By Darin The 2025 College Football Playoff brackets have been officially announced, revealing a landscape fraught with both excitement and controversy. The selection process has stirred considerable debate, particularly regarding the inclusion of certain teams over others, leading us to question the criteria employed for such significant decisions. Specifically, we shall delve into the implications of Indiana's remarkable ascendance to the top seed, juxtaposed against the exclusion of notable contenders such as Notre Dame and Texas. Furthermore, we will explore potential remedies to the inconsistencies inherent in conference championship selections, which may have contributed to the current dilemmas faced by the playoff system. Join us as we navigate these critical issues and reflect on the rich history of college football in this inaugural installment of our series.
The recent announcement regarding the 2025 College Football Playoff brackets has elicited a plethora of discussions and considerations within the realm of collegiate athletics. As the playoffs approach, the selection of teams has not only spotlighted the remarkable achievements of certain universities, such as Indiana's historic victory over Ohio State, but has also ignited debates surrounding the criteria for selection and the implications of conference championships. The emergence of Indiana as a top contender is particularly noteworthy. Under the astute guidance of head coach Kurt Signetti, the Hoosiers have transformed their program from obscurity to prominence, culminating in their first Big Ten championship since the 1980s. This victory, alongside similar triumphs from Georgia and Texas Tech, raises questions about the fairness and transparency of the playoff selection process. The absence of traditional powerhouses like Notre Dame and Vanderbilt, despite their commendable records, further complicates the narrative, suggesting that the current system may inadvertently favor certain conferences over others, thereby compromising the integrity of the playoffs. Consequently, as we delve deeper into the intricacies of this year's playoff structure, we must critically examine the existing framework and consider potential reforms that could enhance the competitiveness and inclusiveness of the postseason.
Transcript
We are getting ready for those games.
Speaker B:Going to talk about some controversy that.
Speaker A:Came out of them and maybe some things they could do to fix it.
Speaker A:We have all this and more and the history of football coming up in just a moment.
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Speaker A:Hello my football friends.
Speaker A:This is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your.
Speaker E:Portal to positive football history.
Speaker A:,:Speaker A:We have some great history coming up here and a little bit of controversy has come up in college football and they may have the same problem in college football that the National Football League has.
Speaker A:We'll get back to more of that in just a moment.
Speaker A:Now let's get into the College Football Playoff bracket.
Speaker A:tate for the first time since:Speaker A:Our friend Timothy P. Brown of FootballArchaeology.com has a great article on Indiana that just came out on Sunday, December 7th.
Speaker A:Make sure you check that out.
Speaker A:Some history of the Indiana program.
Speaker A:But Kurt Signitti, head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers has done a remarkable job second year in a program for Signidi and he has really taken them from the bowels of the Big Ten to the top of the heap and number one in the nation, number one seed in the College Football Playoff.
Speaker A:Amazing job that he and his team have done, especially playing a very tough Ohio State team.
Speaker A:And these two two teams may end up playing again in the College Football Playoff.
Speaker A:It's a very possible they both get first round buys in the brackets of 12.
Speaker A:So maybe we'll see them again later on in the College Football Playoff.
Speaker A:The third seed goes to the SEC champion Georgia, who defeated Alabama on Saturday evening to take the SEC 12.
Speaker A:1.
Speaker A:Kirby Smart has got his team really ready to go.
Speaker A:the national championship in:Speaker A:Signetti and Indiana have never been to a college football championship game or won a championship, so this is a big deal for them.
Speaker A:Another team that comes in fourth has never won a national championship and that's coach Joey McGuire's Texas Tech team that came in at 12 1.
Speaker A:They are the fourth seed as they ended up winning the Big 12 Conference.
Speaker A:Oregon comes in as an at large bid 111 from the Big Ten and they are in the fifth spot.
Speaker A:They get a home game there in Eugene.
Speaker A:Oregon and Ole Miss under formerly coach Lane Kiffin, who's now their assistant has taken over.
Speaker A:claim consensus pick back in:Speaker A:Oregon has never won a national championship and neither is Texas Tech.
Speaker A:the belt, last one coming in:Speaker A:Coach Mike Elko's team is 11 and one.
Speaker A:They get in as a seven seed.
Speaker A:Oklahoma gets in as a number eight seed from the big from the SEC.
Speaker A:Brent Venables is their head coach.
Speaker A:2000 was the last time they won a national championship and they have won seven such titles over the course of the college football history.
Speaker B:Alabama came in at 10 3.
Speaker A:They are the ninth seed.
Speaker A:Kalyn Debauer.
Speaker A:They didn't look very good Saturday night against Georgia, but they beat Georgia earlier at Georgia.
Speaker A:hey won a championship was in:Speaker A:They have 18 national championships to their credit.
Speaker B:University of Miami Hurricanes 10 and two under Mario Cristobal.
Speaker A:They did not play this weekend, which.
Speaker B:Is kind of an odd situation which.
Speaker A:We'Ll get into a second.
Speaker B:But:Speaker A:They have five under their belt and.
Speaker B:Then you have a couple teams that.
Speaker A:Won conference championships because they had five.
Speaker B:The committee had to choose five conference champions.
Speaker B:The best five conference champions.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker B:Indiana won their championship, Georgia won their championship.
Speaker A:Texas Tech.
Speaker B:So they needed two more because everybody else that we mentioned so far is at large.
Speaker A:They brought in Tulane who won their.
Speaker B:Championship at conference and James Madison.
Speaker B:So that leaves out the ACC's champion, Duke, who with an 85 record defeated Virginia in the ACC championship.
Speaker B:But the only team that gets in from the ACC did not play in the ACC championship and that's Miami.
Speaker B:So the real problem here is maybe not with the college football playoff system, maybe it's with the conference championships and how inconsistent they are of who gets to play in a conference championships.
Speaker B:They all have their own rules, their own bylaws.
Speaker B:Who can put in a championship.
Speaker B:But three teams that were left out.
Speaker A:That people are really talking about today is first of all Notre Dame, who with an 112 record lost their first two games, went on a dramatic 10 game winning streak winning convincingly in all those 10 games.
Speaker B:Their only two losses were to Miami.
Speaker A:And to Texas A and M. Texas.
Speaker B:Who had three top 10 victories over top 10 teams but had a couple.
Speaker A:Sour losses along the way.
Speaker B:They are left out on the outside.
Speaker A:Of the College Football Playoff.
Speaker B:And then you have, you know, Cinderella's story.
Speaker A:Vanderbilt, who you know has had a tremendous season, plays in a very strong sec.
Speaker B:They are on the outside looking in.
Speaker B:So you have, but you have Tulane and James Madison.
Speaker A:Nothing slight to slight them.
Speaker B:They had both had great seasons.
Speaker B:But would Tulane or James Madison lining up against Notre Dame or Texas or.
Speaker A:The other team that we just mentioned, would they be able to go head to head against these teams and play?
Speaker B:And you have also you have BYU.
Speaker A:That did not make it into the college football playoffs.
Speaker B:So that is very interesting.
Speaker A:And then you have the Duke Blue Devils at 8 and 5 that won the ACC and they're left out which.
Speaker B:I don't think anybody ever considered they were going to be in even if.
Speaker A:They won that won their conference championship, which they did and they have no.
Speaker B:Shot at getting in there.
Speaker A:So a little bit inconsistent that you.
Speaker B:Let a team that was not even.
Speaker A:In their conference championship in that had.
Speaker B:A better record than one of the teams that won it.
Speaker B:But you know Miami is probably most definitely one of the top 12 best teams in in a country we want to see play.
Speaker B:But is Tulane and James Madison.
Speaker B:That's the real question here.
Speaker B:They've got themselves in a real dilemma having to invite some of these group of five conferences in and letting some of their championships in just to save face to keep peace.
Speaker A:But the people want the best 12.
Speaker B:Teams in the playoff.
Speaker B:I don't know that Tulane and James Madison has enough oomph to win a national championship against the Indianas, Ohio State's.
Speaker A:Georgias and Texas Texas the world.
Speaker B:I don't know that they compete against.
Speaker A:The Oregon Ole Miss and Texas A.
Speaker B:And M and Oklahoma's of the world Let alone Alabama and Miami.
Speaker A:So we might not have the best 12 teams in the country playing in this championship game.
Speaker A:Now there is so much more going on to this has got a very.
Speaker B:Similar situation to what the NFL has with wanting to have divisional championships, division champions going into the playoffs where sometimes you have the case where you have.
Speaker A:Three really good teams from one division.
Speaker B:You know, three good teams out of the four in a division and one of them has to sit home while you have a team that won their division with a much poorer record getting a home game.
Speaker B:Not the best place to have, you.
Speaker A:Know, in your playoffs.
Speaker A:You want the best teams competing for the postseason.
Speaker B:That's what the fans want, that's what the teams want, that's what the coaches want.
Speaker B:Obviously not what the leagues and the organizers of the NCAA in a college.
Speaker A:Football playoff and the conferences of college football want.
Speaker B:They want their cake and eat it too.
Speaker B:Well, that's going to backfire on him.
Speaker A:And this might be the year that.
Speaker B:It does by letting teams like Notre Dame, byu, Vanderbilt and you know.
Speaker B:Some of the other ones sit out without being able invited into this tournament here.
Speaker B:Very disappointing for those teams on the outside looking in, very exciting for the Tulanes, James Madison's, Alabama, Miami.
Speaker B:So we're all on the bubble coming into this, but we'll see what happens here.
Speaker B:We got some great football coming up here starting the weekend of December 19th and 20th and we'll see how these playoffs match up and also see how the NFL playoffs are going to be start shape shaping up here in December and early January to see how that goes.
Speaker B:But need to fix a couple things.
Speaker A:For the next year.
Speaker B:Either expand it or make it so it's the best 12 teams or don't even keep the rankings.
Speaker B:You know, just rank them at the.
Speaker A:End of the year.
Speaker B:You know, what the heck, they don't really mean anything anyway once you set that precedent.
Speaker B:Hope this doesn't put you down too much because we had some great football this weekend and got to look forward to some great football coming up here coming on.
Speaker B:But we're filled with football history coming.
Speaker A:Up all this week.
Speaker B:Make sure you join us for Tuesday we have Timothy P. Brown as always from footballarchaeology.com on Wednesday we're going to be talking about our week 15 picks with our guest Ed Cleese who joins us each week to talk about our big bold predictions.
Speaker B:And we have some great other programming coming up as well on football history.
Speaker B:Don't forget to check out our YouTube channel and our social media and the brand new pigskindispatch.com till next time everybody have a great, great on your day.
Speaker E:Peeking up at the clock.
Speaker E:The time's running down.
Speaker E:We're gonna go into victory formation, take a knee and let this baby run out.
Speaker E:Thanks for joining us.
Speaker E:We'll see you back tomorrow.
Speaker E:For the next podcast.
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Speaker E:Special thanks to the talents of Mike and Gene Monroe as well as Jason Neff for letting us use their music during our podcast.
Speaker D:This podcast is part of the Sports History Network, your headquarters for the yesteryear of your favorite sport.
Speaker D:You can learn more@sportshistorynetwork.com.
