Interesting reading...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/12/08/in-.../

Ohio University ~39,000 enrollment

So why aren't we in a bowl?

http://www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/14-15/11/enrollment-c...

But it puts us pretty close to the other 3 teams in the Playoffs.

Florida State - 32,525
Alabama - 30,000
Ohio - 28,442
Oregon - 20,394

(enrollment figures according to Phil Steele)


My point is not to rely too much on enrollment figures to determine post-season bids. No matter how you count it, our enrollment number is much higher than other schools, but it didn't work in our favor this year.

And I think the committee had the same thoughts as you did. Close call on either TCU or Baylor. It may have split the vote. A championship game would, in my opinion, have made the difference in one of those teams getting in over OSU.

I agree with you on the Big 10.

double sigh . . . some will believe what they want to believe and if the "body of work" cliché makes you feel better, so be it. However, you must answer the question: what did TCU do in the last week to lose its 3rd place of the past week other than beat the crap out of ISU and maintain an objective Sagarin rating that was still better than OSU? I'd much prefer having these decisions done by computer rather than the impressionistic rankings of a selection committee that is subject to all kinds of subtle (and maybe not so subtle) lobbying.

Baylor's non-conf schedule didn't do it any favors: SMU, Northwestern State, Buffalo.

This committee has about as much actual power as, say, the State Duma in 1906.

Eh, maybe a better comparison is a figure skating judge.

They know what they are paid to do. They do it. Ties go to powers. No work needs to be shown. It's the ultimate stacking of the deck. College football with political machinations. It's also terrifying.

+1

I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lawsuit about this. Maybe even from Marshall. The argument: a team can go undefeated in Division I and still not play for a national championship? Not play in a big money bowl? Before this year, teams like NIU could get a shot. Now with the purely human element -- it is not possible. And maybe worth an argument in the courts.

Here is the statement that is simply untrue:

"Universal Access
Every FBS team has equal access to the playoff based on its performance. No team will qualify automatically."

http://cfp-cms-s3-prod.slcfp.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/...


Every FBS team does not have EQUAL access. A team like Marshall* can go undefeated, but not even sniff the playoffs or an access bowl. Certain conferences start with UNEQUAL access given their SOS and conference quality.

At least with the BCS, the computer would take into account human polling and other factors to arrive at a somewhat scientific number that many would argue provided more EQUAL access than a human committee. NIU did all the right things and they got to an Orange Bowl.

If that same scenario were to happen this year under the new format, they'd still be in the Boca Raton Bowl.

(*Yes, the schedule was easy; I'm not lobbying for Marshall, just using them as an example)

OhioStunter, if Marshall had been undefeated they might easily have made the Fiesta Bowl instead of Boise. NIU was in the running also; if Boise had been upset by Fresno State in the final game they would in all likelihood have gone.

The playoff is another matter altogether. Here I agree with you completely that there is not equal access for the G5 schools; in fact, there is not equal access for most the P5 schools. It's really a party only for the so-called Elite schools. Hence, O$U over TCU or Baylor. A rich state school with a huge fan base over two parochial schools with relative small fan bases. If it had been Texas, rather than TCU, with otherwise identical circumstances, O$U's pounding of Wisconsin would never have resulted in the Evil Empire jumping them in the Selection Committee's final ranking, IMHO.

The point I was trying to make in my previous post is that though I agree with you that there is no equal access and that a law suit might be justified, in actuality no suit is possible. I'm of the opinion from what I read about the playoff agreement that the Access Bowl (this year the Fiesta Bowl) was specifically put in place to appease the G5 schools and they agreed to this buyout. I may be wrong about that, but that's my impression. In addition to the Access Bowl agreement that guarantees the highest ranked G5 school a spot in a Big Time bowl each year, all G5 conferences will get up to $12 million dollars ($1 million per school to a maximum of 12 schools) from the playoffs. This was also a buyout to prevent a law suit, I believe. These funds are far more than what G5 schools were getting before but FAR less than what the P5 schools get out of the playoffs. It's kind of like the G5 have signed a pack with the Devil. :-(

Ah, now you have it. Note the results...compare vs. next year for the local favorite.

We'll talk in 10 or so months.