The Daily Player 12: May the Farce Be with You

There's a tried-&-true process in sports to determine which teams make the playoffs:

• Look at the standings, and
• Select the teams that finished at and/or near the top of their group.

It works quite well the world over.

Except for the competition run by our largest institutions of higher learning.

 

Ironic, isn't it?

 

The dudes and dudettes who should be making the most sense just don't.

Their anointed baker's dozen are back on expense account again, turning their own selection mandate into a convoluted ball of subjectivity and cramming presenting it as the intellectual way to determine an FBS champion.

You'll note they went upper campus with their rationale:

Ranking football teams is an art, not a science.

We know where that's going.

Turns out, though, the Committee's infinite wisdom isn't all that different from those viewing from the press box.

Here are the season's  first CFP rankings, as if they matter right now:

1. Georgia	3. Notre Dame
2. Alabama	4. Clemson
5. Oklahoma	9. Wisconsin
6. Ohio State	10. Miami
7. Penn State	11. Oklahoma State
8. TCU	12. Washington

It looks damn near identical to the Associated Press sportswriters poll. And that crew has as many sets of ranking criteria as there are voters.

Which happens to be a hella lot, with one thing in common:

All this is why The Daily Player12 is back to take another run at bringing order to a screwed up sporting world, one happy hour at a time.

 

The Daily Player 12 is based on taking the Selection Committee's objective criteria literally. More than literally, in fact. No opinions, just data.

It considers all FBS teams with two losses or less after Week 9:

• Until a conference title is clinched, division leaders will be considered as first-place teams.
• Power Five scores in non-conference games will be measured on a win-loss basis.
• Head-to-head results will be measured separately on a win-loss basis.
• Bookies are the only evaluators who put their dosh where their conclusions are. Bovada championship odds will be factored into the rankings.
• Geeks have an unbiased place in this process; Anderson-Hester computer rankings are easily understandable and will be included.

Damn right it is.

Kinda like buying a round when it's your turn.

 

As opposed to some organizations out there, the key is what one does with the data. Like assigning simple, graded values and letting it speak for itself.

• Standings matter. The Big XII has ten teams; no other conference has a division that large, so a first-place team will get 10 points, a second-place team will get 9 points, and so forth. If a team is tied for a position, it will be considered to hold the higher position. A conference champion will be awarded 5 bonus points.
• Non-con Power Five wins will be worth 3 points; those losses will be worth 1 point.
• Notre Dame's schedule will be measured against ACC teams.
• If BYU ever becomes a factor, we'll figure it out then.
• Head-to-head conference wins will be worth 3 points; those losses will be worth -1 point.
• Bovada and Geek rankings will be based on a 25-point scale and factored down by a constant of 0.3; thus, a first-place position will be worth (25 x 0.3) = 7.5 points, second place for either will be worth (24 x 0.3) = 7.2 points, and so on. If a team is tied for a position, it will be considered to hold the higher position.

This results in The Daily Player 12:

Right now, you're probably asking yourself:

• UCF? ... It's Week 9, for chrissakes! The Golden Knights are virtually maxed on the criteria. The only way they'll get more points is if Scott Frost brings the entire team with him when he moves to a Power Five job.
• Alabama? ... Backloaded schedule, like most contenders have. November will be a point-pickin' month for the Tide and a host of others. By the time Nick Saban says it'll be safe to look, it'll be safe to look.

For the record, here's what the geeks have to say, based solely on games played to date, which is what the Committee is supposed to be doing:

Odds are the season's got a few more surprises left in it.

By definition, so will The Daily Player 12. Radical shifts will happen as teams earn points for results, not artsy-fartsy perspectives and preferences.

There's a place for that kinda judging.

 

We'll let the teams speak for themselves.

As it should be.