th and why they really ought to be lower than 10 currently.

But you could say that about any of these conferences because they're all so big. The SEC has Vanderbilt, Missouri and Florida in the East, and Auburn, Miss St and A&M in the West. It just so happens this year that the B1G is unusually down outside of Ohio St and Michigan. They've consistently been the 2nd best conference over the past 5+ years. They're 3 or maybe even 4 this year.

The only conference that doesn't have the ability to say they're beating up on the lesser teams in the conference is the Big 12, but that's because they all play one another. It's also why they almost never have an undefeated Champ at the end of the year.
 
LOOKING ahead, Michigan SHOULD have scheduled a good team from another conference this season to offset the weakness of the league. Big ten teams can't let the league stand for itself.
Look I know you only understand the absolute basic elements of college football but you do realize schedules are often made 10+ years out right? And a lot changes in 10 years? They were originally scheduled to play a home and home against UCLA this year and next but, again because a lot changes in 10 years, it didn’t happen.

Going forward Michigan plays Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and ND. Doing a 30 second Google search would have told you that. And guess what? Because things change, some of those games likely won’t happen and Michigan (and their respective opponent) will have to scramble to find a replacement who won’t be a top flight team because top flight teams have their schedules set for 10+ years.
 
Nah...take off your Buckeye rose colored glasses. Since 2006, the SEC has won 9 national championships by different programs. All the other teams in college football has won 4, including Clemson twice. Also, the SEC, year after year after year, puts more guys in the NFL than any other conference, and it's not close. It's not being a homer, it's pretty factual.

Look, if I just wanted to root for a team to win, I'd be a Buckeye fan, no shade to you guys. For the most part, you have 1-2 "big" games a year where you are only a single digit favorite. Most games are over by halftime, your offensive players rack up big numbers on inferior big ten defenses. The really funny part is when Buckeye fans crab about Clemson's schedule and weak conference??? Are you kidding me? Clemson and Ohio State are in the same situation, big fish in small ponds.
No, you just don’t understand anything about college football outside the big picture. The fact you still haven’t figured out how Penn State beat Auburn and your incessant need to point out what everyone here already knows (SEC is the best conference) solidifies that point.
 
And Drew Pyne is the QB at ND. Clifford is bad, but Pyne is another level of bad.
This is simple, basic knowledge for anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to college football. But 14Red only has a basic understanding of the big picture - i.e. SEC is the best conference. It’s why he feels the need to repeat it every 5-6 days, it’s the only thing about the sport he understands.
 
Is this what ND fans have been relegated to? Moral victories? Proud they hung around for awhile? Man, AEW you have fallen far
I’m not proud of it, just stating a fact since everyone here likes to gang up on Notre Dame and act like they’re not a good team even though there was significant begrudging respect toward Notre Dame after they played Ohio State.

In any event, it’s all water under the bridge next September when Ohio State gets their south end bent over in South Bend.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I’m not proud of it, just stating a fact since everyone here likes to gang up on Notre Dame and act like they’re not a good team even though there was significant begrudging respect toward Notre Dame after they played Ohio State.

In any event, it’s all water under the bridge next September when Ohio State gets their south end bent over in South Bend.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
Well they lost to Marshall and Stanford so…..
 
Well they lost to Marshall and Stanford so…..
I consider those games to be ancient history. After all, if the committee’s willing to forget that Oregon got massacred by Georgia, LSU got destroyed at home by Tennessee, and Penn State is still considered Top 15 despite zero relevant wins, then I’m going to overlook underperformances while breaking in a backup QB under a first-year HC.

It’s OK, Notre Dame isn’t Top 4 this year, but I like the trajectory going forward and the fact that the team appears to show up ready to punch teams in the mouth in big games, which is already a contrast to the past decade.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I consider those games to be ancient history. After all, if the committee’s willing to forget that Oregon got massacred by Georgia, LSU got destroyed at home by Tennessee, and Penn State is still considered Top 15 despite zero relevant wins, then I’m going to overlook underperformances while breaking in a backup QB under a first-year HC.

It’s OK, Notre Dame isn’t Top 4 this year, but I like the trajectory going forward and the fact that the team appears to show up ready to punch teams in the mouth in big games, which is already a contrast to the past decade.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
Of course you consider them ancient history - I would too if I cheered for ND. But until this past weekend, ND has not given anyone outside of ND homers to think they were anything other than a bad team, hence why everyone here treated them like a bad team. Yes, they made a rebound after back to back losses to OSU and Marshall with good win at UNC but then proceeded to hang close with BYU and lose to Stanford. That resume, before the back to back wins @Cuse and against Clemson, is the resume of a bad team.
 
Why isn’t Caleb Williams getting more national pub for the Heisman? 28 TDs, 2 INT for a Top 10 team that is still in the hunt for a playoff spot seems like circumstances that would make the player the favorite or at least co-favorite.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
Of course you consider them ancient history - I would too if I cheered for ND. But until this past weekend, ND has not given anyone outside of ND homers to think they were anything other than a bad team, hence why everyone here treated them like a bad team. Yes, they made a rebound after back to back losses to OSU and Marshall with good win at UNC but then proceeded to hang close with BYU and lose to Stanford. That resume, before the back to back wins @Cuse and against Clemson, is the resume of a bad team.
Stole this from Joel Klatt's podcast:

Notre Dame is 3-3 outside the ACC this Year, with one win against a P5 team, being Cal who's in the bottom half of the Pac 12. The ACC is the worst of the P5 Conferences this year. Their other 3 wins are against the ACC - two of then being division leaders. So how good are Notre Dame and the ACC? We'll see over the next few weeks when ND plays USC and Clemson plays South Carolina.
 
Why isn’t Caleb Williams getting more national pub for the Heisman? 28 TDs, 2 INT for a Top 10 team that is still in the hunt for a playoff spot seems like circumstances that would make the player the favorite or at least co-favorite.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
No kidding. If my kid is a top 5 QB I steer him to Riley.
 
Stole this from Joel Klatt's podcast:

Notre Dame is 3-3 outside the ACC this Year, with one win against a P5 team, being Cal who's in the bottom half of the Pac 12. The ACC is the worst of the P5 Conferences this year. Their other 3 wins are against the ACC - two of then being division leaders. So how good are Notre Dame and the ACC? We'll see over the next few weeks when ND plays USC and Clemson plays South Carolina.
Klatt is right, the ACC is awful this season.

Notre Dame defense is solid. Notre Dame offense has improved since week one because Rees has been forced to run the ball more than ever before. I will admit that ND played as perfect a game as they could have against Clemson and I think it will be tough to replicate but confidence is a heckuva thing. The USC game will be interesting and a true measuring stick as to how far they have come since the Marshall game.

I'm a ND fan so I am more optimistic than most. ;)
 
Klatt is right, the ACC is awful this season.

Notre Dame defense is solid. Notre Dame offense has improved since week one because Rees has been forced to run the ball more than ever before. I will admit that ND played as perfect a game as they could have against Clemson and I think it will be tough to replicate but confidence is a heckuva thing. The USC game will be interesting and a true measuring stick as to how far they have come since the Marshall game.

I'm a ND fan so I am more optimistic than most. ;)
They’ll be able to move the ball against USC for sure. It’ll all come down to red zone execution. They need to convert more drives into TDs that night since holding USC’s offense in check will be tough.

USC losing Travis Dye last night to what appeared to be a serious knee or leg injury was a potentially big blow for them.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame has all of the Holy Trinity at its disposal in the run game, so Rees has to lean on them.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
They’ll be able to move the ball against USC for sure. It’ll all come down to red zone execution. They need to convert more drives into TDs that night since holding USC’s offense in check will be tough.

USC losing Travis Dye last night to what appeared to be a serious knee or leg injury was a potentially big blow for them.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame has all of the Holy Trinity at its disposal in the run game, so Rees has to lean on them.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
I know this is not the ND thread so I apologize to all of the golden dome haters.

The way ND dominated Clemson's front 7 was extremely impressive. Over the last 10-15 years ND has had some monster offensive lines and good backs and failed to ever establish the run game like they did last Saturday night, especially against a solid front 7. I think when most hear me talk about running the ball more I am referring to establishing a run game and not suggesting anyone needs to jump to a wishbone offense. It also allows the RBs and OL to develop a relationship in terms of speed and continuity of run plays. All teams that run the ball effectively, like traditional Wisconsin teams, run the ball far better at season's end than season's beginning for this reason. Not to mention it takes pressure away from the pass game and gives you far more ease in the ability to throw when you want to and not as much when you need to. It is football 101 and something that was always lost on Kelly.
 
I think it’s fair to say that going into today, Georgia, Ohio State and Tennessee are the three teams best positioned to be in the playoff. Assuming TCU and LSU take another loss before it’s all said and done, it’s time to look hard at the Pac 12 for a fourth team.

I’m still not sold on Oregon. They have that 49-3 matzo ball vs Georgia at the top of their resume. Not only that, they really got a favorable schedule in the Pac 12 where all their toughest opponents had to come to Autzen. They beat UCLA there. Washington and Utah go to Autzen tonight and next week. And they ducked USC. (See what I did there?)

USC is well positioned. They have the best loss of Pac 12 teams (43-42 at Utah in a thriller), they look like a dominant offense, and they get UCLA, Notre Dame and likely a Pac 12 title game to offer a late push to the committee. Now we’ll find out how good they really are.

UCLA is still hanging around with just the one loss at Oregon. Aside from next Saturday vs USC, they should be able to bank two more wins and need to beat USC to make it to Vegas.

It’s still possible that the actual best team of this bunch is Utah. They’re the only ones who beat USC. They’re the only ones who smoked Oregon State. They still only have one conference loss and I’m not sure they should be an underdog next week at Oregon. They might well still win the Pac 12 title.

What I personally want to see is Utah and USC both make it to Vegas, because I think they’re the two best Pac 12 teams and I want a rematch from their Salt Lake City game.

If you’re a fan of Michigan, Ohio State, TCU, Bama, LSU, etc., what you want to want to see is Utah beat Oregon; USC beat UCLA; Notre Dame beat USC; and then USC win the Pac 12 title. What you absolutely don’t want to see is a one-loss Pac 12 champion.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
If you're ranking the Pac 12 teams, it should go:
Oregon - undefeated in league play
UCLA - best loss of the group at Oregon, handled Utah
USC - lost by 1 at Utah, best win by 3 at Oregon St
Utah - only one with two losses, have that ugly loss to Florida in Week 1

Now luckily this conference will get to play itself out, Oregon has a tough matchup in Washington at home tonight, but then next week it's USC-UCLA and Oregon-Utah.
 
If you're ranking the Pac 12 teams, it should go:
Oregon - undefeated in league play
UCLA - best loss of the group at Oregon, handled Utah
USC - lost by 1 at Utah, best win by 3 at Oregon St
Utah - only one with two losses, have that ugly loss to Florida in Week 1

Now luckily this conference will get to play itself out, Oregon has a tough matchup in Washington at home tonight, but then next week it's USC-UCLA and Oregon-Utah.
There’s still a chance that Oregon State builds a dam and stops the Ducks from swimming toward the CFP. I might actually favor the Beavers in that game.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
Because the rankings aren't based on betting lines.
Not saying they should be exactly, but let’s not act like Texas is just randomly favored tonight. It’s because everyone sees weakness in TCU. Rewarding teams with a lofty ranking just because they haven’t lost yet is either lazy or suggests the committee doesn’t want to deal with any controversy.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
Not saying they should be exactly, but let’s not act like Texas is just randomly favored tonight. It’s because everyone sees weakness in TCU. Rewarding teams with a lofty ranking just because they haven’t lost yet is either lazy or suggests the committee doesn’t want to deal with any controversy.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
I disagree. The Big 12 isn't the Mountain West or even the American that you like to rag on, it's the 3rd or 4th best conference this season and likely the deepest conference top to bottom in the country. TCU has a top 5 SOR, they average 300 yards passing and 200 yards rushing a game and they're undefeated in a Power Conference. That's why they have the lofty ranking.
 
Sad piggies in Fayetteville this afternoon. Harold Perkins has been playing really well but what a breakout game for him for LSU. Just an absolute unstoppable force. BK clinches a divisional title in his first year with a Bama win at Ole Miss.
 
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