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Personally I think the committee got it right and I disagree both with those who claim TCU / Baylor got snubbed AND with those who say the weekly rankings were a sham.
The committee had already mentioned the difference between TCU, Baylor and Ohio State was minimal. And if you look at what teams 3-6 did on the final week of the season, this is what you get:
3. TCU: A victory against a weak and unranked Iowa State (11th win).
4. Florida State: Wins conference championship game against a highly ranked Georgia Tech (13th win)
5. Ohio State: Wins a conference championship by drubbing a highly ranked Wisconsin (12th win).
6. Baylor: A victory against a very highly ranked Kansas State (11th win).
To me it's very clear Baylor had to be ranked ahead of TCU after they both played a complete schedule. The Big12 conference itself declared both teams co-champions, so as far as the conference is concerned, both are equally good. But the difference is Baylor did beat TCU, so Baylor had to be ranked ahead of TCU.
Ohio State has a record of 12-1 vs 11-1 of both TCU and Baylor. That's one extra victory (and one extra chance to lose) and not in some random game against a weak team. That extra win came after dominating a highly ranked Wisconsin team in a conference championship game. If either TCU or Baylor had also earned a 12th win against a ranked team, then things would be much different. They have the Big12 to blame for this.
TCU might have been ranked ahead of Florida State, Baylor and Ohio State last week. But since then, Ohio State, Florida State and Baylor have added much more significant things to their resume than a win against lowly Iowa State. And since the committee had already mentioned these teams were all very close, I don't see anything wrong or inconsistent with the final rankings.
The committee didn't get it "right" or "wrong. " As long as there are 1 loss teams from major conferences that outnumber the number of "spots" available..its a crapshoot. How in hell can anybody know if Baylor or TCU could match up with Ohio State or Alabama or Florida St. when they don't play each other? Playoff needs to be expanded to 8..at least then 2 loss teams will be left out and for those teams we can say ..that's too bad.
Maybe they should have gone with 8 teams right away. That way you could have had the champion of each major conference, and then a couple of other great teams. Four is just too few.
Neither earned their way into the playoffs. Baylor beat TCU therefore head to head TCU was a goner. Baylor lost to West Virginia and had a couple close calls themselves and a weak out of conference schedule.
Neither earned their way into the playoffs. Baylor beat TCU therefore head to head TCU was a goner. Baylor lost to West Virginia and had a couple close calls themselves and a weak out of conference schedule.
Neither are the top best 4 teams in the country.
Same case can be made for 3 of the 4 who are in with that logic...
Same case can be made for 3 of the 4 who are in with that logic...
Not.
Look at the metrics used.
Did the team improve during the year? Alabama, Oregon and Ohio St did. Fla St did not.
Strength of schedule.
Without looking right now and going by memory, Oh St had the 46th hardest schedule while TCU and Baylor we both around 100 range. Alabama we all know had the worst schedule by far. Oregon I think was in the 30s if I remember.
Conference champs. All final 4 won their conferences. TCU and Baylor and that conference needs the B10 academic brains to tell them they should have changed this last year when the playoff was added.
Baylor beat TCU head to head, TCU is a goner with this alone.
Baylor got beat by West Virginia who at the time was not ranked if I remember at all.
Baylor had not improved from that loss.
All 4 teams who made it had lots of plus items on their side. TCU and Baylor did not.
Then Oh St goes in and blows out No.8 Wisconsin 59-0. With a third string QB.
Shut them out. With the nations best running back held to 43 yards. A Heisman finalist and will go 1st round in the NFL.
If anyone should have been left out it would be Fla St for me, but hard to leave someone out who won 28 games in a row even if they should have 4 losses this year they were a wiser choice then Baylor or TCU who is playing in a weak conference with the best teams like Oklahoma and Texas going down hill fast. Now Okla fans want to leave the B12 because they know they cannot win it with Baylor and TCU getting all the better players now. Oklahoma would not win any of the power 5 conferences right now, they need to stay where they are.
Did the team improve during the year? Alabama, Oregon and Ohio St did. Fla St did not.
Strength of schedule.
Without looking right now and going by memory, Oh St had the 46th hardest schedule while TCU and Baylor we both around 100 range. Alabama we all know had the worst schedule by far. Oregon I think was in the 30s if I remember.
Conference champs. All final 4 won their conferences. TCU and Baylor and that conference needs the B10 academic brains to tell them they should have changed this last year when the playoff was added.
Baylor beat TCU head to head, TCU is a goner with this alone.
Baylor got beat by West Virginia who at the time was not ranked if I remember at all.
Baylor had not improved from that loss.
All 4 teams who made it had lots of plus items on their side. TCU and Baylor did not.
Then Oh St goes in and blows out No.8 Wisconsin 59-0. With a third string QB.
Shut them out. With the nations best running back held to 43 yards. A Heisman finalist and will go 1st round in the NFL.
If anyone should have been left out it would be Fla St for me, but hard to leave someone out who won 28 games in a row even if they should have 4 losses this year they were a wiser choice then Baylor or TCU who is playing in a weak conference with the best teams like Oklahoma and Texas going down hill fast. Now Okla fans want to leave the B12 because they know they cannot win it with Baylor and TCU getting all the better players now. Oklahoma would not win any of the power 5 conferences right now, they need to stay where they are.
That's a lot of hot air and bias. You'd make a great SportsCenter analyst...
The bottom line is, you said that neither TCU or Baylor deserved to be in the top 4. Why? Because basically, they both lost a game. Bama lost a game to a team we're going to play in the Peach Bowl, Oregon lost a game at home, Ohio State lost to a 6-6 team, but they're worthy of being top 4 and TCU and Baylor aren't?
Neither earned their way into the playoffs. Baylor beat TCU therefore head to head TCU was a goner. Baylor lost to West Virginia and had a couple close calls themselves and a weak out of conference schedule.
I must because I picked 2 of the final four before the season started as posted here in CD.
And according to the head of the committee Jeff Long who said " Ohio State earned their way into the fourth spot".
Therefore TCU and Baylor did not.
TCU and Baylor can cry a river but they did not earn a spot in the final four because 1. Baylor beat TCU which took out TCU head to head. 2. Baylor got beat by W Virginia 41-27 and West Virgina ended the season 7-5 and ended up in 6th place in their own conference.
According the the committee both TCU and Baylor did not improve during the year and neither had the conference champions on their name, co champs hurt them and they were not smart enough to change this once the 4 team playoff was announced last year.
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