12 Team Playoff Is Here!

[ShotgunDawg]

Great for Mississippi football & the Egg Bowl.

- It's extremely concievable that the Egg Bowl could decided playoff spots every 5 years or so.
- Gives MSU & OM the ability to lose to Bama & LSU but still be alive down the stretch of the season & having something to play for. Even the Arkansas game will be important.
- Since the Top 4 seeds get & can only be conference champs, Notre Dame cannot get a 1st round bye, thus forcing them into conference or removing them as a propped up national power.
- I don't love that the top 6 conference champs get in though. That means a G5 will be in the mix every year & I don't think that's fair. They'll likely always be the last see though at least.

[Offshore Dawg]

Notre Dame gets enough considerations as it is. NBC is their personal TV network, other than that join a conference.

[Cowbell]

This will help teams that lose a game continue to play through the end of the season I.e. 2014 dak team

[Johnson85]

Great for Mississippi football & the Egg Bowl.

- It's extremely concievable that the Egg Bowl could decided playoff spots every 5 years or so.
- Gives MSU & OM the ability to lose to Bama & LSU but still be alive down the stretch of the season & having something to play for. Even the Arkansas game will be important.
- Since the Top 4 seeds get & can only be conference champs, Notre Dame cannot get a 1st round bye, thus forcing them into conference or removing them as a propped up national power.

So once every five years, one of either Ole Miss or MSU would be knocking on the door of a top 10 finish in the last game of the year? I am thinking that's pretty optimistic. Another way of looking at that would be how often have we been competing for the third highest ranking in the SEC in the last game of the year (although 4 SEC teams being in the top ten is not out of the question, it's probably not likely). Don't think that's going to be one of us every five years either.

[Turfdawg67]

Huh? Am I missing something?? Has MSU or OM finished in the top 12 in the last five years? Ten years? I'm guessing possibly our #1 year and OM's Sugarbowl year? If so, was that once in 20 years? Don't see that as "extremely conceivable".

[ShotgunDawg]

Huh? Am I missing something?? Has MSU or OM finished in the top 12 in the last five years? Ten years? I'm guessing possibly our #1 year and OM's Sugarbowl year? If so, was that once in 20 years? Don't see that as "extremely conceivable".

The Egg Bowl would've decided a playoff team in both 2014 and 2015. It's great for MSU & OM

[BrunswickDawg]

The Egg Bowl would've decided a playoff team in both 2014 and 2015. It's great for MSU & OM

We were also #14 in the Playoff Ranking going into the '16 Egg Bowl. Washington St and Notre Dame were 2 teams ahead of us that lost and dropped - easily getting us Top 12, possibly Top 10 if those cheatin bastards hadn't broken Nick's ankle.

[KOdawg1]

We were also #14 in the Playoff Ranking going into the '16 Egg Bowl. Washington St and Notre Dame were 2 teams ahead of us that lost and dropped - easily getting us Top 12, possibly Top 10 if those cheatin bastards hadn't broken Nick's ankle.

I think you mean 2017. We went 5-7 in '16.

But yes, you're correct. If Mullen had stayed, I think we would've made the playoff with this format in 2018 too. So while our road to get there is still tough, we have a better shot now than we did.

[Turfdawg67]

The Egg Bowl would've decided a playoff team in both 2014 and 2015. It's great for MSU & OM

C'mon man. Do we regularly finish in the top 12? You named 2 years. Hey 1981 we would have qualified too. Look, it's great, no doubt, but it doesn't really mean crap for the Egg Bowl.

[Johnson85]

Huh? Am I missing something?? Has MSU or OM finished in the top 12 in the last five years? Ten years? I'm guessing possibly our #1 year and OM's Sugarbowl year? If so, was that once in 20 years? Don't see that as "extremely conceivable".

It's not finishing in the top 12.

First, realistically, there's likely going to be a G5 team not in the top 12 that will qualify, so that really means top 11. And if any P5 conference has a conference champion not in the top 12, which will not happen every year but occasionally will when there is a down year or when a conference with a weak division has an upset in the conference championship game, you're talking about top ten.

But second, it's not finishing the season that way, but having the chance to if you win the egg bowl.

2014 is the only year I'm aware of that obviously counts. The only other potential year I'm aware of is 2017, where we were 14th before they broke Nick's ankle. No guarantee we would have made it if we had won, but Washington St and Notre Dame both dropped out of the top 12 the next week. We likely would have finished 12th and gotten screwed b/c of the G5 qualifier.

Similar to the way Ole Miss was apparently 12th in the final playoff ranking in 2015 after winning the egg bowl but would not have made it because the G5 automatic qualifier would have been #18 Houston.

Nothing else comes to mind. Ole Miss just missed a chance at the SEC Game in 2004 (I think? Eli's last year; just screwed up against LSU, although I guess that means they were already out of it by egg bowl?). Would 99 have counted for us maybe?

[Turfdawg67]

It's not finishing in the top 12.

First, realistically, there's likely going to be a G5 team not in the top 12 that will qualify, so that really means top 11. And if any P5 conference has a conference champion not in the top 12, which will not happen every year but occasionally will when there is a down year or when a conference with a weak division has an upset in the conference championship game, you're talking about top ten.

But second, it's not finishing the season that way, but having the chance to if you win the egg bowl.

2014 is the only year I'm aware of that obviously counts. The only other potential year I'm aware of is 2017, where we were 14th before they broke Nick's ankle. No guarantee we would have made it if we had won, but Washington St and Notre Dame both dropped out of the top 12 the next week. We likely would have finished 12th and gotten screwed b/c of the G5 qualifier.

Similar to the way Ole Miss was apparently 12th in the final playoff ranking in 2015 after winning the egg bowl but would not have made it because the G5 automatic qualifier would have been #18 Houston.

Nothing else comes to mind. Ole Miss just missed a chance at the SEC Game in 2004 (I think? Eli's last year; just screwed up against LSU, although I guess that means they were already out of it by egg bowl?). Would 99 have counted for us maybe?

Ummm... I think you agreed with me. Rarely would we have qualified... ever. But who knows? Great! Afternoon golf and drinking may have clouded my thinking. If so, someone try again.

[Johnson85]

Ummm... I think you agreed with me. Rarely would we have qualified... ever. But who knows? Great! Afternoon golf and drinking may have clouded my thinking. If so, someone try again.

I was agreeing with you that it would be rare, but pointing out that Shotgun's statement was about the Egg Bowl deciding a spot, which would just mean that one team enters the game with the likelihood of a playoff spot if they won, which is a slightly easier bar to clear than either of us actually finishing in the playoffs. 2014 is the only year that for sure would have impacted the playoffs. 2015 would have been close but Ole Miss would have missed it by one spot. 2017 possibly could have been a year like that, but likely even a win would have put us in the same position as Ole Miss was in 2015, where we were the first team out but ranked higher than the G5 representative.

[R2Dawg]

Huh? Am I missing something?? Has MSU or OM finished in the top 12 in the last five years? Ten years? I'm guessing possibly our #1 year and OM's Sugarbowl year? If so, was that once in 20 years? Don't see that as "extremely conceivable".

I think we would have went in 14. Yeah it is still a stretch but if we finish in top 3 of SECW we have a chance.

[mparkerfd20]

That ensures 3 rounds of playoffs before championship. I suppose we'll lose 1 or 2 non-conference games a year and go to more conference games.

[Homedawg]

Gonna be some terrible terrible quarter final games.

[Hot Rock]

Gonna be some terrible terrible quarter final games.

There is going to be some 3 & 4 seeds get upset in that qtr final game as well. The best four teams will be left standing and no one will be a pretender that makes it to the semi's

[ScoobaDawg]

Yea.. I don't see it helping us that much but it's good for the game. if they had gone to 16, maybe we get in sometime.. but top 10 is still a tall task with the state of the West.

[ShotgunDawg]

Yea.. I don't see it helping us that much but it's good for the game. if they had gone to 16, maybe we get in sometime.. but top 10 is still a tall task with the state of the West.

It gives us a punchers chance & hope. That's better that what we've had

[smootness]

It gives us a punchers chance & hope. That's better that what we've had

I actually don't see it that way. I think it's more likely we would have a season with 0 or 1 loss than we would win 3-4 playoff games in a row. I think the more expanded the playoff becomes, the worse our chances actually are. In other sports, sure, but in football the better teams are going to have a much higher chance of winning a playoff. This actually continues to favor the top programs even more because even if they slip up and lose a game or 2, they'll make the playoff and then have a better chance of running that table.

[maroonmania]

Yea.. I don't see it helping us that much but it's good for the game. if they had gone to 16, maybe we get in sometime.. but top 10 is still a tall task with the state of the West.

The move to 12 is goofy. I mean either go to 8 or just go all the way to 16 for Pete's sake. So, not only will the Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State types still get most all the elite talent, now they will get have a week off in the playoffs while the other playoff teams beat each other off. There are no 'bye' games for the #1 seeds in the NCAA basketball or baseball tournaments, so I don't understand why they didn't just go to 16 rather than give the elite teams even more advantage than they already have? And, while this gives a few more 'fun' games to watch at the end of the year, it does nothing to address the lack of competitiveness in the college football product. Its still going to be the same programs winning the NC every year.