12 Team Playoff Is Here!

[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.