College Week 8 Whiteout Edition

[str8liner]

I'm worried about Michigan State next week. I don't think they're great but the Big Ten seems to always schedule this game after Penn State has a huge emotional game. As a result Penn State has played very flat against MSU in the last few years.

You saw Penn State's star potential but also saw their inexperience against Michigan. I don't think they will beat Ohio State this year. But if they can finish 11-1, that's one hell of a season.

The have the potential to beat MSU but like you said I wont be surprised if they lose. And #6 ranking this week is the high water mark for them IMO. No way are they better than the 5 teams in front of them. Still like you said they are light years ahead of where we thought they would be this year. Future is brite indeed.

 

[Stainless]

I thought Michigan looked like the better team and I could have never imagined thinking that after the way the game started.

 

[TDX27]

Looking at the schedules of the top Big 10 teams and Penn State seems to have the toughest schedule based on opposing teams records and current standings but that appears a bit deceiving. Minnesota has played no one and is at 6-0. I'm not sure if they've played an opponent with a winning record let alone a team near the top 25. Ohio State has only played Cincinnati who is now 6-1 but they have played no one other than Ohio State. Ohio States first test will be this weekend against Wisconsin. It will be interesting how this all will shake out but Penn State has 3 tough road games left against Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State. They have 2 easy games at home left. It still amazes me how the Big Ten put the three historically best teams in Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in the same division. The winner of the PSU vs OSU game will go to the championship game and have the inside track to a playoff spot if they can win the championship game. I still think that's a bit too much of an ask for the young Penn State team but you never know. This past game was Cliffords best dropping back and passing it.

 

[jitter77]

i didn't understand the shotgun kneel downs at the end. You are risking a bad snap and TO in a one score game. It's not like they needed the extra 3 seconds to run out the clock

 

[Vader]

I doubt Wisconsin beats OSU. I also doubt Georgia beats Bama or LSU. But that's not the point. The point is they are not on equal footing due to the undeniable bias toward the SEC. As i said, If Wisky somehow wins out, the only scenario they make the playoff is if they beat an undefeated Penn State.

Georgia needs no qualifiers. They need no help. They win and they are in.

Yes, ND should have been excluded in favor of Ohio State. My problem is that there's no consistent criteria. Notre Dams must get in because they are unbeaten. OK, then what about Central Florida. Well **** them, they can play in the who gives a **** bowl and shut up.

NOBODY thought ND was better than Ohio State last year. So are we going with best 4 or is there a some set criteria

Over the years of the BCS and now these playoffs, sometimes they say a conference title means everything. Next year it means nothing. They were penalizing the Big 12 for not playing a conference championship game. That was a huge deal. Then Bama doesn't win the SEC and doesn't play the championship but they get picked anyway, so then a conference championship game meant nothing.

This committee is all a farce. They pick the teams they want and just fill in the reasons afterward.

Again you're all over the place. Pick a lane. The idea that you would be ok with any scenario that didn't reward OSU is laughable. OSU plays in a conference that besides them hasn't won a championship in decades. You probably have to go back to the 80's to find a championship team from the big 10 other than OSU. So you want to reward them for playing in that conference? Please.

And then you go to Georgia vs. Wisconsin. Ok. You state that the only way Wisky gets in is if they beat Penn State? So you're ok with them making the playoffs if they don't beat Penn State? So if they lose to PS you want them to go to the playoffs with 2 losses? You're kidding right?

Also of course everyone thought OSU was better than ND... yea right. The same team that got beat by 29 points to an unranked team is better than an undefeated team. Please just stop. ND beat #14 Michigan by 7. They beat #7 Stanford by 21. They beat #12 Syracuse by 33. And again they didn't lose by 29 points to an unranked team. OSU also had to go to OT just to beat a horrible Maryland team by 1 point. They should have lost to Penn St. as well. So they weren't some dominant team that everyone was worried about playing.

BTW there is a reason why the SEC is seen as a better conference. Because they are a better conference. 2 years ago everyone bitched because 2 SEC teams made it to the playoffs. But it was ok because OU was going to destroy Georgia and show why they didn't belong... but what happened on the field? Yea, OU lost and Georgia almost beat Bama in the championship game. If not for changing QBs they do lose.

I remember in 2017 when OSU was selected. But at the same time Western Michigan was 13-0. Why not put them in? You didn't ***** about that. But when an SEC team goes in then it's time for South Florida. You talk about consistency but only when it helps a big 10 team.

The committee tries to pick the best 4 teams. They usually get it right. Last year nobody was beating Clemson. It's probably going to be that way this year too.

 

[bermudasteel]

I doubt Wisconsin beats OSU. I also doubt Georgia beats Bama or LSU. But that's not the point. The point is they are not on equal footing due to the undeniable bias toward the SEC. As i said, If Wisky somehow wins out, the only scenario they make the playoff is if they beat an undefeated Penn State.

Georgia needs no qualifiers. They need no help. They win and they are in.

Yes, ND should have been excluded in favor of Ohio State. My problem is that there's no consistent criteria. Notre Dams must get in because they are unbeaten. OK, then what about Central Florida. Well **** them, they can play in the who gives a **** bowl and shut up.

NOBODY thought ND was better than Ohio State last year. So are we going with best 4 or is there a some set criteria

Over the years of the BCS and now these playoffs, sometimes they say a conference title means everything. Next year it means nothing. They were penalizing the Big 12 for not playing a conference championship game. That was a huge deal. Then Bama doesn't win the SEC and doesn't play the championship but they get picked anyway, so then a conference championship game meant nothing.

This committee is all a farce. They pick the teams they want and just fill in the reasons afterward.

Yawn...

We're in a little trouble with Tua hurt. It'll be an interesting finish...

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[Sarge]

The SEC is a top heavy division lately. Right now it’s Alabama and LSU. Auburn and Florida look pretty good, but Georgia looks pretty average the last two weeks.

Aside from that, no team in that conference is scary at all.

I will concede that the SEC has the two best teams in college football, but I don’t see where the conference is so awesome. Pretty mediocre aside from 3-4 teams, like most conferences. But their best is better than every other conference’s best, no doubt.

Although, Clemson seems to be the SEC’s equal.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The SEC is a top heavy division lately. Right now it’s Alabama and LSU. Auburn and Florida look pretty good, but Georgia looks pretty average the last two weeks.

Aside from that, no team in that conference is scary at all.

I will concede that the SEC has the two best teams in college football, but I don’t see where the conference is so awesome. Pretty mediocre aside from 3-4 teams, like most conferences. But their best is better than every other conference’s best, no doubt.

Although, Clemson seems to be the SEC’s equal.

No, every team in the SEC is awesome and it's like playing an NFL schedule. If you say otherwise, you are just a hater.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Again you're all over the place. Pick a lane. The idea that you would be ok with any scenario that didn't reward OSU is laughable. OSU plays in a conference that besides them hasn't won a championship in decades. You probably have to go back to the 80's to find a championship team from the big 10 other than OSU. So you want to reward them for playing in that conference? Please.

And then you go to Georgia vs. Wisconsin. Ok. You state that the only way Wisky gets in is if they beat Penn State? So you're ok with them making the playoffs if they don't beat Penn State? So if they lose to PS you want them to go to the playoffs with 2 losses? You're kidding right?

Also of course everyone thought OSU was better than ND... yea right. The same team that got beat by 29 points to an unranked team is better than an undefeated team. Please just stop. ND beat #14 Michigan by 7. They beat #7 Stanford by 21. They beat #12 Syracuse by 33. And again they didn't lose by 29 points to an unranked team. OSU also had to go to OT just to beat a horrible Maryland team by 1 point. They should have lost to Penn St. as well. So they weren't some dominant team that everyone was worried about playing.

BTW there is a reason why the SEC is seen as a better conference. Because they are a better conference. 2 years ago everyone bitched because 2 SEC teams made it to the playoffs. But it was ok because OU was going to destroy Georgia and show why they didn't belong... but what happened on the field? Yea, OU lost and Georgia almost beat Bama in the championship game. If not for changing QBs they do lose.

I remember in 2017 when OSU was selected. But at the same time Western Michigan was 13-0. Why not put them in? You didn't ***** about that. But when an SEC team goes in then it's time for South Florida. You talk about consistency but only when it helps a big 10 team.

The committee tries to pick the best 4 teams. They usually get it right. Last year nobody was beating Clemson. It's probably going to be that way this year too.

It's the committee that's all over the place. I'm just pointing that out. One year they say they use the "eye test" and pick the best 4 teams. Other years they tell us there needs to be a championship game win or whatever other thing is convenient to sell the public on the 4 teams they picked.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

As much as I hate Harbawl, he out coached Franklin in the second half and Penn State wasn't making adjustments on either side of the ball. I live and breath Penn State football, but this team is far too inexperienced and the coaching staff seem to be a little lost on how to cover the gaps. Being honest, they're not the #7, soon to be the #6 team in the country.

In that same manner, Bama isn't the number 1 team. They haven't played a team with a winning record to date and they've struggled a bit in some areas. LSU is going to beat them up Nov 9th. Outside of LSU and Auburn, they have a cupcake schedule.

I think Penn State did make adjustments. They basically played prevent to protect the lead. It's not sexy but it did work. Michigan ate up a ton of clock on their drives.

The issue was the offense. I understand that Michigan is vulnerable to deep passes because they blitz so much but they could have run the ball more and still mixed in some deep shots.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I see all of this bashing of Clifford and here I thought it was one of his best games as a QB, not a runner. He threw 3 beautiful/perfect balls for TD's and one other great long throw. Other than that, the O sucked. The OL sucked. They couldn't run the ball. And, the play calling was atrocious. They threw a few long throws and that was the entire offense. They never tried quick passes over the middle where the blitzing LB was coming from on every damn play. The Michigan D blitzed on just about every play and had 7+ men in the box. I saw no adjustments made.

The D played well for one quarter and then was beat bad. They were afraid to go after Clifford. With the 21 point lead, they should have been t-ing off on him but started to sit back. When they did blitz, they still rarely even got near him.

None of this will work in 3 weeks at Ohio State. They have a trap game this week at Michigan State and then go to Minnesota to play another undefeated team. I'm really not sure what this team will do in those games but, they did get a big win last night - 2 in a row against top 20 teams. I didn't think they had a chance in the Big 10 this year but they are still right at the top of the heap with 4 games and then a potential title game to play. Who knows.

This team is young and should be even better next year. Definitely good to see them as competitive as they are right now.

I don't get the clifford bashing either. He missed some plays but these were not exactly high % throws they were calling for him. He was under a ton of pressure and kept his head. He's still just 7 starts into his career.

Look at all the starts Shea Patterson has and he was totally rattled by the pressure. It was only when PSU played more coverage and he had some time that he started to make some plays. He also had lots of short easy throws.

 

[Vader]

It's the committee that's all over the place. I'm just pointing that out. One year they say they use the "eye test" and pick the best 4 teams. Other years they tell us there needs to be a championship game win or whatever other thing is convenient to sell the public on the 4 teams they picked.

They shouldn't say anything. Just pick the best 4 teams and move on. If it were me I'd expand to 8 teams. If you can't get in the top 8 then tough.

 

[TDX27]

I don't get the clifford bashing either. He missed some plays but these were not exactly high % throws they were calling for him. He was under a ton of pressure and kept his head. He's still just 7 starts into his career.

Look at all the starts Shea Patterson has and he was totally rattled by the pressure. It was only when PSU played more coverage and he had some time that he started to make some plays. He also had lots of short easy throws.

I actually haven't like our offense to this point as I am not a fan of the option offense. However, I thought this was Clifford's best day as a pure passer and against a lot of pressure. Michigan blitzed on just about every play. We had no running game at all. Clifford making the correct reads on those long throws and then making beautiful throws was the reason we won the game.

 

[black and gold apex]

Still do not get Ohio State being moved up when they played a 1-4 team and a team that has not won in their division, as Oklahoma beat a five hundred team just as bad. A lot of love for a team that as of Friday the teams OSU played were 24-21. Penn State has played better teams and gets little notice.

 

[Stainless]

Still do not get Ohio State being moved up when they played a 1-4 team and a team that has not won in their division, as Oklahoma beat a five hundred team just as bad. A lot of love for a team that as of Friday the teams OSU played were 24-21. Penn State has played better teams and gets little notice.

Big Ten bias.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

They shouldn't say anything. Just pick the best 4 teams and move on. If it were me I'd expand to 8 teams. If you can't get in the top 8 then tough.

If they would just say we are picking the 4 teams we want and nothing else means ****, at least it would be honest. At least that would mean they didn't feel obligated to put in an unbeaten team if they really felt they were not good enough.

I feel that it should be conference champions only. That should be a firm rule. Of course there can be an exception where a "wildcard" could go over a champion if that champion is not raked in the top 10.

There are only 4 teams. College football has changed, There are a lot more good teams than years past. Especially now with the transfer portal, you are going to have kids who started a Bama or USC landing at Illinois. That's why Illinois beat Wisconsin. They have some big transfer kids that got healthy and made some plays.

We see how often wildcard teams and lower seed teams win in the NFL playoffs. It's good that the NFL insists on making division champs the higher seeds.

I just think it's impossible to really pick just 4 teams because as i said there just aren't enough common opponents to compare. If you are using a flawed system of just 4 teams, the best way is to pick 4 champions.

The benefit of that would also be a quick expansion to 6 or 8 teams because the SEC would not tolerate only have 1 team maximum. I suspect they'd push for an expansion real quick.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

Still do not get Ohio State being moved up when they played a 1-4 team and a team that has not won in their division, as Oklahoma beat a five hundred team just as bad. A lot of love for a team that as of Friday the teams OSU played were 24-21. Penn State has played better teams and gets little notice.

It's because Oklahoma's defense is still suspect. It's not helping them that Texas doesn't look like a huge win anymore with their defensive struggles. I also think lots of people aren't sold on Hurts at QB. Sure he looks great but everybody looks great in that Oklahoma offense. Landry Jones looked great in that offense. People remember Hurts looking average in the SEC.

Ohio State hasn't played anybody yet but that defense has a ton of blue chip talent. Justin Fields was the top QB recruit a few seasons ago and he has looked great. He hasn't been challenged yet, but he also hasn't looked bad yet unlike Hurts.

Oklahoma may have to go undefeated to get in the playoffs. Texas is not looking so great. They are Oklahoma's only big win. Every Big 12 team has at least 2 losses except Oklahoma and Baylor. They are both undefeated. Baylor probably won't stay unbeaten too much longer.

Oklahoma may end up playing Baylor a second time for the Championship. If that happens, it won't give them much of a bump if their best point is that they beat Baylor twice.

They need to be rooting against Oregon and Utah. They don't play each other in the regular season so they could end up meeting each other with 1 loss each. If that happens, they would probably both be top 8 teams by that point and a win in the championship would be a quality win that Oklahoma likely can't match.

If Oklahoma loses a game, they probably need help getting in.

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

I actually haven't like our offense to this point as I am not a fan of the option offense. However, I thought this was Clifford's best day as a pure passer and against a lot of pressure. Michigan blitzed on just about every play. We had no running game at all. Clifford making the correct reads on those long throws and then making beautiful throws was the reason we won the game.

I don't love the offense either but this is college football now. Even Bama is playing like that to some extent. It's why Harbaugh is trying to switch to more of that.

The whole point of option football is that it allows less talented teams to compete with more talented teams. Now you have option married with wide open passing. It means you don't have to recruit a bunch of linemen. You get yourself a decent QB and a couple playmakers at WR and you can win a bunch of games.

It's tough to defend and even tougher if you don't run an offense like that yourself. Bama has gotten beat more than a few times by some high powered RPO offenses. That's part of why they are doing it themselves now.

I think it's a pipe dream to think it will go back to I formations any time soon. So i've accepted that Penn State has to run this general concept.

My hope though is that as the recruiting keeps building quality depth, they have a stronger OL and can add more power running to the mix and rely less on splash plays.

In Franklin's presser he alluded to the fact that they missed a bunch of open deep shots vs Michigan. Not just missed throws, but plays where a guy was wide open but the pressure got to Clifford so he couldn't make the throw.

That's the double edged sword playing Michigan. They are literally DARING you to throw those deep balls and they are gambling that their pass rush will get the QB before he can throw it. I feel that's needlessly risky for a team with talent like Michigan.

I would have liked a few more runs, particularly runs with Cain, but they had to take deep shots.

I do expect this offense to evolve as CLifford gets batter and a WR besides Hamler emerges.

 

[Omar10213245]

Still do not get Ohio State being moved up when they played a 1-4 team and a team that has not won in their division, as Oklahoma beat a five hundred team just as bad. A lot of love for a team that as of Friday the teams OSU played were 24-21. Penn State has played better teams and gets little notice.

The Buckeyes are clearly a better team than Penn State, at least right now. If you cant see that, watch more football

 

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The Buckeyes are clearly a better team than Penn State, at least right now. If you cant see that, watch more football

i don’t think that was his point. The point was that if rankings go by what actually happens on the field, Penn State should be over OSU until they play because Penn State has some quality wins and OSU has played nobody so far.

I’d say if you go by actual wins and not looking ahead, it should probably be LSU 1 and Penn State 2 right now.

I would rank LSU 1 and Ohio State 2 right now. They are the 2 best teams I’ve seen play this year.

 

[Slash#10]

Another possible solution without expanding the playoffs, but incorporate more Power conference match ups in the regular season. Much like college basketball when they have the ACC vs Big Ten matchup. There should be a week or 2 dedicated to ACC vs. PAC 12,
SEC vs Big 10, Big East vs Big 12 etc... Then rotate the conference match ups every two years or something.

Would it be perfect, no, but it could be a factor on whose top team deserves to be in the 4 team playoff. It's not the end all be all. It's still a "strength of schedule" but it is also a "strength of conference".

Yes give me LSU vs PSU, OHIO STATE vs BAMA and UMICH vs AUBURN ect... week 2 or week 3 of regular season.



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[Vader]

Another possible solution without expanding the playoffs, but incorporate more Power conference match ups in the regular season. Much like college basketball when they have the ACC vs Big Ten matchup. There should be a week or 2 dedicated to ACC vs. PAC 12,
SEC vs Big 10, Big East vs Big 12 etc... Then rotate the conference match ups every two years or something.

Would it be perfect, no, but it could be a factor on whose top team deserves to be in the 4 team playoff. It's not the end all be all. It's still a "strength of schedule" but it is also a "strength of conference".

Yes give me LSU vs PSU, OHIO STATE vs BAMA and UMICH vs AUBURN ect... week 2 or week 3 of regular season.



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The problem with that is that the SEC and Big 10 have way too many teams to do that schedule. You wouldn't have Bama vs. OSU. You'd have Bama vs. Purdue and OSU vs. Vanderbilt. Same with the other conferences. Just too many teams.

If you expand to 8 that does away with 99.9% of the bitching. Take the winner of the 5 conferences and have 3 at large. I can't think of a year that I thought "If #9 had just made it they would have won". It generally comes down to the top 5-7 teams. With 8 that takes in every team with a real chance to win and then some. Some years you really only have 3-5 teams.

 

[Badcat]

They should move to a 16 team tournament and take away the scrub "non-Conference" games that no one is interested in. A 16 team tournament is 4 games. Can you imagine football being like NCAA Basketball in terms of hype and fanfare? It would be nuts!