In case it wasn’t enough for a national champion to be crowned in a school football season in which Big Ten and Pac-12 don’t play (as things stand), we discovered some unlikely but achievable scenarios that would be wilder..
Because, let’s face it: there’s no Big Ten or Pac-12 in the national championship is so unusual.
Ohio State and Oregon faced off in the 2014-15 name game, however, this is the last time any of the leagues will qualify for the final.In 2017-18 and 2018-19, neither the Big Ten nor the Pac-12 were even represented in the Final Four.So if we end up with something like Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma fighting for all the marbles, it wouldn’t be so out of the ordinary.
But 3 groups (or no equipment?) SEC would be a new wrinkle.We can also see a quartet of schools that have not yet been represented in the school football playoffs.And it wouldn’t be crazy if UCF is one of the four groups?Considering that he already claimed an ingenious three years ago, if someone needs to win a national championship with an asterisk on it, it deserves to be UCF, right?
In fact, let’s start with this hypothetical scenario.
Two years ago, UCF entered the national team on Sunday with an undefeated record for the time in a row, but there was never any hope that the Knights would succeed in the school football playoffs, not with undefeated champions in the ACC and SEC.champions to a defeat in the Big 12 and Big Ten, and an undefeating state of Notre Dame on their way.
This year, however, the AAFC champion can nevertheless get this invitation to play for a national championship.
If we remove the Big Ten and Pac-12 groups from the AP Top 25 preseason and drag them all to fill the gaps, the effective pre-season ballot has Cincinnati at No. 13, UCF at No. 14 and Memphis at No. 17. 3 AAC groups are playing a circular robin of all kinds with Memphis, UCFArray, UCF Cincinnati and Cincinnati Memphis, plus a rematch most likely from one of the AAC championship games.
If a member of this trio runs the board, they will have at least 3 wins forged on their resume.
This team will be at the mercy of the 3 Power Five leagues. If Alabama and Georgia go 10-1 and one wins each other in the normal season and the other returns the favor to the SEC championship, they, with the champions undefefied or a loss to the ACC and the big 12, probably would. either. end forward of an undefeating AAC champion. There may also be similar conditions in the other two leagues, if Clemson and Notre Dame have a division like that, or if a mix of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas has it.
But…
If the CCA, the big 12 and the SEC fail to produce a more productive time of the team legitimately worthy of attention through the PSC, the UCF (or Cincinnati or Memphis) gets the opportunity that has escaped it in recent years.This AAFC champion would almost in fact be seeded No.four, coming off a surprising loss to a big favorite who won 10 to 11 consecutive games at a “real” conference, however, it would be wonderful to see him anyway.
It’s a situation I’ve already talked about as possible in a general season, so it’s probably going to be with Big Ten and The Pac-12 out of the conversation.
However, this may seem realistic in the SEC.
The Big 12’s genuine all-against-all schedule presents their status for 3 PSC contenders to a 9-1 draw in 3 for first place.However, this means that after the Big 12 championship game, there is a team with two losses and no league names.Perhaps the 9-1 team that is excluded from the Big 12 name fits into a tiebreaker still has a smart argument, but there’s no chance of this two-loss team taking part.
In the CCA, the only way I can most likely see this happen is if North Carolina, who doesn’t play Clemson and has a house game opposed to Notre Dame, has an 11-0 record in the normal season, Notre Dame. has a 10-1 record, Clemson is 10-1 with a dramatic and heartbreaking loss to Notre Dame, then the Irish Fightings beat the Tar Heels at the convention championship. Even in this case, however, they would want chaos in any of the other leagues because there are enough quality wins to win in the ACC, where Clemson, Notre Dame and UNC are the only top 25 pre-season AP teams.
In the SEC, however, this is feasible, even with the addition of two more divisional games than usual.
Here are some scenarios in which this works:
Georgia beat Alabama in the normal season and finished 9-1, but failed to win the EAST SEC due to a defeat at a neutral siege to Undefeated Florida. Alabama won all of its other games, adding the sec championship opposite to Florida. Alabama and Florida would be almost locks, and Georgia would have a big argument in favor of inclusion.
—Alabama beats Georgia but loses at LSU. Each of those 3 groups wins their other games, resulting in a 10-0 LSU versus Georgia nine to one for the SEC title. Georgia wins, making the Bulldogs SEC champions with a loss, making the Tigers a runner-up with a loss with wins over Alabama, Florida, Auburn and Texas A&M, and leaves Crimson Tide at nine -1 with quality wins over Georgia, Auburn and Texas A&M. It’s hard to put one of those CVs aside.
There are several other similar conditions in which a mix of 3 groups from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and LSU, of which it is in the 8 most sensitive ap preseason, ends the year in a wonderful way. Consider the option of Auburn (AP No. 11) or Texas A-M (No. 13) entering the combined and there are many more routes for 3 SEC groups in the playoffs.
Three SEC groups in the playoffs are a long way off, but it’s more likely than zero, isn’t it?
In the last 14 national championships, the SEC has been represented 15 times. This is not a printing error. Alabama played LSU in the 2012 BCS championship Alabama faced Georgia in the 2018 CFP championship and, apart from Ohio State, opposed Oregon in 2015, which was only imaginable because OSU overthrew Alabama in the PSC semi-finals, there was an SEC team in total. other games for the 2007 title.
Any year at least one SEC team at PSC is hard to imagine, but especially this season.
However, it is possible and we are not even talking about the chaos of “any Saturday” in which Arkansas defeats Alabama or Vanderbilt wins in Georgia.
Suppose the home team wins each and every one of SEC West’s historic battles between Alabama, Auburn, LSU and Texas A-M. This means a loss for each of Alabama and Auburn; two each for LSU and Texas A-M. In the most sensible of that, Auburn probably has a defeat in Georgia and undeniable away games opposed to the State of Mississippi, Miss Ole and South Carolina. Perhaps in addition to losing LSU, Alabama suffered a loss in the last 80% of their October glove (in Ole Miss, as opposed to Georgia, Tennessee, opposite the state of Mississippi), meaning a two-game losing team wins the division. .
If those lost two-game groups manage to defeat Florida or Georgia in a defeat at the convention championship, the door opens for the ACC and the big 12 to send two groups to the playoffs, or for the AAFC champion to sneak into the wisest. Four.
Certainly, for two ACC groups and two Big 12 groups to defeat a two-time SEC champion, Clemson necessarily needs 11-0 instead of 11-0 in North Carolina on the old and an undefeous Big 12 team (e.g. Oklahoma) wasting an opponent to a defeat (say, Oklahoma State) in the latter’s championship. But that can happen technically.
The concept of two Power Five leagues that send two groups to the school football playoffs is not so far-fetched. We just charted the path imaginable for any SEC team in the Final Four. It’s even less difficult to imagine such a fate for the CCA or the big 12.
But here’s something potentially crazy: what would happen if the first and fourth seeds were groups of the same convention that had already played the normal season, had a rematch in the convention championship and ended with a “three-game game? “in the CFP Semifinals? What if seeds No. 2 and No. 3 also matched this description?
If that happens in the CCA, at most it has to be Clemson and Notre Dame. From the SEC, Alabama and Georgia or Florida and LSU are the two maximum likely combinations. And any combined Big 12 from Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas can work, as long as the season’s regular winner is 10-0 and the loser is 9-1 before revenge in the convention naming game.
Besides, wouldn’t it be if Clemson opposed Notre Dame and Alabama opposed Georgia in the playoffs, establishing a possible fifth-game CFP between Clemson and Alabama in the national championship? Arguably tired of watching these groups fight last December or early January, however, it’s fun to have a rivalry “for all the marbles” between the two most productive systems in sport.
Alternatively, it would be fun if the two semi-finals are VAC instead of Big 12, Big 12 vs SEC, or VAC vs SEC. After a normal season with virtually no unconventional games, it would be great to have at least this series of games to settle the “Which convention is the best?” Debate.
If you feel that the same groups are in the school football playoffs every year, it’s because that’s the kind of case.
The PSC is only six years old, however, in the last 3 years, 3 of the 4 schools were already there.There were 24 PSC semi-finalists but only 11 unique.
So, yes, it would be crazy if the 2020 playoffs were made up of rookies.
We already know that Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Washington will participate, with only seven schools remaining, yet six of them – Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma – are among the favorites to win it all this year, making an incredibly unlikely scenario.
If the other than Oklahoma represents the big 12, there’s one. If North Carolina wins the ACC, there’s two. Florida may be the third debutant as a strong SEC candidate. And then, if the fourth position is for Auburn, Texas A-M or the AAC champion, it would be a full set of CFP recruits.
Again, it’s incredibly unlikely. The odds of the last six PSC groups losing the playoffs this year are probably as long as Heisman’s odds of 200-1 cited through Joe Burrow in February 2019, but far shots rarely work.
There are two questions that are asked almost each and every season (or, more often, pre-season) in school football:
Is Texas back?
Is “The U” back?
It also mixes the two in a wild setting: Miami and Texas succeed in the school football playoffs.
With Justin Fields, Kedon Slovis and other wonderful quarterbacks without betting this fall, Sam Ehlinger of Texas would arguably be the most productive untitled quarterback Trevor Lawrence. And Miami Quarterback D’Eriq King (of Houston) is seamlessly one of the 10 most sensible quarterbacks still scheduled to play this fall. This makes a confrontation with the CFP at least a little feasible.
The Longhorns and Hurricanes are also strong in defense. With star lineman Gregory Rousseau seated for Miami, its roof is not as high as we originally thought. But Texas has one of the most productive defenses in The Big 12, while Miami still ranks first in the ACC.
Miami is scheduled to play Clemson, Louisville and Virginia Tech, as well as a home game opposed to North Carolina. Texas plays a genuine road game opposed to the state of Oklahoma and an unbiased site game opposed to Oklahoma. A team is unlikely to lead the t-
But they are ranked in the Top 20 of the “Top 25 Adjusted AP” and are possibly the third team of their respective conferences, so never say never. Much stranger things have already happened in 2020.