Coastal Carolina president pens letter to CFP selection committee criticizing 'flawed logic'
Because of the College Football Playoff selection committee’s “flawed logic,” Coastal Carolina was left “absolutely flabbergasted.”
That’s what incoming Coastal Carolina president Michael T. Benson said in a letter to the committee, which was then obtained and reported on by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. Benson criticized the committee’s “lack of fairness” and “absence of character” while addressing its chair, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta.
The Chanticleers are 11-0 this season and are the co-Sun Belt champions, but they ended up at No. 12 in the final edition of the CFP rankings. Meanwhile, Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame were the four teams selected to participate in the Playoff.
“I can’t help but think what might have been this season had all FBS programs been given the same equality of opportunity,” Benson wrote in his letter, per Thamel. “Just think about that: Football is the only sport where the deck is stacked insurmountably against those who have the inevitable classification of ‘Group of Five’ before toe hits the leather each fall.”
Coastal Carolina isn’t the only Group of Five school that likely felt it should have received more CFP consideration. Cincinnati went 9-0 and won the AAC championship, yet finished at No. 8 in the final rankings.
There hasn’t been a Group of Five team to make the CFP since the format started in the 2014 season. If the Playoff included more teams, then perhaps that would change.
“If you expand the playoff to eight teams, they’re talking about a Group of Five representative or maybe two,” Benson said in a phone interview with Thamel. “Just give us a chance to have access like these other schools.”
I do not agree there was flawed logic at play. In fact, there was no logic.
Coastal is the best team in the state of South Carolina as the only undefeated team in the state yet the cheaters in the upstate are in. Drain the playoffs swamp.
Clemson would beat them silly.
I wonder. But I am sure that Coastal Carolina would have had a winning record playing an ACC schedule this season.
Notre Dame got its as handed to them and people are still justifying that they got in. Line up the same 5 to 7 teams for next year. Sorry Coastal, but if the current CFP selection process continues, your team could never qualify.
Norte Dame got it handed to them? Right. OSU only plays 6 games. Only 2 have winning records. Struggled against the only 2 good teams faced. Yeah, OSU earned their way in. Sorry Coastal, as long as OSU has a team your team could never qualify.
One of those teams with a winning record only played one team with a winning record and that was Ohio State. The complaints should not be about ND, but Ohio State.
ND has a better case than OSU. OSU plays in a weak conference,so does Clemson and ND.
I agree. When you consider the number of games, the SOS, and the fact that OSU did not play a game in consecutive weeks, they did not earn a place in the CFPs. Yes they are suppose to pick the 4 best, and OSU is probably one of the 4 best, but you have to have some resume to back it up. Or you could just cancel your games and get in on your hype.
OSU has a top 4 roster but that’s very different than a top 4 team. Also, OSU will get exposed. So many people think only playing 6 games gives them an advantage of being fresher with less injuries. That might be true. However, it’s a team that hasn’t had the time, and consistent enough schedule, to gel and work out all the kinks. It’s shown up time and again in their games. Fields is talented but the passing game is off for them this season. And that’s due to lack of game reps with his receivers. The same goes for a very green secondary that would have to stop both Clemson and Bama to win the whole thing. So if your passing game is off and your secondary can’t stop an elite passing attack, the odds of matching Clemson then Bama score for score are low. Thus the reason they will be exposed.
I don’t think either Coastal or Cincinnati are good enough or deserve top 4 consideration, but there’s no question this years committee has screwed up the rankings 6-10 for several weeks. But Coastal Carolina easily deserves NY6 consideration, especially over 3-loss Florida teams who lose to 3-loss teams at home. In that respect their logic is certainly a joke.
They are at least conference champs which Notre Dame is not and Cincinnati has a comparable probable better resume than Ohio State and played 3 more games. So deserves maybe earned probably in Cincinnati’s case. At the end of the day it’s a TV show not a playoff.
Come on, there’s a big disparity in talent between P5 schools and G5. I wish there was a way they could play an SEC schedule in 2021 for just that year and then let’s see how unfair the committee is. In the East, they may beat Vandy but absolutely no one else and they won’t beat anyone in the West. It’s one thing to beat a P5 school on any given Saturday but it’s a whole other thing to line up against superior talent EVERY Saturday. That’s what it would be for a G5 school for 12 consecutive Saturdays.
^^^^^You go it. And this would not just be playing an SEC schedule, this would be the 4 best teams in the country. Yes I think OSU is one of the 4 best. I do not think they deserved to be chosen.
They would be 5-5 just like Mizwho. Mizzo would be one of their wins.
Why the hatred towards MIZZOU? Did your wife leave you for a MIZZOU grad?
They have grads at MIZZOU? LOL sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Good lord, get yourself a TV contract and hold your own G5 Championship.
^^^^^^^ No one would care to watch.
Yes, people would absolutely watch. It’ll never get the ratings of the big boy playoffs but the G5 has a huge, and devoted, fan base. And it’s absolutely what they should do.
Sidenote (general statement that’s not part of my reply): Cinderellas don’t exist in college football like they do college basketball. One elite player in basketball can carry a team. One elite player in football won’t make a difference against a team full of elite players.
You would get your brains beaten out. Even with the top 4 P-5 teams, and the talent and depth that they have, and including the schedule that they have to play, the margin of victory in the semis is just over 21 points, 3 of the teams did not score a TD. The G-5 does not belong, and would just get beaten worse. There is no need to expend the playoffs. If they do that it is not going to stop the complaining about the last few spots. They complain about the last few teams that get left out of a 66 team basketball tournament, and the people left off the Pro Bowl roster. It is the nature of this country to do nothing but complain and you could increase the teams in the CFPs to 48 and there would still be b!tching about the last ones in. Start your own tournament, and see how much a network is willing to pay to broadcast it.
I wish people on this sight would put their SEC bias to the side sometimes. We all see what is happening to the beautiful sport we all love. Coastal, Cincy, BYU, ULL all deserved better exposure this season. With the system in place, we will never see Boise States, Utahs(pre Pac12), TCU’s(pre big12) and BYU’s ever again.
Play a tougher schedule. I understand they couldn’t help the schedule this year, and I don’t believe OSU warned their spot. However, neither did a team that only played one P5 team (which happened to be the worse P5 team outside of Nashville, Kansas) and didn’t play a conference championship game. You wanna be considered elite, play elite teams during the regular season and prove you belong.
Just expand the CFP to eight, each P5 champion and 3 wild cards with a spot for a G5…IF any G5 is ranked in the top 15. Or not. But no team should be in the CFP playing only half a season.
He has a point the system is a joke and it’s always been a joke. As long as we have a committee and we pick teams like this is ice-skating, synchronized swimming or any other sport without a scoreboard it will remain a joke.