The University Of Louisville football team could be in this seasons college football playoff. They could also be playing in the Music City Bowl again. There is a lot of hype around this years team but there is still a lot to be proven. Will they live up to the hype? Personally, I am a believer in this years team. I have seen the team come together as one. I have seen players like Reggie Bonnafon and Kyle Bolin make decisions based on the betterment of the team and not themselves. I saw four players turn down the NFL to come back for one more chance. Usually we think in basketball terms that if a player returns to school instead of going pro that they will be selfish and try to show off their talents to the scouts and not put the team first. More often than not that selfishness results in lack of team chemistry. In this case, I don’t think it’s a bad thing. If DeAngelo Brown want to stop every running back that gets handed the ball then so be it. If Devonte Fields wants to lead the nation in sacks then I say go right ahead. It’s just fine by me if Keith Kelsey wants to tackle every opposing player on every play. If Josh Harvey-Clemons wants to intercept every ball thrown his way then I say go get ’em big fella. This team has that something special that you just can’t teach. Last year they were all fighting for positions. This year they all know and accept their role’s on the team. They all have the same goal. This team has all the makings of something special. Is it enough to get to the playoffs or at least enough to finally beat Clemson or Florida State? We shall see.
Getting into the college football playoff is extremely hard but it’s possible. I believe they will be close but won’t make it this year. It seems very likely to me that Louisville beats Florida State, Florida State beats Clemson, Clemson beats Louisville and we have a three way tie atop the Atlantic division of the ACC. The tie breaker for a three way tie according to the ACC website is as follows:
Three team (or more) tiebreaker procedure will be used to break all ties to identify the Championship game representative. Once a team is eliminated from the tie, the tie-breaking procedures restart for the remaining teams. If the three (or more) team tie can only be reduced to two teams, the two-team tiebreaking procedure will then be applied).
- Combined head-to-head winning percentage among the tied teams.
- Winning percentage of the tied teams within the division.
- Head-to-head competition versus the team within the division with the best overall (divisional and non-divisional) Conference winning percentage, and proceeding through the division. Multiple ties within the division will be broken first to last, using the league’s tie-breaking procedures.
- Combined winning percentage versus all common non-divisional opponents.
- Combined winning percentage versus all non-divisional opponents.
- Winning percentage versus common non-divisional opponents based upon their order of finish (overall conference winning percentage) and proceeding through other common non-divisional opponents based upon their divisional order of finish.
- The tied team with the highest ranking in the full Bowl Championship Series Standings following the conclusion of regular season games, unless the second of the tied teams is ranked within five-or-fewer places of the highest ranked tied team. In this case, the two-team tiebreaking procedure shall be applied between the top two ranked tied teams. If all tied teams are not ranked in the full Bowl Championship Series Standings, the computer ranking portion of the Standings will be used, eliminating the high and the low computer ranking, and averaging the remaining rankings.
- The representative shall be chosen by a draw as administered by the Commissioner or Commissioner’s designee.
I know it all seems confusing but the bottom line is Louisville has to take care of business if they want to be in the playoff. There is no easy way to get in. The Cards CAN NOT lose any games that they are favored to win. You can’t throw in that clunker against the likes of Wake Forest or Boston College. You must win and win convincingly because of the three teams that could be tied atop the ACC at the end of the season, Louisville will start out with the worst ranking and if the ranking tie breaker comes into effect then Louisville could be headed back to the Music City Bowl. Actually they would probably be headed to a better bowl but if you are not in a New Years six bowl game then who cares what bowl game you are in. At that point, we as fans just want a quality opponent in a location that is drive-able.
As of this moment my 2016 – 17 College Football Playoff teams prediction is 1) Oklahoma 2) LSU 3) ACC champ 4) Michigan
Check back for next Thursday’s edition of Nunnsense where I will give you my game by game predictions for Louisville’s 2016 regular season.( Here’s a hint. I think they win a lot of games)
As always, GO CARDS!
