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First round bye

Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:14 pm
Posted by claydawg09
Covington
Member since Sep 2013
2341 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:14 pm
To be clear, this is NOT an excuse. It’s up to our staff to figure it tf out. God knows they’re paid well enough to do so. But it’s pretty clear that at the very least, the first round bye in the CFP isn’t helpful. We were playing with a certain rhythm against Texas, fought through GT, then played well against Bama. I just can’t imagine a month off helping a team at all. 1-7 is now the record for teams earning a first round bye. I think either the calendar for the playoff needs to be adjusted or we need to just cross our fingers we get in the CFP without a bye. Idk man. It’s obvious at this point that it has some negative effect. I’m not blaming it. We sucked in certain areas all on our own. But we just looked odd to me.
Posted by GhostOfFreedom
Member since Jan 2021
13113 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:17 pm to
I came here to say the same.

Indianian is a fluke Alabama just sucked.

The Bye has to be done away with. Expand to 16 teams and have more home games.
Posted by JCdawg
Member since Sep 2014
9370 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:18 pm to
quote:

To be clear, this is NOT an excuse. It’s up to our staff to figure it tf out. God knows they’re paid well enough to do so. But it’s pretty clear that at the very least, the first round bye in the CFP isn’t helpful. We were playing with a certain rhythm against Texas, fought through GT, then played well against Bama. I just can’t imagine a month off helping a team at all. 1-7 is now the record for teams earning a first round bye. I think either the calendar for the playoff needs to be adjusted or we need to just cross our fingers we get in the CFP without a bye. Idk man. It’s obvious at this point that it has some negative effect. I’m not blaming it. We sucked in certain areas all on our own. But we just looked odd to me.


I'm not on board with that notion yet.

Ohio State was vastly overrated.
Georgia was beat by a better team tonight.
Texas Tech, also vastly overrated.

Georgia was way to injured last season with Gunner as a backup, plus two key turnovers against Notre Dame
Perhaps the layoff affected Penn State last season?
I don't think Arizona State ever stood a chance against whoever they played.
Posted by claydawg09
Covington
Member since Sep 2013
2341 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:20 pm to
Or just quit the clutching of pearls about making the old “BCS bowls” meaningful and keep it at 12 with the first 2 rounds being at home sites and the semis and natty being rotating neutral sites.

Edit to add keep it at 12 and move the timeline up a week or more.
This post was edited on 1/1/26 at 11:22 pm
Posted by lewis and herschel
Member since Nov 2009
16185 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:20 pm to
ASU kept it close with Texas.
Posted by Dr Greg House
Member since Jan 2019
510 posts
Posted on 1/1/26 at 11:26 pm to
I don’t get the excuse. They get byes in the regular season too. Ole Miss barely had to play against Tulane
Posted by GhostOfFreedom
Member since Jan 2021
13113 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 7:13 am to
quote:

Ole Miss barely had to play against Tulane


It was still a warm up game. nearly 30 days develops a lot of rust that gets knocked off by playing a game, even against a patsy.

What is the record now? 7 losses out of 8 games for the teams with supposed bye game advantage?

It doesn't seem like an advantage, but lets see what happens with the larger sample of another year next year, and the year after and the year after.

Or, just fix this stupid thing.
Posted by DJuga06
Charlotte NC
Member since Oct 2018
1213 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 7:26 am to
I said this in the game board as well. Look at MLB and how quickly the division winners tend to lose that first series coming off the bye. Happened to the Braves in back to back years and most recently the Phillies. Hot teams down the stretch cool off and their break isn’t even two weeks.

It’s practically a month off. When there were only 4 teams they all played that first game with rust. And you can’t simulate game speed in practice, I don’t care how crappy the opponent is.
Posted by gothamdawg
NYC
Member since Nov 2015
1330 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 7:34 am to
Ole Miss did play better, but the assertion is that the Dawgs would have played better if we weren’t rusty.

This seemed to be a team with a different mindset than the SEC final. And our offense looked out of sync.

Posted by DJuga06
Charlotte NC
Member since Oct 2018
1213 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 7:44 am to
As much as I don’t want this abomination to get any worse, I wonder if this might make the most sense and regain balance a little to the top teams:
-16 teams
-no conference championships
-playoffs start right after the regular season
-1v16, 2v15 and so on
-home games in the first two rounds
-bye for the semifinals for all 4 teams
-championship the following week
Posted by ArmydawgMD
Member since Sep 2020
723 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 8:58 am to
I just wish ATM would have beaten TX. We would have been the 5th seed, played a home tune up game vs JMU, then would’ve dog walked Texas Tech.

It’s all so fluky now like the difference between winning and losing last night was not that much. But we were the SEC Champs, which ultimately meant nothing. The format is flawed and needs an overhaul. As it stands in my mind the SECCG has screwed us two years in a row
Posted by lewis and herschel
Member since Nov 2009
16185 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:46 am to
16 teams, homesites, no bye. Conference game becomes play in for two teams on the bubble.
Posted by Bradb5291
Member since Nov 2021
417 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:47 am to
Teams that receive a bye are now 1-7, but teams that play in the conference championship are now 6-13 in the expanded playoff format, maybe it’s the uneven number of games rather than the long time off?
Posted by GeorgiaFlyer
Member since Feb 2014
2435 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:48 am to
That wasn’t championship football. That was stubborn, stale, and arrogant. If you’re going to wear the crown, you better play like it — and that offense played like it forgot who they were.
Posted by lewis and herschel
Member since Nov 2009
16185 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:53 am to
I do think Gunner was concussed. He just wasn't right.
Posted by GeorgiaFlyer
Member since Feb 2014
2435 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:54 am to
When you lose to a team without a coach, the rest of the excuses don’t matter. Who cares.
Posted by lewis and herschel
Member since Nov 2009
16185 posts
Posted on 1/2/26 at 9:57 am to
Fair enough, but The DC and OC were coaching so all you really removed is a narcissistic coach who made horrible decisions once or twice a game....Every game.
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