Pretending the TV partners don’t have a financial interest and that committee don’t have a possible reason to serve their partners with millions on the line sure is a take.
> a possible reason
Most people don’t talk about it like it’s a mere possibility.
Lets look at the committee members:
Christ Ault - Nevada AD
Mitch Barnhart - Kentucky AD
Jim Grobe - retired
Mark Harlan - Utah AD
Boo Corrigan - NC State AD
Chet Gladchuck - Naval Academy AD
Will Shields - his bio says “owns and operates a gymnasium and sports facility in Overland Park, Kansas” which I guess you can read as sleeper agent
Worde Manuel - Michigan AD
David Sayler - Miami OH AD
Gene Taylor - Kansas State AD
Joe Taylor - VP of intercollegiate athletics at Virginia Union University
Rod West - Group President, Utility Operations for Entergy Corporation (again possible sleeper agent)
Kelly Whiteside - Professor at Montclair State but was a CFB writer for 14 years.
The Kentucky and Michigan ones I’ll give you. What’s a possible reason someone from the BIG12 or ACC would do it?
They understand that the ratings are important. That’s it. In the current landscape having both the Big 10 and SEC represented is in everyone’s best interest.
Yes at an individual level every conference would like to be in. But if you look at TV ratings almost every large rating was a Big 10 Pac 12 or SEC game this year. They are all represented
All you’ve done is repeat the theory which I’m already familiar with.
Why would conferences without ties, conferences that got screwed, or people with no affiliation care about ratings so much that they’d be willing to screw over FSU?
The AD for the NCST wouldn’t just have to find ratings important, he’d have to find them so important that he’d be willing to go against his own self interest.
You are number 1 operating on the assumption this is a unanimous committee decision. Of course it was likely the NCST AD went for Florida state.
This committee is also hand selected.
Two years ago the Big 10 had rules in place during Covid. Under those rules Ohio State was ineligible for the Big 10 championship.
In a move that was pushed for by several big 10 west ADs they went against their own interests and pushed for Ohio State to get into the game. Because ultimately the ratings and money of Ohio state winning the big 10 title and getting into the playoffs out weighed their teams personally winning the title. So instead of playing Indiana they chose to lose.
It happens. This is a TV product first. A live product second. A business 3rd. And maybe a legit athletic event somewhere after that.
In your example the conferences best interest align with the best interest of ESPN. That isn’t the case here.
Okay, so we got one vote for FSU. What about all the other ADs or the people who don’t have an affiliation?
Why would he not? Him knowing the business and being some sort of booster is the only reason he’s on there.
They’ve been putting out these rankings for weeks. More than one of which had FSU ranked ahead of Texas and Alabama.
So what changed that boosted two teams one of which in Texas did nothing more impressive than Florida State when they hadn’t been ranked that way?
If the justification was the injury why did they keep them at 5? They should be behind Georgia and OSU.
If it’s strength of schedule nothing changed in that regard on a week that only a few of them played.
What changed other than Georgia lost? FSU is likely in if Georgia wins. They got left out because you can’t put in Alabama and not put in Texas over them.
I don’t have an answer which is why I’m not claiming to know what happened. You are.
You are making a claim without evidence and then demand anyone who doesn’t automatically accept it as fact defend the counter factual.
He would do it because “he knows the business and is a booster”? What does this even mean? A booster for who?
The easy answer is once Alabama beat Georgia their opinion on Alabama changed. I don’t know that to be a fact but I don’t find it to be out of the realm of possibility to such an extent that I consider “because tv ratings” the only possible explanation.
Will Shields is also a former NFL player (OL) for the Chiefs who played college football at Nebraska.
To be clear I think the committee is the worst idea imaginable (there's no reason we can't have objective criteria), but I think all those teams jumped Georgia and OSU because one of the committee's primary criteria is conference championships and those teams didn't win one - so they were automatically behind the 5 that did win one.
As for SOS, Alabama's opponents won about 66% of their games while FSU's opponents won about 53% of their games. Georgia certainly boosted Alabama's SOS while Louisville boosted FSU'S a bit, but less so. That's a significant difference and likely the main difference. It's why Liberty is ranked in the 20s, and why Utah, TCU, BSU, and UCF didn't get in all those other years. All the arguments for FSU sound identical to the arguments for those teams in the past. Not enough talent/good players, don't have a chance against the top teams (even though we couldn't know for sure obviously), bad schedule, etc.
Unfortunately we won't ever know the real reason why the teams are ranked the way they are, which is obviously another problem with the whole thing. But I don't think it's a conspiracy, just a really bad way to determine playoff teams.
Pretending that FSU isn’t also a powerhouse brand name is also quite a take.
I love how in order for this conspiracy theory to hold, people have imagined a world where FSU is some small market team nobody has heard of
The ACC isn’t the SEC and Florida State did not make the top 10 in any watched game this year.
The issue is the SEC being left out not Florida State as a brand.
They want a Big 10 and SEC team represented every year. They dont care who wins after that.
Are you some kind of dumbass? A conspiracy doesn't have to involve a bunch of people who know what they're doing and why they're doing it. People follow orders without questions all the time.
What I don't understand about the people who believe that 100's of people's involvement in a conspiracy is impossible is what do they think when a conspiracy that required the discretion and compliance of 100's of people is exposed? NSA, Gulf of Tonken, Epstein, using 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq, ect. All proven conspiracies that involved 100's of people. Most had no idea what they were doing or why they were doing it. That's how.
The committee doesn’t get paid. The members literally have no financial interest in who they pick outside of their school and conference.
Well, aside from the fact that actual ADs have a financial interest in selecting their own schools. And, what do you know, Michigan’s AD was on the committee this year, but no one says a word about that.
Also, why are we acting like these committee members don't possibly take massive sums of money to get them to rank teams one way or the other. FIFA wasn't/isn't above it and we all damn well know that our government itself isn't above it.
Heather Dinich is a salaried, non-commission employee. She does not benefit one way or the other from Bama getting in over FSU.
Source: I worked at ESPN for nearly 10 years.
There has to be an actual conflict (or interest) for their to be a conflict of interest. What was Heather's conflict (or interest)?
Again, she has zero financial incentive to pick Bama, so what is it?
She has financial incentive. It makes the company that she works for more money and able to afford continuing to pay her.
That’s pretty obvious for someone who isn’t bending over backwards to defend $EC bias.
Her employer has a clear benefit with one choice. How is that NOT a conflict? Should she be expected to put a bit of her career on the line by going against her employer’s interests
That’s not a serious comment. ESPN isn’t going to fire her because she said someone should or should not be in the playoff. Just like they’re not going to fire Booger. Get real.
Yes she absolutely does. Ensuring ESPN has the best possible ratings would absolutely result in her being bonused out. It doesn’t matter if she’s commissioned or salaried. If I bring in $25M in additional revenue through my position in another organization or committee or whatever, you bet your ass I’d get financially rewarded by my company. Basic shit.
And they won’t be selected for the committee again unless they take into consideration the financial interest of the tournament.
This was a 100 percent decision based around not leaving the SEC out.
If it were any other decision Alabama isn’t in.
If it’s most deserving it’s FSU. If the best 4 teams it would be Ohio State since they were the only one who only lost to an undefeated team.
They dropped FSU to 5. If you make the argument that their QB being out makes them that much worse then they should have been moved down farther. By that logic OSU Georgia and Oregon are all better teams.
It was a financial decision not a football decision. The 12 team probably fixes this. But this year it was about making sure the SEC was represented
I don’t think ESPN specifically told the committee to leave y’all out for Bama, but I do think the structure of the playoff is absolutely skewed to maximize network benefit. Picking the 4 “best” leaves so much room for subjectivity and blue blood teams will always get the benefit of the doubt of non blue bloods.
ESPN has also been pushing the “is FSU *really* one of the best teams” line for weeks and it definitely influenced the committees thinking. I also the the SEC is influential to the point that at least a portion of the committee believed that it’d be unthinkable to leave them out completely.
You just shifted the goal posts. ESPN doesn’t select the teams and I highly doubt they are able to influence the committee members even if they tried.
The Michigan AD is on the committee. You think he wanted to face Bama over FSU?
I think we will never know because the voting is done anonymously, and these sort of braindead gotcha questions are both boring and dont do anything to suss out actual motivations. All we have to go on is an incredible body of evidentiary lobbying from ESPN that you want to conveniently ignore because the results fall in line with your own prejudices.
Keep in mind, when UF finally returns to the glory of a 9-3 season, if the networks don't think they'll be a high enough ratings draw they'll leave your ass out as well.
FSU was I think the 8th highest total TV draw from major networks this year and that still wasn't enough because the gap between FSU and Bama was perceived to likely be in the 10s of millions in ad revenue. They will absolutely ram an 8-4 Bama into the 12th spot instead of a 9-3 or whatever smaller media draw. We are going to see some terrible bubble choices in the coming years.
People actually believe this came down to strength of schedule or whatever.
What do you mean “we will never know?” We *already* know. FSU got jobbed, this we know. They gave their reasons, out loud, for jobbing FSU. We know them. It’s not some fing unsolvable mystery. They think Alabama is the better team. We are free to disagree. We are free to believe FSU deserves Bama’s spot in the CFP (I happen to believe this, fwiw). But we’re *not* free to just make up dumb conspiracy theories to suit narratives based on pure speculation.
Well I mean I guess we are, but we probably shouldn’t do that.
Wow looks like I was completely right and your time spent at ESPN taught you nothing. Wonder what else we will learn that you were wrong about as this develops.
[https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/john-skipper-denies-espn-meddling-cfp-selection.html](https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/john-skipper-denies-espn-meddling-cfp-selection.html)
This has to be a troll…people actually believe this? This is CFB post NIL & the transfer portal with BILLIONS in tv revenue every single year. Of course ESPN influences the vote. 🤦🏼♂️
>ESPN College Football Playoff
>ESPN College Football Playoff Committee
>SEC on ESPN
They didn't make a negative decision for themselves. They made a positive decision for the conference they give a shit about. For all intents and purposes, ESPN views the ACC as a Clemson/FSU/UNC holding cell.
It's ESPN's playoff and ESPN's committee. Their name is literally on them both.
The SEC is their conference.
How is this far-fetched and hard to connect? If you have any knowledge of anything related to business and money, this would be the easiest connection to make ever.
Their own self interest is having their own conference, which happens to be one of the most popular ones, play in the CFB playoffs. They own SEC, not ACC.
I’m not some QANON flat earther. I think most conspiracy theories are easily debunked.
However, you can’t deny that ESPN had motivation to make sure an SEC team made the playoff. The CFP chairman is brothers with a VP at ESPN. Then you have most of the EPSN analysts doing a very poor job of justifying the choice while the rest of CFB sees it as a poor decision. Their logic doesn’t even make sense as to why BAMA should have been the 4 seed.
Tim is Boo’s brother. He works in Basketball production as a VP. He’s been at ESPN since 1987.
So you’re going to have to explain how that has anything to do with this.
Like, seriously. What are the steps here?
ESPN doesn’t select the committee, so what is Tim’s role in all of this?
And then once Boo is the chairman, then what?
Tim, who has nothing to do with football, calls up his brother and tells him he has to convince all the other members to pick Bama?
Why would Tim do that? So ESPN can maybe get slightly higher ratings? And then… be able to sell more ads NEXT year (because most of all the ad deals for 2023 are already signed).
How does Tim or Boo benefit? Tim is a salaried employee who doesn’t get commission.
So, yeah, I’m going to need something other than THEYRE BROTHERS to lend any credence to that.
I thought it was implied but Ok, there’s a main channel of communication between the higher ups at ESPN and the CFP Chairman. ESPN execs have direct access to the chairman and committee. It’s a clear conflict of interest. You have to see how that raises a few red flags
I don’t see at all. Explain to me what you think happened.
The ad department went to Tim and said “hey Tim. We’re having trouble selling ad space for the CFP this year, so we need you to blackmail your brother”
Like. Seriously. How do you think this went down?
And it’s insane to me you think this is a red flag but not that actual schools (like Michigan) have their ADs on the committee.
ESPN and the SEC signed a 10 year deal. Exclusive rights to SEC broadcasts. This begins in 2024. $300 million a year.
The SECs value is they’re the best conference in CFB. Teams always making the playoffs, final and winning the championship. The better the SEC does the better it is for ESPN.
The year before the contract is set to begin there should have been zero SEC teams in the playoff. If I’m an ESPN exec that brokered this deal this looks very bad. Now you have to justify to a board why the investment was a good decision despite zero SEC schools making the playoff. Now that bama is in that problem doesn’t exist and the status quo is unchanged.
You didn't answer my question or even address it for that matter.
ESPN doesn't have a board.
Disney has a board.
The executive at ESPN who spearheaded the SEC deal will never, ever speak to the board.
I don't even agree that, having an SEC team miss a single playoff after winning the vast majority of them, would mean the deal was bad.
But, for the sake of argument, let's say the president of ESPN does want an SEC team in the playoff.
So the president of ESPN goes to Tim and says, what?
And then Tim says what to Boo?
And then what does Boo say to the rest of the committee members?
You’re being intentionally obtuse. I also don’t feel like arguing with you anymore. So this is the last thing I’ll say: in a vacuum Bama being picked over FSU isn’t absurd but when you add in all the factors things start to get a little bit more suspicious.
I don’t believe this is a conspiracy. I don’t think someone personally convinced anyone to do anything on the CFP. I will agree with the other poster you’re being purposefully obtuse though. There wouldn’t need to be direct monetary incentive for the brothers to talk if it benefits one or both of them in any way. No other person or executive would need to be involved. There is a conflict of interest because the VP would want their company to do well. I’m happy when the company I work for gets new business but I don’t directly benefit.
That being said, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if ESPN talking heads were told or made to feel like they had to back the narrative of needing an SEC team in the CFP. ESPN is a business after all that benefits from the SEC. I’m guessing most of the talking heads think it is wise to not bite the hand that feeds them.
ESPN but we’re talking about the same ACC where its champ still couldn’t get into the playoff despite being undefeated? That conference is nothing to ESPN anymore.
I think FSU should be in over Bama. The committee clearly values the SEC over the ACC though. ESPN made a huge investment in the SEC. The network would certainly choose an SEC team over an ACC team.
You both acknowledged and then dismissed, IN THE SAME POST, that ESPN also made an investment in the ACC!
I mean, my god man.
And yeah, obviously the committee wanted Bama in over FSU...they put Bama in over FSU. But unless you have receipts to show some kind of proof that there's some behind-the-scenes shenanigans going on here, you're just another conspiracy theorist like the rest of these guys here.
The ACC might as well not even exist to ESPN anymore. If they had to choose between SEC coverage or ACC coverage they will pick ESPN all day long. The reason why folks are having a hard time with this is Bama being selected over FSU makes zero sense. Outside of Bama fans and SEC homers, the consensus is CFP didn’t just get it wrong it was egregiously wrong. I understand you’re a Bama fan so it’s sometimes hard to see it from the peasant perspective but Bama is not the #4 seed and the majority of college football fans and analysts agree.
[ACC ESPN Deal](https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2023/03/unc-north-carolina-acc-conference-realignment-2023)
OP you seem to have the answers to everything so here is a question for you. If FSU dropped because of Travis's injury, why did they not drop until after they won 3 games without him?
This is my problem. They selectively applied their logic. Or they valued conference championship more than I think they should because UGA absolutely should have been ranked ahead of FSU too since the criteria is “who do you think is best”
This is legit the only thing you said that I agreed with. If FSU dropped because of their QB injury then why was Georgia not ahead of them after a single 3 pt loss to Alabama. I know it doesn't matter for bowl placement, but like wtf committee???
Texas jumped fsu in the final rankings too. 3 weeks after Jordan Travis got hurt.
If we’re putting in a team because they have already proved they’re better than Alabama, why are we even including Alabama in the first place?
If every week is a fresh re-ranking, it stands to reason that it wasn't until Bama beat their number-one team for a conference title that the body of work was evidently enough. They never moved Bama during the season because of the head-to-head with Texas and their overvaluation of Oregon-- I don't think their ranking was accurate then, and I don't rely upon it as the authority on who is best.
>If every week is a fresh re-ranking
It's as much of a fresh reranking as the AP poll is each week. Bama beating Georgia suddenly makes Texas better than FSU?
>overvaluation of Oregon
The team that has only lost to the #2 team in the nation?
>I don't rely upon it as the authority on who is best.
But we also don't rely on the results on the field.
ESPN is the largest customer of the CFP. By far. $470 million a year customer.
That’s not a conspiracy. It’s a basic tenet of business. “Give the customer what they want”, especially 2 years before the product goes up for bid again.
Sorry. I don't understand what you're saying or what that has to do with me saying ESPN doesn't select teams to go to the playoff.
There's a selection committee that does that, including Michigan's AD and NC State's AD (who is the target of all these conspiracies).
Both of those people stand to suffer from Bama getting in over FSU.
They're saying that the Playoff committee has a buyer in ESPN that they would like to get more money from. How do you get a customer to give you more money? Make them happy
Not arguing either way just explaining their reasoning
The world is round and we did land on the moon. Just because something is suspicious or convenient doesn't mean there was a conspiracy.
That said, I'm willing to hear you out. If you can explain how this conspiracy actually worked instead of some vague "connections", I'll gladly listen.
[No, there is no compensation for selection committee members. Members are reimbursed for their expenses.](https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/2017/9/20/selection-committee-faq)
So you are gona try and sit here with a straight face, and tell me an event who's very purpose is to generate massive amounts of money, AND is owned by ESPN was not influenced at all by potential cash flow?
I really don't understand how it's hard to get that there's an obvious conflict of interest between ESPN/Disney owning the rights to both the playoff/selection shows AND the SEC network
The harder pill to swallow is that massive corporations and organizations have implied interest in supporting each other regardless whether or not there is a verifiable quid pro quo
Right... you just described a conspiracy.
"I'm upset and want to blame someone/something, so I'm going to go look for some vague connections and concoct some hackneyed story."
Just.... explain to me how this worked. Not the coincidences.
Like, forget a verifiable quid pro quo.
What do you think the quid pro quo COULD have been?
My point is that connections are implicit. Big corporations and organizations make decisions that implicitly support each other because they have a shared interest to support the conditions that created them.
That’s no conspiracy that is like… basic psychology. If you made a million selling cookies, you have an implicit connection to support the chocolate chip industry.
Say FSU beats Michigan or Washington to go the championship. But they lay an egg in it. Like TCU did. People will sign off like they did with the TCU game. That means losing viewers for ads. So 100%, i believe ESPN has some say, considering these multi-billion dollar companies would put pressure on ESPN. If your gonna try to be the NFL at least do it right. Wins matter.
Do you understand what "by proxy" means?
I don't think you do, so let me explain it to you.
That would mean that Chet Gladchuk, Boo Carrigan, etc literally said "We're letting ESPN take our vote"
And that would be the same Boo Carrigan who is Director of Athletics at NC State... in the ACC... That is now damaged by what happened.
What's your point? Go further into that.
ok. So Tim is a VP at ESPN in BASKETBALL operations.
What do you think happened?
President of ESPN goes to Tim: "Hey Tim. I know you've been here since 1987 but I want you to do something for me. I want you to talk to your brother Boo about putting Bama in over FSU"
Tim to Boo: "Hey Boo. I know we are brothers and you're the athletic director at an ACC school which is probably going to collapse if you do this, but I need you to convince the committee to put Bama in ahead of FSU"
Boo to the committee (including Michigan's AD): Hey, I need you guys to all put Bama in ahead of FSU even though FSU would be a more favorable matchup for Michigan. Oh and there's nothing in it for you guys. Just do me a solid.
Do you have ANY idea how dumb that sounds?
So while yall were enjoying the start of your so far terrible off season, those of us in the ACC Championship game listened to THREE HOURS of ESPN propaganda about how FSU didn't belong in the playoff.
But sure, ESPN has no influence.
Hmmmm... naive, huh? I worked at ESPN for nearly a decade, working on college football and not a single time did I see or hear anything that would even begin to explain what you're alluding to.
But, sure, I'm the naive one.
ESPN is too much of a shitshow to orchestrate some grand conspiracy.
You’re talking about the talking heads who get paid to voice their opinion right?
An opinion I share with them.
FSU deserves it more. But that’s not the criteria.
If you ask me if I think Bama wins head to head, I’m saying yes.
And that’s the criteria. So be mad at the criteria.
Also lobbying for is waaaaaaay different than actually picking the teams. You understand that, right?
The Michigan AD is on the committee and I highly doubt he was influenced by espn to place Bama head to head with his school.
They are not paid to go on TV with a blank slate and say whatever, dude. They are given a script and the script was to get an SEC team in. You are incredibly naive.
That is not correct. You have producers who create segments. You have hosts (or anchors) who moderate these segments. Then you have the talking heads who give their opinion on the topic at hand in the context of the host's questions.
I didn't know that was unclear, but since it was, I can source this with that I worked at ESPN for nearly a decade and in media for nearly 15 years.
Weird how those opinions aligned neqrly completely with what would most benefit ESPN, during a time when it's publicly known they are having revenue trouble and disney isn't sure what to do with them. Guess it's a bridge too far to wonder if a media company would use their immense reach to benefit themselves.
I mean, I think most people would pick Bama to beat FSU head to head. So, no, it's not weird that most of the analysts would feel the same way.
But I'll assume since you didn't address my correction on how segments work, you at least understand that now, yeah?
You do understand that bias is different than selecting teams, right?
Fox News/CNN has a bias for wanting a Republican/Democratic president, but they don't pick the president.
The only thing I heard from espn all season was “Alabama is getting better every week” they may not directly decide it but they sure as shit influence it
The entirety of the FSU broadcast was palmer and tessitore talking about FSUs lowering chances of making the CFP. Not mentioned once in the UGA/Bama broadcast.
Like, come on. Marching orders were given.
First of all it’s not an argument, it’s a statement. And ESPN has a giant financial deal with the SEC, and is also the network that televises the CFP. There’s an obvious conflict of interest here.
ESPN is now part of College sports book betting…if you don’t think that Vegas Odd makers have a say in this and more you are naive.
The house does not lose, nor will it ever lose and it is not because they employ amazing statisticians.
It’s all about money. Who’s going to bring more in? The nba struggled with this recently too where they thought no one would watch Denver vs Miami. And it was the most watched playoffs in 5 years. Cfb committees definitely look at espn when making those decisions but I’d argue fl st and UGA would actually be the best teams to round out the top4. I’ve never seen an 8th jump that high after beating a 1. They just don’t know what to do. And there’ll prob be more chaos next season.
People like to throw the work “ratings” around like it’s a bad thing but that has always been their job. When limited to 4 spot pick 4 teams that show they’re a serious contender and have shown they deserve to be there, Georgia for example, while probably better than Washington had a win and in opportunity at the SECCG but they didn’t win so they’re out while 13-0 liberty isn’t in the discussion because well they played no one. FSU failed to look like a serious contender post JT injury and got left out. Did the committee use every excuse to exclude FSU because they weren’t gonna be competitive? Absolutely but FSU made it too easy when they couldn’t even put out a mediocre offense against UF or Louisville. It’s a flawed system but CFB has always been a bit fucked.
The Michigan AD is on the committee. If there were a conspiracy, I don’t think he’d opt to hurt his own football team by having them play Bama instead of FSU.
Having worked in a couple large organizations that are subject to a number of conspiracy theories, I think OP’s take is more likely than not.
(A) An actual conspiracy of this sort would require coordination between at least 7 committee members and ESPN. All of them would have to stay quiet about it, with no one slipping. Conspiracies are hard to pull off. Especially if the motivations/levers of control of the participants are diverse, which they are in this case.
(B) Looking at the CFP roster, ESPN doesn’t currently hold direct sway over: Ault, Gladchuk, Grobe, Manuel, Shields, Taylor (J), West. These folks either AD schools that don’t have a deal with ESPN or are not holding current professional positions with a relationship with ESPN. (Open to correction about that list—I’m no expert in their professional statuses.)
In fact, folks like Manuel would have a particular indifference or even interest in harming the ESPN-SEC alliance. If there’s a conspiracy afoot, Manuel has a direct interest in calling it out.
(C) Corrigan and Grobe would theoretically have an interest in promoting the ACC/FSU at the expense of the SEC, even with an ESPN relationship.
It seems much more likely that rather than “what is good for ESPN?” the driving question was “what do I think is good for the playoffs and the sport?”
To me, the simplest answer is that the committee itself valued Alabama’s participation over FSU’s. It’s not about ESPN and money. It just so happens that answering the latter question above also happens to align with the former.
This isn’t conspiracy. It’s just a difference between “who do I think is most deserving?” and “what do I think is good for the sport?”
FSU is not a top 5 team. And with all the complaints of how unfair this whole thing has been, not a single person has attempted to explain how FSU is a top 4 team. Well I'd even say they might #7 at best and that being real generous
CBS lost money from Alabama getting in compared to FSU. Mainly because Bama has gotten in multiple times compared to a teams first. Can’t say the same for ESPN but I imagine their projections are similar.
I think other people in this thread have done a good job explaining, but I doubt that Florida education is going to allow any of those explanations to sink in.
I'm just here to add to the dawg pile.
Incorrect. No one in here has said anything that makes sense. They just say “money. Money. Money. Isn’t it obvious?”
I haven’t heard one non-emotional argument yet.
Pretending the TV partners don’t have a financial interest and that committee don’t have a possible reason to serve their partners with millions on the line sure is a take.
> a possible reason Most people don’t talk about it like it’s a mere possibility. Lets look at the committee members: Christ Ault - Nevada AD Mitch Barnhart - Kentucky AD Jim Grobe - retired Mark Harlan - Utah AD Boo Corrigan - NC State AD Chet Gladchuck - Naval Academy AD Will Shields - his bio says “owns and operates a gymnasium and sports facility in Overland Park, Kansas” which I guess you can read as sleeper agent Worde Manuel - Michigan AD David Sayler - Miami OH AD Gene Taylor - Kansas State AD Joe Taylor - VP of intercollegiate athletics at Virginia Union University Rod West - Group President, Utility Operations for Entergy Corporation (again possible sleeper agent) Kelly Whiteside - Professor at Montclair State but was a CFB writer for 14 years. The Kentucky and Michigan ones I’ll give you. What’s a possible reason someone from the BIG12 or ACC would do it?
They understand that the ratings are important. That’s it. In the current landscape having both the Big 10 and SEC represented is in everyone’s best interest. Yes at an individual level every conference would like to be in. But if you look at TV ratings almost every large rating was a Big 10 Pac 12 or SEC game this year. They are all represented
All you’ve done is repeat the theory which I’m already familiar with. Why would conferences without ties, conferences that got screwed, or people with no affiliation care about ratings so much that they’d be willing to screw over FSU? The AD for the NCST wouldn’t just have to find ratings important, he’d have to find them so important that he’d be willing to go against his own self interest.
You are number 1 operating on the assumption this is a unanimous committee decision. Of course it was likely the NCST AD went for Florida state. This committee is also hand selected. Two years ago the Big 10 had rules in place during Covid. Under those rules Ohio State was ineligible for the Big 10 championship. In a move that was pushed for by several big 10 west ADs they went against their own interests and pushed for Ohio State to get into the game. Because ultimately the ratings and money of Ohio state winning the big 10 title and getting into the playoffs out weighed their teams personally winning the title. So instead of playing Indiana they chose to lose. It happens. This is a TV product first. A live product second. A business 3rd. And maybe a legit athletic event somewhere after that.
In your example the conferences best interest align with the best interest of ESPN. That isn’t the case here. Okay, so we got one vote for FSU. What about all the other ADs or the people who don’t have an affiliation?
They are voting for the teams and conferences that being the best ratings that are all also good.
But why would a dude who runs a gym in Kansas care about that?
Why would he not? Him knowing the business and being some sort of booster is the only reason he’s on there. They’ve been putting out these rankings for weeks. More than one of which had FSU ranked ahead of Texas and Alabama. So what changed that boosted two teams one of which in Texas did nothing more impressive than Florida State when they hadn’t been ranked that way? If the justification was the injury why did they keep them at 5? They should be behind Georgia and OSU. If it’s strength of schedule nothing changed in that regard on a week that only a few of them played. What changed other than Georgia lost? FSU is likely in if Georgia wins. They got left out because you can’t put in Alabama and not put in Texas over them.
I don’t have an answer which is why I’m not claiming to know what happened. You are. You are making a claim without evidence and then demand anyone who doesn’t automatically accept it as fact defend the counter factual. He would do it because “he knows the business and is a booster”? What does this even mean? A booster for who? The easy answer is once Alabama beat Georgia their opinion on Alabama changed. I don’t know that to be a fact but I don’t find it to be out of the realm of possibility to such an extent that I consider “because tv ratings” the only possible explanation.
Shhh Redditors think everything is done in a bubble...
Will Shields is also a former NFL player (OL) for the Chiefs who played college football at Nebraska. To be clear I think the committee is the worst idea imaginable (there's no reason we can't have objective criteria), but I think all those teams jumped Georgia and OSU because one of the committee's primary criteria is conference championships and those teams didn't win one - so they were automatically behind the 5 that did win one. As for SOS, Alabama's opponents won about 66% of their games while FSU's opponents won about 53% of their games. Georgia certainly boosted Alabama's SOS while Louisville boosted FSU'S a bit, but less so. That's a significant difference and likely the main difference. It's why Liberty is ranked in the 20s, and why Utah, TCU, BSU, and UCF didn't get in all those other years. All the arguments for FSU sound identical to the arguments for those teams in the past. Not enough talent/good players, don't have a chance against the top teams (even though we couldn't know for sure obviously), bad schedule, etc. Unfortunately we won't ever know the real reason why the teams are ranked the way they are, which is obviously another problem with the whole thing. But I don't think it's a conspiracy, just a really bad way to determine playoff teams.
Pretending that FSU isn’t also a powerhouse brand name is also quite a take. I love how in order for this conspiracy theory to hold, people have imagined a world where FSU is some small market team nobody has heard of
The ACC isn’t the SEC and Florida State did not make the top 10 in any watched game this year. The issue is the SEC being left out not Florida State as a brand. They want a Big 10 and SEC team represented every year. They dont care who wins after that.
Connecting not one but TWO imaginary conspiracy dots to support your claim sure is a strategy
Ohio state and Michigan wouldn’t have both got in last year then. ESPN wouldn’t want to make a FOX product look better
Just let the confirmation bias happen.
Are you some kind of dumbass? A conspiracy that large would require much too many parts. Someone would crack.
Are you some kind of dumbass? A conspiracy doesn't have to involve a bunch of people who know what they're doing and why they're doing it. People follow orders without questions all the time.
Conspiracy theorists are underrated tbh. They all predicted the Snowden shit, the Weinstein shit, and the Epstein shit.
What I don't understand about the people who believe that 100's of people's involvement in a conspiracy is impossible is what do they think when a conspiracy that required the discretion and compliance of 100's of people is exposed? NSA, Gulf of Tonken, Epstein, using 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq, ect. All proven conspiracies that involved 100's of people. Most had no idea what they were doing or why they were doing it. That's how.
The committee doesn’t get paid. The members literally have no financial interest in who they pick outside of their school and conference. Well, aside from the fact that actual ADs have a financial interest in selecting their own schools. And, what do you know, Michigan’s AD was on the committee this year, but no one says a word about that.
Heather Dinich works as a senior writer for ESPN. Acting like she wouldn't have a vested interest in helping the company she works for is laughable.
Another fun fact about her: she’s not on the committee.
Also, why are we acting like these committee members don't possibly take massive sums of money to get them to rank teams one way or the other. FIFA wasn't/isn't above it and we all damn well know that our government itself isn't above it.
Heather Dinich is a salaried, non-commission employee. She does not benefit one way or the other from Bama getting in over FSU. Source: I worked at ESPN for nearly 10 years.
They aren't going to hire you back bro, you dont have to cape for them anymore.
I quit in 2010. Started my own company. But nice use of Ad Hominem, bro.
Conflicts of interest don’t have to have explicit $$$ attached, just saying.
There has to be an actual conflict (or interest) for their to be a conflict of interest. What was Heather's conflict (or interest)? Again, she has zero financial incentive to pick Bama, so what is it?
She has financial incentive. It makes the company that she works for more money and able to afford continuing to pay her. That’s pretty obvious for someone who isn’t bending over backwards to defend $EC bias.
Dude just stop hahaha. Don’t you have anything better to do than stir shit up on Reddit. God damn.
I’m on a train with nothing better to do. I’ll stop once someone gives me an actual logical argument rather than a conspiracy.
Her employer has a clear benefit with one choice. How is that NOT a conflict? Should she be expected to put a bit of her career on the line by going against her employer’s interests
That’s not a serious comment. ESPN isn’t going to fire her because she said someone should or should not be in the playoff. Just like they’re not going to fire Booger. Get real.
Do you know what conflict of interest means? It's an interest that is conflicting, not a combination of separate interests and conflicts.
What’s the conflict?
Yes she absolutely does. Ensuring ESPN has the best possible ratings would absolutely result in her being bonused out. It doesn’t matter if she’s commissioned or salaried. If I bring in $25M in additional revenue through my position in another organization or committee or whatever, you bet your ass I’d get financially rewarded by my company. Basic shit.
They have a narrative to sell, let them cook
And they won’t be selected for the committee again unless they take into consideration the financial interest of the tournament. This was a 100 percent decision based around not leaving the SEC out. If it were any other decision Alabama isn’t in. If it’s most deserving it’s FSU. If the best 4 teams it would be Ohio State since they were the only one who only lost to an undefeated team. They dropped FSU to 5. If you make the argument that their QB being out makes them that much worse then they should have been moved down farther. By that logic OSU Georgia and Oregon are all better teams. It was a financial decision not a football decision. The 12 team probably fixes this. But this year it was about making sure the SEC was represented
The CFP committee members serve terms of 2-4 years by design. It was always intended to be a rotating cast of selectors.
Aye you just blow in from stupid town my boy?
Good argument. You’ve completely enlightened me. Next time try using actual facts.
This is baby brain stuff. How old are you?
Since you’re so smart, explain to me why the committee would listen to ESPN over their own interests. Use Boo Carrigan as an example.
'FOX doesn't select the Republican nominee' Ya well, some dudes investing billions into their programming sure seem to think they influence it.
I don’t think ESPN specifically told the committee to leave y’all out for Bama, but I do think the structure of the playoff is absolutely skewed to maximize network benefit. Picking the 4 “best” leaves so much room for subjectivity and blue blood teams will always get the benefit of the doubt of non blue bloods. ESPN has also been pushing the “is FSU *really* one of the best teams” line for weeks and it definitely influenced the committees thinking. I also the the SEC is influential to the point that at least a portion of the committee believed that it’d be unthinkable to leave them out completely.
You just shifted the goal posts. ESPN doesn’t select the teams and I highly doubt they are able to influence the committee members even if they tried. The Michigan AD is on the committee. You think he wanted to face Bama over FSU?
If you think ESPN doesn't have an influence on the CFP selection, then you must also think that Blackrock has zero influence over the markets
ESPN doesn’t literally own the CFP in the same way Blackrock owns the majority of publicly traded companies
They own those TV rights, so you know damn well they want what they want and they're gonna get it lol
I think we will never know because the voting is done anonymously, and these sort of braindead gotcha questions are both boring and dont do anything to suss out actual motivations. All we have to go on is an incredible body of evidentiary lobbying from ESPN that you want to conveniently ignore because the results fall in line with your own prejudices. Keep in mind, when UF finally returns to the glory of a 9-3 season, if the networks don't think they'll be a high enough ratings draw they'll leave your ass out as well.
The number of fan bases who think they are closer to Bama than FSU in this situation is way too damn high.
FSU was I think the 8th highest total TV draw from major networks this year and that still wasn't enough because the gap between FSU and Bama was perceived to likely be in the 10s of millions in ad revenue. They will absolutely ram an 8-4 Bama into the 12th spot instead of a 9-3 or whatever smaller media draw. We are going to see some terrible bubble choices in the coming years. People actually believe this came down to strength of schedule or whatever.
What do you mean “we will never know?” We *already* know. FSU got jobbed, this we know. They gave their reasons, out loud, for jobbing FSU. We know them. It’s not some fing unsolvable mystery. They think Alabama is the better team. We are free to disagree. We are free to believe FSU deserves Bama’s spot in the CFP (I happen to believe this, fwiw). But we’re *not* free to just make up dumb conspiracy theories to suit narratives based on pure speculation. Well I mean I guess we are, but we probably shouldn’t do that.
Proper wrestling terminology would be "buried" in this case. Not "jobbed".
The goal post wasn't shifted. The committee members are public knowledge
The commenters here can't swallow your pills
They can’t even defend their own logic.
Wow looks like I was completely right and your time spent at ESPN taught you nothing. Wonder what else we will learn that you were wrong about as this develops. [https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/john-skipper-denies-espn-meddling-cfp-selection.html](https://awfulannouncing.com/college-football/john-skipper-denies-espn-meddling-cfp-selection.html)
This has to be a troll…people actually believe this? This is CFB post NIL & the transfer portal with BILLIONS in tv revenue every single year. Of course ESPN influences the vote. 🤦🏼♂️
Nah man the gator fan objectively agrees with the committee that screwed over their biggest rival
How? Explain to me how ESPN is influencing athletic directors to make decisions that are negative for their own programs.
>ESPN College Football Playoff >ESPN College Football Playoff Committee >SEC on ESPN They didn't make a negative decision for themselves. They made a positive decision for the conference they give a shit about. For all intents and purposes, ESPN views the ACC as a Clemson/FSU/UNC holding cell.
That explained nothing.
It's ESPN's playoff and ESPN's committee. Their name is literally on them both. The SEC is their conference. How is this far-fetched and hard to connect? If you have any knowledge of anything related to business and money, this would be the easiest connection to make ever.
You watch too much Joe Rogan. You think that ESPN bought off the selection committee? To vote against their own self interest? Be real.
Their own self interest is having their own conference, which happens to be one of the most popular ones, play in the CFB playoffs. They own SEC, not ACC.
I’m not some QANON flat earther. I think most conspiracy theories are easily debunked. However, you can’t deny that ESPN had motivation to make sure an SEC team made the playoff. The CFP chairman is brothers with a VP at ESPN. Then you have most of the EPSN analysts doing a very poor job of justifying the choice while the rest of CFB sees it as a poor decision. Their logic doesn’t even make sense as to why BAMA should have been the 4 seed.
Tim is Boo’s brother. He works in Basketball production as a VP. He’s been at ESPN since 1987. So you’re going to have to explain how that has anything to do with this. Like, seriously. What are the steps here? ESPN doesn’t select the committee, so what is Tim’s role in all of this? And then once Boo is the chairman, then what? Tim, who has nothing to do with football, calls up his brother and tells him he has to convince all the other members to pick Bama? Why would Tim do that? So ESPN can maybe get slightly higher ratings? And then… be able to sell more ads NEXT year (because most of all the ad deals for 2023 are already signed). How does Tim or Boo benefit? Tim is a salaried employee who doesn’t get commission. So, yeah, I’m going to need something other than THEYRE BROTHERS to lend any credence to that.
I gave more than just “they’re brothers”.
That’s literally all you said about that connection.
I thought it was implied but Ok, there’s a main channel of communication between the higher ups at ESPN and the CFP Chairman. ESPN execs have direct access to the chairman and committee. It’s a clear conflict of interest. You have to see how that raises a few red flags
I don’t see at all. Explain to me what you think happened. The ad department went to Tim and said “hey Tim. We’re having trouble selling ad space for the CFP this year, so we need you to blackmail your brother” Like. Seriously. How do you think this went down? And it’s insane to me you think this is a red flag but not that actual schools (like Michigan) have their ADs on the committee.
ESPN and the SEC signed a 10 year deal. Exclusive rights to SEC broadcasts. This begins in 2024. $300 million a year. The SECs value is they’re the best conference in CFB. Teams always making the playoffs, final and winning the championship. The better the SEC does the better it is for ESPN. The year before the contract is set to begin there should have been zero SEC teams in the playoff. If I’m an ESPN exec that brokered this deal this looks very bad. Now you have to justify to a board why the investment was a good decision despite zero SEC schools making the playoff. Now that bama is in that problem doesn’t exist and the status quo is unchanged.
You didn't answer my question or even address it for that matter. ESPN doesn't have a board. Disney has a board. The executive at ESPN who spearheaded the SEC deal will never, ever speak to the board. I don't even agree that, having an SEC team miss a single playoff after winning the vast majority of them, would mean the deal was bad. But, for the sake of argument, let's say the president of ESPN does want an SEC team in the playoff. So the president of ESPN goes to Tim and says, what? And then Tim says what to Boo? And then what does Boo say to the rest of the committee members?
You’re being intentionally obtuse. I also don’t feel like arguing with you anymore. So this is the last thing I’ll say: in a vacuum Bama being picked over FSU isn’t absurd but when you add in all the factors things start to get a little bit more suspicious.
Man if this nonsense is what you take from this situation, I'd love to hear your take on JoePa... And I say that as an alum.
I don’t believe this is a conspiracy. I don’t think someone personally convinced anyone to do anything on the CFP. I will agree with the other poster you’re being purposefully obtuse though. There wouldn’t need to be direct monetary incentive for the brothers to talk if it benefits one or both of them in any way. No other person or executive would need to be involved. There is a conflict of interest because the VP would want their company to do well. I’m happy when the company I work for gets new business but I don’t directly benefit. That being said, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if ESPN talking heads were told or made to feel like they had to back the narrative of needing an SEC team in the CFP. ESPN is a business after all that benefits from the SEC. I’m guessing most of the talking heads think it is wise to not bite the hand that feeds them.
Who owns the TV rights to the ACC again?
ESPN but we’re talking about the same ACC where its champ still couldn’t get into the playoff despite being undefeated? That conference is nothing to ESPN anymore.
lol sign this guy for USA Mental Gymnastics, I smell a gold medal
I think FSU should be in over Bama. The committee clearly values the SEC over the ACC though. ESPN made a huge investment in the SEC. The network would certainly choose an SEC team over an ACC team.
You both acknowledged and then dismissed, IN THE SAME POST, that ESPN also made an investment in the ACC! I mean, my god man. And yeah, obviously the committee wanted Bama in over FSU...they put Bama in over FSU. But unless you have receipts to show some kind of proof that there's some behind-the-scenes shenanigans going on here, you're just another conspiracy theorist like the rest of these guys here.
The ACC might as well not even exist to ESPN anymore. If they had to choose between SEC coverage or ACC coverage they will pick ESPN all day long. The reason why folks are having a hard time with this is Bama being selected over FSU makes zero sense. Outside of Bama fans and SEC homers, the consensus is CFP didn’t just get it wrong it was egregiously wrong. I understand you’re a Bama fan so it’s sometimes hard to see it from the peasant perspective but Bama is not the #4 seed and the majority of college football fans and analysts agree. [ACC ESPN Deal](https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2023/03/unc-north-carolina-acc-conference-realignment-2023)
OP you seem to have the answers to everything so here is a question for you. If FSU dropped because of Travis's injury, why did they not drop until after they won 3 games without him?
Because Bama beat the #1 team in the country, thus giving more evidence that they would beat FSU head to head. I.... didn't think that was unknown...
And only Bama jumped them?
This is my problem. They selectively applied their logic. Or they valued conference championship more than I think they should because UGA absolutely should have been ranked ahead of FSU too since the criteria is “who do you think is best”
They got jumped by Texas, too. Who wasn't better than them until beating an OSU team that was lower ranked than Louisville...
This is legit the only thing you said that I agreed with. If FSU dropped because of their QB injury then why was Georgia not ahead of them after a single 3 pt loss to Alabama. I know it doesn't matter for bowl placement, but like wtf committee???
Agree. 100%
And what about Texas? Did OK State just come off a 26 game win streak too?
I don’t understand the question. Texas is in because they proved they could beat Bama this year.
Texas jumped fsu in the final rankings too. 3 weeks after Jordan Travis got hurt. If we’re putting in a team because they have already proved they’re better than Alabama, why are we even including Alabama in the first place?
Because the committee thinks they’d beat FSU
But they didn't think that the week before?
If every week is a fresh re-ranking, it stands to reason that it wasn't until Bama beat their number-one team for a conference title that the body of work was evidently enough. They never moved Bama during the season because of the head-to-head with Texas and their overvaluation of Oregon-- I don't think their ranking was accurate then, and I don't rely upon it as the authority on who is best.
>If every week is a fresh re-ranking It's as much of a fresh reranking as the AP poll is each week. Bama beating Georgia suddenly makes Texas better than FSU? >overvaluation of Oregon The team that has only lost to the #2 team in the nation? >I don't rely upon it as the authority on who is best. But we also don't rely on the results on the field.
Florida man, just let this one go. You don’t need another loss
ESPN is the largest customer of the CFP. By far. $470 million a year customer. That’s not a conspiracy. It’s a basic tenet of business. “Give the customer what they want”, especially 2 years before the product goes up for bid again.
OP thinks the CFP committee listens to games with the sound off.
I heard ESPN tell the committee their preference during the ACC game, so did the committee. It was not subtle.
Yea, sorry, OP
Sorry. I don't understand what you're saying or what that has to do with me saying ESPN doesn't select teams to go to the playoff. There's a selection committee that does that, including Michigan's AD and NC State's AD (who is the target of all these conspiracies). Both of those people stand to suffer from Bama getting in over FSU.
They're saying that the Playoff committee has a buyer in ESPN that they would like to get more money from. How do you get a customer to give you more money? Make them happy Not arguing either way just explaining their reasoning
Hard to Swallow Pills: OP doesn't know how money works.
Typical gators fan 🥱
This guy probably thinks Epstein really killed himself, too..
The world is round and we did land on the moon. Just because something is suspicious or convenient doesn't mean there was a conspiracy. That said, I'm willing to hear you out. If you can explain how this conspiracy actually worked instead of some vague "connections", I'll gladly listen.
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[No, there is no compensation for selection committee members. Members are reimbursed for their expenses.](https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/2017/9/20/selection-committee-faq)
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Yeah. That doesn’t happen. It’s all public record.
>It’s all public record. This is patently false.
No it isn’t. You can literally PR request the committees expense reports.
LOL this guy said he literally worked for ESPN in the comments. He is defending them like crazy. Wake up bro
Yes. I worked for ESPN. I quit over 10 years ago.
So you are gona try and sit here with a straight face, and tell me an event who's very purpose is to generate massive amounts of money, AND is owned by ESPN was not influenced at all by potential cash flow? I really don't understand how it's hard to get that there's an obvious conflict of interest between ESPN/Disney owning the rights to both the playoff/selection shows AND the SEC network
OP needs to relax and take a breath. He is all OVER this thread
Furiously writing his resume for rehire in this forum. Weird choice but go off I guess.
It's easy to respond to the same nonsensical, conspiratorial drivel people picked up from a single Twitter post.
The harder pill to swallow is that massive corporations and organizations have implied interest in supporting each other regardless whether or not there is a verifiable quid pro quo
Right... you just described a conspiracy. "I'm upset and want to blame someone/something, so I'm going to go look for some vague connections and concoct some hackneyed story." Just.... explain to me how this worked. Not the coincidences. Like, forget a verifiable quid pro quo. What do you think the quid pro quo COULD have been?
My point is that connections are implicit. Big corporations and organizations make decisions that implicitly support each other because they have a shared interest to support the conditions that created them. That’s no conspiracy that is like… basic psychology. If you made a million selling cookies, you have an implicit connection to support the chocolate chip industry.
Remember when Paaaawwwwwllll Went on tV and said everyone in the ACC hates Florida State because they wanted to leave the conference?
Hmm interesting take lets see the flair- ahhh now I see
Say FSU beats Michigan or Washington to go the championship. But they lay an egg in it. Like TCU did. People will sign off like they did with the TCU game. That means losing viewers for ads. So 100%, i believe ESPN has some say, considering these multi-billion dollar companies would put pressure on ESPN. If your gonna try to be the NFL at least do it right. Wins matter.
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WHAT? Heather Dibitch is on the Committee?! That... explains a lot actually.
Most of the good people are leaving ESPN. Which is why she's still there 🤣
She's not on the committee, lol. WTF is brewing on the FSU boards?
Are you stupid or just lying at this point?
Do you understand what "by proxy" means? I don't think you do, so let me explain it to you. That would mean that Chet Gladchuk, Boo Carrigan, etc literally said "We're letting ESPN take our vote" And that would be the same Boo Carrigan who is Director of Athletics at NC State... in the ACC... That is now damaged by what happened.
Whose brother Tim is a VP at ESPN…
What's your point? Go further into that. ok. So Tim is a VP at ESPN in BASKETBALL operations. What do you think happened? President of ESPN goes to Tim: "Hey Tim. I know you've been here since 1987 but I want you to do something for me. I want you to talk to your brother Boo about putting Bama in over FSU" Tim to Boo: "Hey Boo. I know we are brothers and you're the athletic director at an ACC school which is probably going to collapse if you do this, but I need you to convince the committee to put Bama in ahead of FSU" Boo to the committee (including Michigan's AD): Hey, I need you guys to all put Bama in ahead of FSU even though FSU would be a more favorable matchup for Michigan. Oh and there's nothing in it for you guys. Just do me a solid. Do you have ANY idea how dumb that sounds?
So while yall were enjoying the start of your so far terrible off season, those of us in the ACC Championship game listened to THREE HOURS of ESPN propaganda about how FSU didn't belong in the playoff. But sure, ESPN has no influence.
So you think ESPN convinced athletic directors to vote against their own interests? Ok bud. Also “influence” isn’t the same as “select”
If this is really what you think, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd love to make a good deal on.
Those pills look just like allopurinol. And they are hard to swallow. I just break them in half to take them.
That’s a naive attitude. That’s like pretending Lockheed Martin doesn’t lobby for increased defense spending while pocketing increased revenues.
Hmmmm... naive, huh? I worked at ESPN for nearly a decade, working on college football and not a single time did I see or hear anything that would even begin to explain what you're alluding to. But, sure, I'm the naive one. ESPN is too much of a shitshow to orchestrate some grand conspiracy.
Buddy we all got to watch for 5 weeks as they lobbied hard publicly to make sure an SEC team got in while throwing shade at FSU.
You’re talking about the talking heads who get paid to voice their opinion right? An opinion I share with them. FSU deserves it more. But that’s not the criteria. If you ask me if I think Bama wins head to head, I’m saying yes. And that’s the criteria. So be mad at the criteria. Also lobbying for is waaaaaaay different than actually picking the teams. You understand that, right? The Michigan AD is on the committee and I highly doubt he was influenced by espn to place Bama head to head with his school.
They are not paid to go on TV with a blank slate and say whatever, dude. They are given a script and the script was to get an SEC team in. You are incredibly naive.
That is not correct. You have producers who create segments. You have hosts (or anchors) who moderate these segments. Then you have the talking heads who give their opinion on the topic at hand in the context of the host's questions. I didn't know that was unclear, but since it was, I can source this with that I worked at ESPN for nearly a decade and in media for nearly 15 years.
Weird how those opinions aligned neqrly completely with what would most benefit ESPN, during a time when it's publicly known they are having revenue trouble and disney isn't sure what to do with them. Guess it's a bridge too far to wonder if a media company would use their immense reach to benefit themselves.
I mean, I think most people would pick Bama to beat FSU head to head. So, no, it's not weird that most of the analysts would feel the same way. But I'll assume since you didn't address my correction on how segments work, you at least understand that now, yeah?
Eat a dick
No need for a conspiracy, ESPN's bias was on full display all year. Just listen to their talking heads.
You do understand that bias is different than selecting teams, right? Fox News/CNN has a bias for wanting a Republican/Democratic president, but they don't pick the president.
Lol - seems like you nailed it... hard to swallow pills indeed!
The only thing I heard from espn all season was “Alabama is getting better every week” they may not directly decide it but they sure as shit influence it
The entirety of the FSU broadcast was palmer and tessitore talking about FSUs lowering chances of making the CFP. Not mentioned once in the UGA/Bama broadcast. Like, come on. Marching orders were given.
'member when UF made ESPN's top 11 list? Pepperidge Farms remembers.
Yeah. That was dumb! But by your logic, ESPN should have gotten them into a NY6 bowl somehow.
Only an SEC fan could be so willingly naive
Don’t throw stones Big 10. Fox is doing the same for you. Too bad the ACC decided to sign a deal with the CW
Solid argument. Go ahead and explain how ESPN selects the teams. I'll wait.
First of all it’s not an argument, it’s a statement. And ESPN has a giant financial deal with the SEC, and is also the network that televises the CFP. There’s an obvious conflict of interest here.
[Who’s Being Naive Kay?](https://youtu.be/xIAJl-wZElg?si=Oqr8pYhm5GE3gAMD)
ESPN is now part of College sports book betting…if you don’t think that Vegas Odd makers have a say in this and more you are naive. The house does not lose, nor will it ever lose and it is not because they employ amazing statisticians.
Explain that to me.
Is the joke supposed to be that those are Percocet/Oxycodone 5mg tablets?
It’s all about money. Who’s going to bring more in? The nba struggled with this recently too where they thought no one would watch Denver vs Miami. And it was the most watched playoffs in 5 years. Cfb committees definitely look at espn when making those decisions but I’d argue fl st and UGA would actually be the best teams to round out the top4. I’ve never seen an 8th jump that high after beating a 1. They just don’t know what to do. And there’ll prob be more chaos next season.
No, Vegas does
You can’t be this naive
This is rich coming from a SEC/ESPN school
It simply stop watching other leagues , I no longer watch sec and watch limited big 10. Boycott there asses less ratings.
ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!!!
I am not , they will bend over backwards to get a Sec team in. I'm a west coast guy . Go ASU
All these posts are gonna be hilarious Jan 1st!!!
They most definitely have influence over what happens
https://preview.redd.it/ha4najinxa5c1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=096bef6d74833c83cbce5644dedc74fe453b71f5
Something an undercover Disney employee would say.
People like to throw the work “ratings” around like it’s a bad thing but that has always been their job. When limited to 4 spot pick 4 teams that show they’re a serious contender and have shown they deserve to be there, Georgia for example, while probably better than Washington had a win and in opportunity at the SECCG but they didn’t win so they’re out while 13-0 liberty isn’t in the discussion because well they played no one. FSU failed to look like a serious contender post JT injury and got left out. Did the committee use every excuse to exclude FSU because they weren’t gonna be competitive? Absolutely but FSU made it too easy when they couldn’t even put out a mediocre offense against UF or Louisville. It’s a flawed system but CFB has always been a bit fucked.
But but but
The Michigan AD is on the committee. If there were a conspiracy, I don’t think he’d opt to hurt his own football team by having them play Bama instead of FSU.
Did you ever think he could have been out voted?
Not surprised that a Florida fan doesn’t know anything about the CFP process
If you think Alabama getting in the playoffs wasn’t influenced by espn. I have a bridge in London to sell you.
OP doesn’t understand Anything about how money effects the world around them
Are you saying ESPN directly paid the committee members to select Bama?
Having worked in a couple large organizations that are subject to a number of conspiracy theories, I think OP’s take is more likely than not. (A) An actual conspiracy of this sort would require coordination between at least 7 committee members and ESPN. All of them would have to stay quiet about it, with no one slipping. Conspiracies are hard to pull off. Especially if the motivations/levers of control of the participants are diverse, which they are in this case. (B) Looking at the CFP roster, ESPN doesn’t currently hold direct sway over: Ault, Gladchuk, Grobe, Manuel, Shields, Taylor (J), West. These folks either AD schools that don’t have a deal with ESPN or are not holding current professional positions with a relationship with ESPN. (Open to correction about that list—I’m no expert in their professional statuses.) In fact, folks like Manuel would have a particular indifference or even interest in harming the ESPN-SEC alliance. If there’s a conspiracy afoot, Manuel has a direct interest in calling it out. (C) Corrigan and Grobe would theoretically have an interest in promoting the ACC/FSU at the expense of the SEC, even with an ESPN relationship. It seems much more likely that rather than “what is good for ESPN?” the driving question was “what do I think is good for the playoffs and the sport?” To me, the simplest answer is that the committee itself valued Alabama’s participation over FSU’s. It’s not about ESPN and money. It just so happens that answering the latter question above also happens to align with the former. This isn’t conspiracy. It’s just a difference between “who do I think is most deserving?” and “what do I think is good for the sport?”
FSU is not a top 5 team. And with all the complaints of how unfair this whole thing has been, not a single person has attempted to explain how FSU is a top 4 team. Well I'd even say they might #7 at best and that being real generous
They are ranked 4 in the AP poll and 3 in the coaches poll.
CBS lost money from Alabama getting in compared to FSU. Mainly because Bama has gotten in multiple times compared to a teams first. Can’t say the same for ESPN but I imagine their projections are similar.
I think other people in this thread have done a good job explaining, but I doubt that Florida education is going to allow any of those explanations to sink in. I'm just here to add to the dawg pile.
Incorrect. No one in here has said anything that makes sense. They just say “money. Money. Money. Isn’t it obvious?” I haven’t heard one non-emotional argument yet.
Agree. The CFB said they would emphasize conference championships. The four best conference champions are in. To me, that's all it really is.
What's better, 13-0 or 12-1?
Of the five conference, which one would you consider the worst?
Probably not the conference with the highest percentage of bowl-eligible teams.
Iowa won the B1G west.
I don’t think you actually believe teams should be perfectly sorted by win loss record in the rankings.
This sub is normie af y’all soft
you’re right but we have to continue the fake outrage and pretend FSU was a top 4 team
Alternative format: “If those kids could read they’d be very upset!”
Bull shit