Speaker 1: Checking out college football on the West Coast. This is
Get Off My Pylone, a look at the PAC twelve
and more, part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast
podcast network.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, Matt zemon.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the last edition Let's Get Off My Pilon
college football podcast. This is your host, Matt Zemmick, part
of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast Network.
Speaker 2: Go to Apple or wherever else you listen to your
podcasts for all the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast shows,
whether it's Jason Powers and Florida Football Insiders, or the
All Sports Discussion Crew with the ACC.
Speaker 3: After the very compelling Clemson SMU game and SMU and
Clemson both getting to the playoffs, so the All Sports
Discussion guys have the ACC covered the SEC podcast that
we have at College Gridiron, They're going to be talking
about the Alabama College football playoff snub. Lots of interesting
shows for you to consider, So go there, to Apple,
go to Twitter at Gridiron Coast to get all your
favorite grid Iron College Gridron Coast to Coast college football podcasts.
Here at Get Off My Piline, we cover college football
in the Western United States, and so what a magnificent
weekend it was for Western college football. Boise State gets
the number three seed, Arizona State gets the number four seeds,
so they both get buys, and you have Oregon as
the one seed.
Speaker 2: So the West, the West has three of the four
top seeds.
Speaker 3: Just a terrific year for Western college football after the
breakup of the PAC twelve and you know, Oregon Arizona
State both conference champions. You know, like the PAC twelve
had some really good teams, right, I mean not that
we were expecting Arizona State to be great, but you know,
it does reinforce the point.
Speaker 2: Why do we have to break up the PAC twelve.
Speaker 3: Washington went all the way to the National Championship Game
last year. I mean, Western teams have been getting it
done in the past two years in college fotball.
Speaker 2: It makes the death of the PAC twelve that much
sadder and that much more unfortunate.
Speaker 3: It was so unnecessary. It still is unnecessary. It will
always be unnecessary. And I know it's going to be
reconstituted in twenty twenty six, but it's not going to
be the same, right, It's going to be basically the
glorified Mountain West. So just just a different vibe, a
different reality with the PAC twelve in the future. But Oregon,
Arizona State, and also Boise State from the Mountain West
all getting buys.
Speaker 2: In the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 3: Arizona State dominated Iowa State from you know, early to
mid second quarter on.
Speaker 2: That was a route.
Speaker 3: It was close in the beginning, but last three quarters
totally owned by the Sun Devils. And you know you're
gonna get the Heisman finalists announced. I'm recording this right
before the time when the time window when the Heisman
finalists are being announced. And so Travis Hunter, the favorite,
Ashton Genty is going to be a finalist, and you know,
Genty he performs, you know, magnificently once again in the
Mountain West Championship game against UNLV And I'm fine with
Travis Hunter winning the Heisman.
Speaker 2: You know, tremendous year both sides of the ball.
Speaker 3: It's like if Shoheo Tani was pitching as well as
hitting moonshots and stealing fifty bases for the Dodgers. You know,
when you have a two way player who's excellent on
both sides, that's just that's very impressive.
Speaker 2: It's unique. It's compelling.
Speaker 3: But on the merits, on the merits, Ashton Genty just
popping off these two hundred yard games. He's had six
of them this season, and he's been so consistent for
a team which is getting to buy in the college
football playoff. That's more impact on a team. And as
great as Hunter was, you also have Shreder Sanders on
that Colorado roster, and that teams as well as it played.
You know, Colorado was a lot better than I expected,
a lot better than most people expected, but still didn't
win its championship, didn't even make its conference championship game
nine to three. Boise State goes twelve and one. I
see Travis Hunter and Ashton Genty as being pretty much
on the same plane. And Genty was the primary focus
of every defense Boise State faced, and he kept producing.
He did not have a single clunker, did not have
a single game with fewer than one hundred yards rushing.
I think the actual minimum number is something like one
hundred and twenty eight.
Speaker 2: He was just a dude in all twelve games.
Speaker 3: And Travis Hunter, as great as he was, you know,
he struggled against Kansas. He had a few moments here
and there where he wasn't that effective. I mean, but again,
these two guys are pretty much on the same plane.
And if you wanted to say Travis hunters the winner, fine.
If you want to say Ashton Gent's the winner, also fine.
Either of those guys. Those are the top two players
this season. I would only object to anyone who says, well,
it should be Travis Hunter. And there's no question about it.
Ashton Genty distant second place because he plays at Boise State,
because he plays in the group of five, because he
plays in the Mountain West.
Speaker 2: Now that's a viewpoint I will not take seriously.
Speaker 3: Just say, Travis Hunter's two way excellence is better than
what Ashton Genty did at one position. That's the argument
to make, all right, and Colorado being a lot better
than people expected, that's the argument to make for Travis Hunter.
Speaker 2: But Ashton Genty is right there.
Speaker 3: Brock Heward made the statement that a lot of coaches,
you know, if you ask coaches who their heisman would be,
it would be Ashton Genty, just because you know that
guy was there every week that he was asked to
do so much, and he lived up to the billion
each time for Boise State. So that's part of the
Heisman picture. The other picture, and this circles back to
Arizona the state and that game against Iowa State. Cam
Scataboo just such a transformative player, and we have to
realize the impact that cam Scataboo had on Arizona State,
like he made everything else possible. He makes the passing
game go because everyone's focused on him. That opens up
the passing game for the Sun Devils. It opens up
Kenny Dillingham, a very creative coach who's had an absolutely
brilliant season. Cam Scataboo was the central cog who made
all the teammates around him better and he significantly elevated
that program. If you were to ask me Cam Scataboo
Dylan Gabriel, which player would I have higher in my
Heisman rankings, I would go with Cam Scataboo. And this
is not a criticism of Dylan Gabriel. Dylan Gabriel magnificent player,
having a wonderful season, Oregon thirteen to zero Big Ten champion,
number one seed in the playoff. Dylan Gabriel's been great,
all right, But Dylan Gabriel is surrounded by elite talent
and the way to characterize Dylan Gabriel, He's a really
good piece surrounded by other really good players. He's gonna
get the ball to the other really talented skill position
pieces that Oregon has. He's really a great leader, a
great game manager, skilled mobile, could buy time in the pocket.
You know, he just does a lot of things really well.
Just a solid, well rounded player who you put him
on a roster with great talent, as Oregon has done
under Dan Lanning, and it's gonna work out, and it has.
Speaker 2: But that is different from Cam Skataboo. Cam Skataboo took
a team that was three and nine last year and
he's just raised the ceiling. He's raised the ceiling for
every every one and everything at Arizona State. You take
Dylan Gabriel out of Oregon and you put in a
moderately worse quarterback, Oregon's probably still in the playoff ten
and two. Maybe, you know, like you trade swap out
Dylan Gabriel for a quarterback that's you know, modestly worse,
you know, not a lot worse, but just a little
bit worse, not quite as good. Oregon still probably gets
in the playoffs, albeit on the back end, not a
number one seed, not an unbeaten team. But if you
take away Cam Scataboo from Arizona State, like the Sun
Devils are nowhere near this conversation. They're probably six and six.
You know, they would have gone down to the wire
to become Bowl eligible.
Speaker 3: It's not a criticism of Dyan Gabriel like he's been.
He has been as advertised and more. But Cam Scataboo
took Arizona State from nowhere to the top, to a
number four seed.
Speaker 2: To a Big twelve championship. So just just measuring those
two guys, I put cam Scataboo higher. Cam Skataboo to
me would be in my top five for the Heisman,
along with gent along with Travis Hunter, along with cam
Ward of Miami. That's a that's another guy I would
have in my top five as well. So that's part
of the Heisman picture.
Speaker 3: And one other thing to say about the Heisman, because
I say it every year when the Heisman finalist are announced,
they shouldn't limit it to three or four, which is,
you know, the usual modus operandi.
Speaker 2: They should have ten players.
Speaker 3: Make this a celebration of college football from all backgrounds
and all perspectives, You should have a group of five player.
Now GENTI is going to be a group of five player,
but usually there isn't a group of five player.
Speaker 2: Have a lineman, interior lineman, have a defensive player. Those
perspectives should be should be honored as well, and just
invite at least ten people. Ten guys, you know, have
a wider cross section of players, and that way you
get so many more fan bases and therefore so many
more Americans interested in the Heisen ceremony. Why limit it
to three or four? It has never made sense, will
never make sense that that part of the Heisman needs
to be reformed. All right, so you've gotten my.
Speaker 3: Heisman takes the rich representation of players from Western schools.
Let's now get back to the playoff of the national
picture covered Arizona State, kind of covered Boise State a
little bit, but that was through gent Let's talk about
Boise State more broadly. Boise State playing at home in
the cold against UNLV it turned out to be as
much of an advantage as many people thought. You know,
UNLV lost to Boise State in the regular season in
in Vegas, in a domed stadium.
Speaker 2: UNOV is a Dome Stadium team. You put that team
outdoors in the cold in December.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was not a good combination for Vegas looking
very much out of its element. In Boise State conversely,
very comfortable, and Boise State played better than it had
for much of November. You know, you could kind of
see it lining up for Boise State that the Broncos
after kind of you know, drifting through November. There was
a sense that Boise State was conserving mental energy in November,
it was gearing up for the bigger games that that
lay ahead. Boise State got better against Oregon State on
Thanksgiving weekend and then played even even higher than that
against UNLV. So just a magnificent season for Spencer Danielson
putting all the pieces together with the Broncos. They their
defensive line dominated UNLV as well. The Boise State defensive
line feasted on the UNLV offensive line in both meetings.
Speaker 2: Uh, it was.
Speaker 3: It was a sack festival in both games. And so
that's why Boise State, I know, this is UNLV. It's
not you know, a powerfour champion or a Power four
runner up that that Boise State's gonna face. Uh in
the Fiesta Bowl. You know, Boise State could very well
face Penn State. That's how the bracket lines up. Penn
State has obviously bigger dudes than UNLV does. Nevertheless, Boise
State's defensive line and pass rush that's no joke. So
so Boise State might be able to hang physically with
Penn State. And you add Ashton Gent to the mix,
and you look at how Penn State's defense got absolutely.
Speaker 2: Shredded by Oregon. Hey, Oregon's faster than Boise State, no
argument there. But you know, Oregon and Boise State played
a pretty close game in Week two of the season
in Eugene. You wonder just how similar are Oregon and
Boise State. So that that's a really interesting conversation to have.
And so you know, as we consider, as we consider everything,
we have to ask, you know, how would Boise State
and Penn State line up? Given what we saw in
the Big Ten championship game between Oregon and Penn State.
That you know, a lot of elements of mystery in
that particular part of the bracket, and really there's elements
of mystery.
Speaker 4: Throughout the whole bracket.
Speaker 3: Like I see this college football playoff bracket as being unpredictable.
Speaker 2: Every where you look.
Speaker 3: And obviously you know we're focused on the Western schools Oregon,
Boise State, Arizona State, but really every matchup, to me,
it feels like a matchup that could go pretty much
either way. Clemson versus Texas might be the one exception.
I don't see Clemson's offensive line being able to handle
that Texas defense.
Speaker 4: You know that that might be.
Speaker 3: One of the bigger mismatches that Clemson cannot run the ball.
If you saw against SMU in the fourth quarter trying
to run out the clock and protect a lead, Clemson
could not run the ball, and so that that might
be a mismatch against Texas. But all the other matchups,
and so with Boise State potentially playing Penn State and
Arizona State might play Texas, like ASU Texas, I don't
think that's a foregone conclusion. I would certainly favor Texas
if Texas does beat Clemson, as I expect will happen,
but I don't see it as a mismatch. You know, skataboo,
Kenny Dillingham getting all that time to prepare.
Speaker 4: You know, Texas has to play a first round game.
Speaker 3: Arizona State has a bye, so Arizona State gets a
full month off and is going to be able to
study Texas film. That doesn't seem like a slam dunk.
So really, with the exception of Clemson Texas, I think
all the games are pretty much up for grabs.
Speaker 4: I think it's a very even tournament.
Speaker 3: And so Boise State you might think that, you know what,
they shouldn't be seeded third, But hey, Penn State, you know,
under James Franklin, when does Penn State win big games?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 3: And we saw that again against Oregon in the Big
Ten Championship game and Penn State's defense did not show up.
Oregon Speed was just you know, it was a mismatch.
Oregon Speed just raced right by Penn State. So are
you really going to say that Penn State should dead
me beat Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. And we
all know about Boise State in the Fiestaval right Oklahoma
Statue of Liberty Chris Peterson several years later against TCU,
and then in the twenty fourteen Festa Bowl against Rich
Rodriguez in Arizona. Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl pretty
darn good track record. I wouldn't feel comfortable betting on
Penn State against Boise State. If that does become the
Fiesta Bowl matchup in the playoff quarterfinals.
Speaker 4: That's going to be on New Year's Eve, and then the.
Speaker 3: Other quarterfinals at the Peach, the Rose, and the Sugar
on New Year's Day. I'm not saying that Penn State
is an obvious favorite over Boise State.
Speaker 4: I think if we get to that game, if Penn
State does.
Speaker 3: Get by SMU and does advance to play Boise State,
yes Penn State will be favored, but I don't think
Penn State will be favored by that much. Penn State
is I believe, a nine point favorite over SMU, but
that's at home. So you go down to Glendale for
the Fiesta Bowl, maybe maybe Penn State will open it
as like a four point favorite. Again, we have to
get that matchup first, but that would be my initial
inclination in terms of a Penn State Boise State ohn
if we do get that matchup, so Boise State don't
don't underestimate the Broncos against Penn State. I think that's
a matchup Boise State can work with. I think that,
you know, in terms of the bracket and how it
worked out, I see a lot of even matchups. I
think I think Notre Dame would have been more of
a problem for Boise State. I think Notre Dame could
smash mouse against Boise State a little bit more. I
think the muscular matchup would have been more favorable to
the fighting Irish. But Penn State I don't. I don't
see quite as much frontline strength compared to Notre Dame.
So I think that's a match of Boise State can
work with if we get that. Let's talk a little
bit more about Oregon. So the Ducks offense dominated Penn State,
but that defense made Drew Houerd look really good. And
you know, in terms of the bracket, we could see
a rematch Oregon against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl
the quarterfinals. And if we get that quarterfinal, I will
take Dan Landing over Ryan Day. I mean, it's really
hard to trust Ryan Day, but you have to acknowledge
that if Ohio State's able to get through Tennessee, then
the Buckeyes will have, you know, at least done something
to make the Michigan humiliation less central, less prominent in
their minds. It would restore a feeling of confidence, it
would restore a sense of Hey, we can do this.
Speaker 4: And so if Ohio State does.
Speaker 3: Get to the Rose Bowl to play Oregon, it's going
to be a rematch, and rematches with teams that have
comparable talent, you know, it's just there's just that natural
innate hunger that the the losing team has going into
a rematch. The winning team is going to be hungry itself,
like Oregon. If it plays Ohio State on New Year's Day,
Oregon's going to be all in for that game and
Oregon's going to be jacked up and and you know,
the adrenaline through the roof. It's a playoff quarterfinal and
all that, but Ohio State will have revenge. And it's
just there's just that natural element of motivation that Oregon
will lack in Ohio State will have and that has
to be a concern for Oregon and the And the
first game was in Eugene, so this game, you're still
gonna have a ton of Oregon fans in the building,
but it's not gonna be Autson Stadium. It's going to
be a split crowd, you know. So the circumstances are
going to be a little bit more favorable, uh, for
Ohio State. And so that's a tricky matchup, like Oregon
did not get a favorable bracket because you have Ohio
State lingering as a possible quarterfinal opponent, and then Texas
could be the semi final opponent and the Texas defense,
you know, the Texas needs to sort out the offense
that sarks a challenge, but the Texas defense has been money.
Texas defense has been so relentlessly consistently good. And if
it's Oregon Texas in a semi final that would be
on January ninth or tenth, that that could be a
game in which the Oregon offense runs into really tough
sledding Texas makes that game a rock fight, and it
just becomes like a twenty to seventeen game that's going
to go down to the wire and Texas will have
a chance. I'm not saying that Texas should be favored.
I don't think Texas would be favored, but that game
is likely a one score game either way. Like I
don't see that game spiraling either way on either side.
But that that's not an easy assignment. Oregon would love
it if Arizona State could upset Texas in a potential
Peach Bowl. But but if Texas is able to make
its way past Clemson and then beat Arizona State in
the Peach Bowl, than that semi final Oregon Texas not
gonna be not gonna be easy for the Ducks. So
the Ducks did not get the path they wanted. You know,
if if we're just to compare playoff paths, I think
that Georgia as a two seed, actually got the better
path in the bottom of the bracket. Georgia getting to
play Notre Dame. Like Notre Dame is not gonna hurt
Georgia's defense down the field. In the passing game, maybe
Notre Dame can lean on Georgia's defensive line, but but
Notre Dame doesn't have the speed that's gonna make Georgia
really worry on defense. And of course Georgia gets the
bye because it won the SEC title. Georgia doesn't have
to play in the first round. I think that there's
a lot about Georgia that Kirby Smart can fix, that
he can address. And you know, the Carson Beck injury,
Gunnerstockton looked fine. You know, it wasn't great. He threw
that big late interception, But I think you can see
with a month off you can see the pieces coming together.
For Georgia might not have a dynamic offense, but you know,
it wasn't dynamic under Beck. Most of the time. Beck
had his moments, but he wasn't relentlessly consistent. So I
you know, I think Georgia. You know, if Georgia plays
to the Kirby smart standard in the trenches, Georgia is
gonna be fine. And I think that Notre Dame or Indiana,
either one, that's a matchup Georgia can handle. I don't
think it's the worst matchup Georgia could have received. And
then there's a possible semi final for Georgia against either
Boise State or Penn State. And I take Georgia over
those two teams. Not that I think Georgia is a
clear cut favorite, but I'm just trying to compare teams here.
I think that Oregon's Ohio State Texas path potentially is
tougher than Georgia's Notre Dame and then either Penn State
or Boise State path.
Speaker 4: Georgia just got the best bracket.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean Georgia is gonna win, but I do
think there's an opportunity for Georgia, where if you switch
some of the teams, if you switch some of the
bracket paths, it would look different, it would feel different.
So Oregon's going to have its work cut out, especially
if Ohio State beats Tennessee. I think if your Oregon,
you want to see Tennessee Beatlehouse State. Now, if you're Oregon,
you're the number one team, You're thirteen to zero, don't
you don't really care which team you face because you
you should rightly think that you're the best. So we
can say that, we can be very clear about that.
But just in terms of likelihood of winning, ease of matchup,
you know, probability of advancing, it would be better for
Oregon if Tennessee not Ohio State is the opponent in
the Rose Bowl on January first, five Eastern, two Pacific,
a tradition unlike any other, not just the Masters, but
the Granddaddy, the Rose Bowl, which you know doesn't want
to be a national championship game. And I love that
about the Rose Bolt. The Rose Bull wants to be
January first, just after two o'clock in Pasadena, in the
Arroyo Sicco nestled in the shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains,
you know, as Keith Jackson would always tell us on
New Year's Day in the past. So Oregon with the
tough path, Arizona State with an amazing opportunity, Boise State
not to be overlooked as a number three seeds. So
many compelling stories in the College Football Playoff from Western
schools and Western programs that have had a magnificent year.
Speaker 4: All right, that's not.
Speaker 3: Quite the end of everything here on the get off
of my pilin College Football podcast. There's one other thing
we need to talk about, and that's the Big Twelve.
So SMU, as you all know, got into the playoff
as an at large team. Lost to Clemson, so not
the ACC champion, but still got in. I'm fine with
SMU getting in over Alabama. Alabama lost three times. Alabama
got blown out by Oklahoma. Alabama played Mercer instead of
a real team. And in the past, Alabama would play
Mercer and it wouldn't cost the Crimson tide, it didn't matter.
And so Alabama finally got punished for playing Mercer, and
I think that's great, sends a great message and the
Alabama people saying, well, we're not going to play a
tough conference, a tough non conference schedule. Ever, again, I
don't get that. I don't understand that Alabama's best non
conference game was against five and seven Wisconsin. Now, obviously
Alabama expected Wisconsin to be better, and so you know,
playing a game at Wisconsin in September, you know that
was aspirational scheduling, and that's the reason to commend Alabama.
It's reason to praise Alabama. But Wisconsin didn't turn out
to be good, and Alabama still did schedule Mercer and
the other non con games for Alabama, Western Kentucky, South
Florida not exactly Murder's row. So the thing to realize
with Alabama if Mercer had been replaced with Penn State
or an Order game or you know another you know,
really good team that won nine to ten eleven games
this season, If Alabama replaces Mercer with a good team
and wins that game, Alabama gets in over SMU. So
the message should not be don't schedule anybody out of conference.
Alabama didn't lose out of conference. Okay, if Alabama had
better non conference games across the board, it might have
actually been able to get in over SMU. Even with
the three losses Alabama's non conference schedule. Playing that Wisconsin
game is why Alabama was actually in the conversation as
much as it was. But here's where we pivot to
another Western school. While I am fine with SMU being
in over Alabama, I'm not fine with SMU being in
over BYU. BYU has the better resume than SMU, and
we can split this up in a lot of different
ways and view it from different vantage points, but there's
one core reality. The two teams met head to head.
It was on SMU's home field. BYU won, So BYU
not only one head to head, it won on.
Speaker 4: The road against SMU.
Speaker 3: Now, if you lose head to head and you have
the same amount of losses both teams lost twice, there
better be some pretty compelling evidence. There better be some
really substantial results to offset a head to head loss
at home. And so SMU fans will say, hey, BYU
lost at home to Kansas a five and seventeen. Not
a good loss for BYU. But Kansas is not like
a two to ten team. It was a mediocre team,
a team that underachieved, but you know, not a bowl team,
but not an absolutely horrible, awful team like Kansas is talented.
Kansas beat Colorado. Kansas, you know, really was a difficult
team to play. Kansas almost won at Arizona State, lost
that game in the final minute. So Kansas is not
a terrible team. But again it's it's obviously not a
good loss for BYU, And that's the argument many people
would make for y b YU didn't make the playoff,
it obviously didn't help. But if we're comparing BYU and SMU,
both teams with two losses, BYU with the head to
head win at SMU UH, BYU's one loss to Kansas,
that's not enough to override ahead to head. You know,
it's a it's a it's a it's a data point,
but it's not that much.
Speaker 4: Like, so, does.
Speaker 3: SMU have a really big high end win UH in
a too in addition to BYU's lost to Kansas. You know,
then we might be able to say, hey, even with
the head to head, SMU's profile is still clearly better
than b YU. Do you have that big high end win?
SMU won at Louisville decent win, not an amazing win.
Louisville did not turn out to be all that good
this season, you know, decent team, but not a great team.
Louisville was not a factor in the ACC title chase,
so you know that now that's unfortunate for SMU.
Speaker 4: But nevertheless, you know Louisville didn't turn out to be good.
Speaker 3: SMU clobberd Florida State, and of course we were all
expecting Florida State to be a really good team this year.
Florida State instead cratered and again not SMU's fault. But nevertheless,
you can't call that a high quality win for the Ponies.
Speaker 4: You just can't.
Speaker 3: And so SMU did not play Miami. SMU lost to Clemson.
Of course this past weekend. There's just no high end
win for that's not an amazing body of work. It's
a decent body of work, but it's not so good
that it eclipses BYU's head to head win over the Mustangs.
So we are left with the reality that you know,
BYU had a better resume than SMU, And yet where
did BYU finish in the final College Football Playoff rankings?
Seventeen below Alabama, below South Carolina, below Ole Miss. BYU
was not even a conversation for ESPN. And it's a
Sunday college Football playoff selection show. It was all about
SMU versus Alabama for that final spot. And so the
Big Twelve really, you know, has to be angry that
BYU got excluded. And the BYU situation needs to lead
the Big Twelve and Brett Yormark to reform their scheduling
practices for next year. And this is something I wrote
about it at Trojan Schore the site word that I
edit under the Gannet USA Today banner the Big Twelve
and all. This also applies to the ACC as well.
The non SEC, non Big Ten conferences need to pursue
one of two things. Either you have conference semifinals for
your top four teams, play semifinals in late November and
then a championship game in early December. That's one avenue.
Or you just flex out your final conference game on
Thanksgiving weekend or late November, whatever it might be. So
let's consider this in the Big Twelve. As things were
on Thanksgiving weekend, you had Colorado playing Oklahoma State, the
worst team in the conference, and that game was a
total blowout. On Friday November twenty nine, BYU hosted Houston Houston,
a not very good team sub five hundred team not
a bowl team. On November thirtieth, Colorado and BYU did
not meet this season. Now a flex plan, a flex
game plan would mean that you arrive at the middle
of the season, let's say week eight, week nine, you know,
mid to late October, you find out who's good and
who's not in your conference. Flexing out the final game
on your conference schedule and playing it in late November
means that you know your top teams play each other
in a flex game, your middle teams play each other,
and your bottom teams play each other. Just whatever teams
have not met on the schedule, you put equivalent roughly
equivalent teams together. So BYU Colorado would have been a
flex game for Thanksgiving weekend. The other flex game would
have been Iowa State Arizona State, the matchup that we
ultimately got in the Big Twelve championship game, but they
hadn't played during the twelve game regular season. They had
not played yet during the Big twelve conference schedule, So
you just could have flexed out your final game in
late November to have Colorado play BYU in one flex game,
and you have Iowa State and Arizo State in another
flex game.
Speaker 4: If we have that YU could have gotten a quality
win on.
Speaker 2: Its resident.
Speaker 3: To bolster its playoff credentials, but instead BYU was playing Houston,
a game that had no real positive value for the Cougars.
You know, for the BYU Cougars, I should say, playing
Houston that did not give a BYU a resume boost.
So flex games really for the non SEC, non Big
ten conferences, like you want your top teams to play
each other so that they get more quality wins on
the board and in the twelve team playoff. And this
is a this is something we saw over the past weekend.
We saw how Georgia, Texas did not matter the same
way or at the same level that the SEC championship
game used to me. You know, in a four team playoff,
that conference championship game was almost always central and necessary.
I mean not one hundred percent of the time, but
usually usually the conference championship game and a four team playoff,
you had to win that game to get in. You know,
Georgia went twelve and oh last season and loses the
SEC title game, misses the playoff. So yeah, the SEC
title game was necessary in a fourteen playoff, but now
with twelve it's different. Georgia was getting in even if
it lost to Texas, and that really took away from
that game. And it's something I've been talking about and
writing about all year that hey, didn't we know, Like.
Speaker 4: Couldn't we have seen this coming? Shouldn't we have seen
this coming?
Speaker 3: That in the twelve team playoff, these conference championship games
weren't going to mean as much. They weren't going to
be the same as they used to be in a
fourteen playoff or even before that in the BCS. These
games do not mean as much, and so the conferences
need to adjust their scheduling for the end of November
and the end of the regular season and these conference
championship games as well. They need to handle it differently,
especially in the ACC and especially in the Big Twelve,
which BYU also Colorado to a point being the representative
examples of why scheduling practices and conference championship practices need
to change. I mentioned in recent weeks that you know,
Oregon had no business playing in the Big Ten title game.
Speaker 4: Oregon was the one.
Speaker 3: Unbeaten team in the in Big Ten play, and overall,
Oregon should just be declared Big Ten champion, and you
should have had Penn State playing Indiana and what would
basically be a Big Ten bubble game, a play in
game for the playoff, so much more interesting, so much
more relevant than having asking Oregon to play a thirteenth
game win It already was the best team of the
Big Ten during the twelve game regular season. Why ask
Oregon to play a thirteenth game when it already was
first in the Big Ten? Clear cut, no debate, you know,
so it's just asking Oregon to play that extra game.
That's just an extra imposition on Oregon. And yet the
one unbeaten team in the country, the team that was
sitting first place in the Big Ten and in the
number one spot in the College Football Playoff, that's not
the team that should be playing the thirteenth game. You
should be asking the teams lower in the conference to
play that thirteenth game. You know, those are the teams,
the teams on the fringe, should be playing that thirteenth game.
You know, Ohio State lost twice. Oregon did not lose
at all. Ohio State is the team as a team
that should be asked to play a thirteenth game. You know,
Indiana didn't beat anybody this season, Indiana should play a
thirteenth game, not Oregon. So all of this should have
been seen, it should have been planned for. And I'm
really you know, people will say, Matt, you shouldn't be
surprised that college football is slow to react, and fair point,
but really, didn't we know that these conference championship games
were not going to mean as much? Didn't we know
that there was going to need to be reforms to
those conference championship games to adjust to the times, to
adjust to the realities of the twelve team playoff era.
It's really notable that that didn't get done this year.
Speaker 4: Maybe we'll see it get.
Speaker 3: Done next year or at the certainly no later than
twenty twenty six. Right, they've got to get this in
place for twenty twenty six under the new playoff contract.
So maybe we go one more year without reforms, but hey,
if I'm Brett Yormark of the Big twelve, I definitely
want to make these reforms as soon as possible so
I have a better chance of getting more teams in
the playoff in future seasons starting with twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: So a lot to talk about in.
Speaker 3: The college football world here on, get off my pilon
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Speaker 4: I'm at zemch. Thanks for listening.