2025 College Football Thread

[USUC]

Back by popular demand, is my CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff. Every conference champion gets in. 7 at-large bids. I used Massey Ratings for selecting the at-large bids and for ranking and pairing the teams. First two rounds the lower seed hosts. Semi Finals and Finals are hosted at bowl locations. First Two Out are Miami and Alabama. Someone's always going to complain about worthy teams being left out or just not liking the playoff model. I enjoy doing this. If you don't like and disagree...then I hope you have a wonderful day.

CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff.png

I think this is better than the current system.

The problem today is ESPN. I really hope Fox wins the next round of playoff rights. The SEC is arrogant of course and want all the spots, but ESPN is just flat out giving us a terrible product with terrible justifications for their product. It's gross.

[Moliere]

Back by popular demand, is my CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff. Every conference champion gets in. 7 at-large bids. I used Massey Ratings for selecting the at-large bids and for ranking and pairing the teams. First two rounds the lower seed hosts. Semi Finals and Finals are hosted at bowl locations. First Two Out are Miami and Alabama. Someone's always going to complain about worthy teams being left out or just not liking the playoff model. I enjoy doing this. If you don't like and disagree...then I hope you have a wonderful day.

CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff.png

This feels right to me. Reward conference champs. Make it so Cinderella can be a fator while giving top seeds an easier opponent.

[Pelado]

Follow the money. ESPN has full rights to the CFP...and SEC...and ACC. ESPN has been banging the drum of Miami passing up Notre Dame since the first weekly rankings reveal. And the committee kept ranking Notre Dame ahead of Miami until...Duke won the ACC, shutting the ACC off from the automatic bids.

My guess is that the committee felt (for whatever reason) that they had to have ACC representation in the playoff. Thus Miami moving ahead of Notre Dame on a week when neither of them played. The only opponent of either that played was Boise State (who Notre Dame beat earlier in the season) winning the Mountain West over UNLV, which - if anything - should have improved Notre Dame's standing.

I think the committee would have kept Notre Dame ahead of Miami IF Virginia had won the ACC and gotten the automatic bid to the CFP for the ACC.

ESPN cares a lot more about their (exclusive) ACC and SEC contracts than it does its (split) Big 12 contract.

This is the second consecutive year BYU has lost out to an ACC team. Last year, head-to-head didn't matter because the game against SMU was SO early in the season and the Mustangs were SO much better by the end. Different argument this year with respect to Notre Dame and Miami.

The SEC harped all offseason about the strength of record being the most important metric. And the committee seemingly relied on that metric quite extensively, except as it relates to BYU.

There are definitely arguments for Alabama (in spite of losing by two touchdowns to 5-7 Florida State) and Miami (in spite of losing to two unranked teams) deserving to be in the playoff instead of BYU. It's just frustrating that they seemingly pick the teams first, and then pick the arguments.

This season in football feels a lot like most basketball seasons in the WCC. Can't get the automatic bid because you're not good enough to beat the #1 team in the nation in the conference tournament. But the basketball selection seems much more based on what the teams actually did on the court.

Sorry for the extended rant. Just needed to get that off my chest.

[wally]

Back by popular demand, is my CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff. Every conference champion gets in. 7 at-large bids. I used Massey Ratings for selecting the at-large bids and for ranking and pairing the teams. First two rounds the lower seed hosts. Semi Finals and Finals are hosted at bowl locations. First Two Out are Miami and Alabama. Someone's always going to complain about worthy teams being left out or just not liking the playoff model. I enjoy doing this. If you don't like and disagree...then I hope you have a wonderful day.

CFB 2025 16 Team Playoff.png

No Utah, huh. well I hope your imaginary friend dies.

[UVACoug]

Follow the money. ESPN has full rights to the CFP...and SEC...and ACC. ESPN has been banging the drum of Miami passing up Notre Dame since the first weekly rankings reveal. And the committee kept ranking Notre Dame ahead of Miami until...Duke won the ACC, shutting the ACC off from the automatic bids.

My guess is that the committee felt (for whatever reason) that they had to have ACC representation in the playoff. Thus Miami moving ahead of Notre Dame on a week when neither of them played. The only opponent of either that played was Boise State (who Notre Dame beat earlier in the season) winning the Mountain West over UNLV, which - if anything - should have improved Notre Dame's standing.

I think the committee would have kept Notre Dame ahead of Miami IF Virginia had won the ACC and gotten the automatic bid to the CFP for the ACC.

ESPN cares a lot more about their (exclusive) ACC and SEC contracts than it does its (split) Big 12 contract.

This is the second consecutive year BYU has lost out to an ACC team. Last year, head-to-head didn't matter because the game against SMU was SO early in the season and the Mustangs were SO much better by the end. Different argument this year with respect to Notre Dame and Miami.

The SEC harped all offseason about the strength of record being the most important metric. And the committee seemingly relied on that metric quite extensively, except as it relates to BYU.

There are definitely arguments for Alabama (in spite of losing by two touchdowns to 5-7 Florida State) and Miami (in spite of losing to two unranked teams) deserving to be in the playoff instead of BYU. It's just frustrating that they seemingly pick the teams first, and then pick the arguments.

This season in football feels a lot like most basketball seasons in the WCC. Can't get the automatic bid because you're not good enough to beat the #1 team in the nation in the conference tournament. But the basketball selection seems much more based on what the teams actually did on the court.

Sorry for the extended rant. Just needed to get that off my chest.

Miami jumped four teams with the same or better record that did not lose in the week Miami moved up: Georgia Tech, Vandy, Utah and Notre Dame. It was a complete setup. The committee couldn’t put Miami in a position to be in the playoffs right after they lost to Louisville and SMU. But they slowly moved them into position to get in over the course of a month without any good explanation. SMU and Louisville proved to be worse than people thought they were when they beat Miami, but Miami still magically seems to jump a bunch of teams with losses not nearly as bad.

[Mormon Red Death]

The decision was basically that they needed an ACC team in. Had Virginia won, ND would have been in.

[myboynoah]

The decision was basically that they needed an ACC team in. Had Virginia won, ND would have been in.

This, and they were not going to keep Alabama out two years in a row.

[myboynoah]

This seems risky. Wouldn't the legislature need to approve a move like this?

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[Donuthole]

Private Equity eventually ruins everything it touches. This will be great for Utah in the short term, and will ruin things long term. Consider me a fan!

[BigFatMeanie]

Private Equity eventually ruins everything it touches. This will be great for Utah in the short term, and will ruin things long term. Consider me a fan!

Aren't all non-publicly traded companies, whether they're startups with VC funding or founder-funded or long-term privately held companies like Mars, Inc. basically private equity? If so, do you really believe "private equity eventually ruins everything it touches"?

[Flystripper]

Private Equity eventually ruins everything it touches. This will be great for Utah in the short term, and will ruin things long term. Consider me a fan!

gotta chase the 3x-5x exit in 5-7 years. It going to be a mess.

[Flystripper]

Aren't all non-publicly traded companies, whether they're startups with VC funding or founder-funded or long-term privately held companies like Mars, Inc. basically private equity? If so, do you really believe "private equity eventually ruins everything it touches"?

I think he means private equity funds

[myboynoah]

I hear that, but don't fully understand how PE ruins everything it touches. Is it just that while it brings an infusion of cash, it also brings significant debt burden that could hamper future operations? And also brings in stakeholders as another chair at the decision-making table that are focused more on financial return vs. on the field performance (I understand those two can be intertwined, but not always)? Those seem risky. Are there other ways PE affects this things it touches?

And give that this potential burden could fall back on taxpayers, doesn't the legislature need to approve this?

[Moliere]

Can’t wait to buy AAA rated Utah athletics CDOs!

on a serious note, how can this be profitable at all when Utah athletics runs a big deficit every year?

[Shaka]

Can’t wait to buy AAA Utah athletics CDOs!

on a serious note, how can this be profitable at all when Utah athletics runs a big deficit every year?

This was my question.