SaturdayDownSouth article on confernce shenanigans

[TLB]

Extra Points: Is ACC bending over backward to protect Notre Dame, ensure 2 Playoff teams?

First up, ACC

Paving the way
The ACC made a clear decision earlier this week to protect Clemson and Notre Dame’s path to the ACC Championship Game – and more important, to potentially land 2 teams in the College Football Playoff.


And that’s not sitting well with 3 ACC coaches I spoke to over the last 24 hours.
The ACC schedule changes this week eliminated Dec. 12 games for Clemson and Notre Dame. The Irish were scheduled to play Wake Forest, and though Clemson didn’t have a scheduled game, FSU was interested in a makeup game for that date.

“It’s bull—-. No other way to say it,” an ACC coach told me. “We’ve already bent over backward for (Notre Dame) for years. And now we’re going to make sure they only have 1 loss this season no matter what happens in the championship game? Just so we can get 2 teams in? Bull—-.”

The Irish finish the regular season this weekend against Syracuse, the ACC’s worst team. Clemson plays at Virginia Tech.

“I’ll tell you who should be really pissed off – Miami,” another ACC coach told me. “Are you kidding me? Miami has 1 loss. What if Clemson loses to Tech or in that (Dec.12) week? Sure, it’s rare, but we’ve seen stranger things. We have no idea who is going to get hurt, how many turnovers a team is giving away. You’re telling Miami 2 weeks before the end of the season to go jump in a lake. We don’t care about you. That’s a big, big deal. If I were (Miami coach) Manny (Diaz), I’d be screaming from the mountaintops how this goes against everything we stand for in athletic competition.”

If Notre Dame and Clemson win this weekend, the ACC is almost a lock to get 2 teams in the CFP. The only way it could fall apart: Clemson routs Notre Dame, and Florida beats Alabama.

In that scenario, Clemson, Alabama and Florida are in, and Notre Dame is fighting for the last spot with Ohio State and Texas A&M. And the team with the best win among that group would be Texas A&M, which beat – in that scenario – Florida, which just beat No.1 Alabama.

....

B10 doesn't want to be left out

The case for Ohio State
Michigan’s game with Maryland was canceled earlier this week because of COVID cases and tracing within the Michigan program.

This, of course, leads to the uneasy reality that Michigan may not be able to play next week vs. Ohio State, which would leave the Buckeyes with 5 total games – and 1 under the Big Ten mandated 6 to play in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Big Ten officials (hello, Wisconsin AD Barry Alvarez) already are talking about the possibility of changing rules midstream, in the best interest of the conference.

See what we’re doing here?

Like the ACC, the Big Ten is desperate for access to the CFP. And there’s only one conference team (Ohio State) worthy. But the Buckeyes have played 4 regular-season games and already are in a tenuous spot with the CFP committee because their résumé doesn’t compare to others in the top 10 who have played full(er) seasons.

One Big Ten coach I spoke with says there’s “no doubt” the conference office will make sure Ohio State plays in the Big Ten Championship Game, “even if they have to change the rules about how many games must be played.”

“I guarantee this,” the Big Ten coach said. “We’re not going through these months of isolation and staying in our bubbles and playing games for television money, to let a silly rule about who can play in the (Big Ten) championship game prevent our best team from a shot at the Playoff.”

The rest of the linked article has a section on FL playing in the blizzard conditions of sub-zero TN (no, that's not how many points TN is projected to score, not with 3rd and Granthem). And, a closing article touting the Jones QB at ALA for Heisman all the way to the SECCG where he will have caught up to Trasks numbers, winner takes all. Generally, I wouldn't link from their site as the writers are sub-par overall (still better than Andreu and Fooley), but I perked up at a chance for Harbaugh to cost tOSU even while continuing to screw MICH. :D