Playoff birth will never happen for a MAC team. Power conferences have the deck stacked. Plus WMU's strength of schedule this year is not the greatest either. But, making a major bowl would be a huge achievement for this program. So far this has been a once in a lifetime season. Still a long way to go though.Originally Posted by Hal...
It depends on the rest of the field, but it's hard to see how they would would have a good enough resume to qualify for the playoffs, even if undefeated. One-loss teams from the major conferences would have much better wins to their credit.
Yup, with the current playoff system the chances of a mid-major making it into the round of 4 is very very very slim. In fact just making it to a major bowl has become much more difficult as there are only 2 slots for non-power conference schools in the old BCS bowls. The power 5 conferences hold all the cards. Unless the playoffs are eventually expanded, this will most likely not change. Even if the playoffs expanded to 8 teams it would still be very difficult for a mid-major to get in. They would have to go undefeated and have some help in most cases. I have often wondered why the group of 5 conferences don’t just break off and do their own mid-major championship. Seems like it might be a good option. Anyway….. for a school like WMU making it to a major bowl would still be a very big deal even if they don’t have a shot at the actual championship. It has never happened in the history of a program that dates back to 1906. We are having a once in a lifetime season here in Kalamazoo, and it is a fun ride so far…….if they keep winning of course………
Uhhh, fellas, you do know what "j/k" means, right?
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
Further evidence. The first playoff poll came out tonight with WMU back at #24, when they are ranked #17 in both the AP and Coaches poll.
WMU wins big again 9-0.
CFP Poll:
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Michigan
4. Texas A&M
5. Washington
6. Ohio State
7. Louisville
8. Wisconsin
9. Auburn
10. Nebraska
The top 3 are where I thought they would be: Michigan has not played as tough a schedule as Clemson, so Clemson deserves the No. 2 spot, which I think they'll probably keep if they and Alabama both win out, no matter what else happens. Washington still has some good games on its schedule, so if they win out I think that they probably will be put into the playoffs over a 1-loss A&M team, even though A&M is probably the better team.
The 2 "Big Reds" in the Big 10 certainly surprised the pre-season Nostrdamuses.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Hurricanes get off the shnide.
WMU goes for 10 in a row tonight on ESPN2 in their weekly MACtion game.
Hope they win, Steve. I'll be keeping my eyes on two other contests: Cavaliers vs Hawks, and a Bucket of Warm Spit vs a Steaming Pile.
I was at work so could only listen to it, but this one made me nervous for a while. In the end WMU wins #10 and remains undefeated!
A Comfort Zone is not a Life Sentence
Good work. I think they got kind of screwed in the latest playoff poll (slid from 17 to 20). Making the playoffs was always going to be tough, but I thought they'd work their way up by continuing to win, not get dropped.
They are currently #14 in the AP poll, but yea in the playoff poll they are #21 and unfortunately the way things are currently set up they will not rise much higher. The current system makes it almost impossible for a non power 5 conference school to even make the top 10, much less a playoff birth.
The best they can hope for is a Cotton Bowl bid. For a power 5 school that is not that big a deal, but for a program like WMU it would be nothing short of amazing. They still have to win their last two games and a MAC championship, and stay ahead of Boise State in the playoff poll to make it happen.
Very cool Notre Dame unis today. The Twerps...Not so much.
http://www.espn.com/blog/ncfnation/p...and-in-red-ops
Way to go U
Thank you Pitt Panthers for beating Clemson for the love of Chryst.
To think that (albeit a stretch & they still need more help) the Badgers with 2 games left in the regular season plus the BIG 10 championship game are still being talked about for the playoffs. My, my.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
2, 3 and 4 all go down in the same weekend. Amazing.
And the Badgers slide forward a bit to an improbable goal. They were #7 & won 48-3. Might even get as close as #5.
"My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"
President Harry S. Truman
Could we see more than one B1G team in the playoff?
Not impossible, especially if both Ohio State and Penn State run the table (because Penn State would get to play in the Big 10 championship game instead of Ohio State, and add that win to their resume).
Yep. I was envisioning a scenario where Penn St is B1G East champion by virtue of tie breaker over Ohio St, and plays Wisconsin in the B1G championship. If Wisconsin wins, they are the B1G Champion, but still behind Ohio St in the rankings with 2 losses, and a loss to Ohio St. They might both be in, especially with no 2nd powerful team in the SEC, and a weak Big 12 contingent. The final 3 teams in the CFP would probably come from Ohio St, Louisville, Washington and Wisconsin. This is all predicated on Ohio St beating Michigan, of course.
My cousin & I were just discussing this very thing. I can't see two teams from the same conference making it into the playoffs. I'd be willing to bet the Committee would pick a 2 loss team over a 1 loss team if that 1 loss team were in the same conference as a team already in the playoffs. The reason being is that there is the potential that the championship game may come down to two teams who've already played each other. I don't see that happening. I could be wrong, tho.
As for who's playing in the B1G championship, if OSU & PSU win out, and UM goes 2-1, OSU goes to the B1G championship. The reason is explained by Purdue's student newspaper:
...if all three teams won the rest of their games excepting a Michigan loss to Ohio State, all three teams would be tied with an 8-1 conference record. According to the Big Ten’s website, in the event of a three-team tiebreaker for a division title, the division’s representative in the Big Ten title game is determined by the following steps:
1. The records of the three tied teams will be compared against each other.
Since Michigan beat Penn State, who beat Ohio State, who would have beaten Michigan, the tie would continue.
2. The records of the three tied teams will be compared within their division.
All three teams would have just one loss within the division, so this wouldn’t determine a winner.
3. The records of the three teams will be compared against the next highest placed teams in their division in order of finish (4, 5, 6 and 7).
Again, all three teams would have beaten numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 in the division.
4. The records of the three teams will be compared against all common conference opponents.
Since all three teams would have only one loss against each other, they would have the same record against all conference opponents.
5. The team with the best overall winning percentage (excluding exempted games) shall be the representative.
Because Penn State lost a nonconference game against Pittsburgh on Sept. 10 and both Ohio State and Michigan were undefeated outside the conference, Penn State would have two losses and would be eliminated from the tiebreaker. After one team is eliminated, the tiebreaker would be reduced to just Ohio State and Michigan, with Ohio State winning because of its head-to-head victory over the Wolverines.
“From thirty feet away she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away.” – Philip Marlowe
ESPN just announced that College Game Day will be broadcast from here in Kalamazoo next Saturday. Not a big deal for most of you, but for our little town this something amazing. Alabama and WMU are now the only two undefeated schools.
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