Playoff Rankings & Controlling the Game

I was watching ESPN Sat evening when they were reviewing all of the day's games and talking about who improved or hurt their playoff resumes. They said that Ohio St.'s 42-27 (15 point margin) win over Indiana hurt their resume because they didn't "control the game." At the end of the 3rd quarter they were "only" ahead by 1 point. So somehow their play in the 4th quarter doesn't matter? Why do we have 4 quarters?



So now they are putting pressure on teams to not just win but win with style. In the previous BCS rankings they took out margin of victory from the computer rankings to get away from style points. Now not only do you have to win by a lot, apparently you have to win by a lot right from kickoff.



So does Alabama get penalized for going down 7-0 to Western Carolina and "only" being up 10-7 at the end of the first quarter? Man, I think I'd rather have the BCS rakings determine the top 4 than this committee. I can just imagine that "IF" BYU was still undefeated and in the mix, like #6, I'd be really upset (wanted to used a different word here) if we got docked for not "controlling the game."



Two teams win by 15 points against similar opponents. One pulls away in the 4th quarter while one gets an early lead and then lets up in the 4th. So those victories are not the same?

Remember these are talking heads making the comments not the committee. They don't know what the committee is thinking except for the rankings each week.

Game control should absolutely be a part of the decision.



Last year FSU was up 42-0 on NCSt in the 3rd quarter. They pulled all their starters and won 42-17. The game was never in doubt and FSU could have won 84-0 if they had wanted and they should get the same credit for the 42-17 win as for an 84-0 win in that case.



Game control makes for better sportsmanship.



That doesn't mean Cal should stop playing with 3:30 left to play against AZ or BYU when their up 10-14 should try to coast to victory against Houston or Virginia.

FSU definitely does not belong in the playoffs then we can all agree their perfect record is mostly a series of flukes and lucky plays (or outright bad calls) right at the end of the game.

As long as FSU doesn't lose, I'm fine with them being in the playoff. I know the games have been close this year, but FSU hasn't lost a game since the year 2012, and will likely carry that into 2015.



I do like the game control as a factor in the whole...but winning all of your games has to count for something, right? For that reason, even with a terrible schedule, Marshall should get the G5 spot in the NY6 games.



Now, if it would guarantee that we move to an 8 team playoff if an undefeated P5 conference team didn't get in, then I may be able to be ok with it.

The problem with a four team playoff is that a team like Marshall deserves a shot. Make it eight or sixteen teams.