What matters more to the Playoff Selection Committee, good wins or “good” losses? And is a 1-loss team always better than a 2-loss team?

In 2014, the first season that featured a four-team playoff, ESPN aired the initial rankings in primetime on October 28th. At that point in the season, Notre Dame was 6-1, with its only blemish being a controversial 4-point loss to #2 Florida State, the defending national champions. At that point in the season, Notre Dame only had one Top 25 win on its resume (a 17-14 win over #14 Stanford after a 4th-and-11 touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Ben Koyack with one minute left). Still, despite the dearth of quality wins, many media members pegged Notre Dame as a borderline Top 5 team given the near miss against Florida State two weeks prior. The Committee had other ideas. Notre Dame appeared 10th in the initial rankings, and they never rose higher, as the 2014 season turned into a disaster in November after a 55-31 thrashing at the hands of Arizona State was followed by three consecutive losses.

In the first season of the Playoff, the Committee’s rankings signaled that it valued good wins more than “good” losses. Flash forward ten seasons, and that premise seemed to hold true for most of the four-team playoff era, as the Committee generally rewarded teams with the best wins over teams that could only tout “good” losses.

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I would guess we will stay at 10 this week. I would have the sec teams ahead of us just by the eye test

7 hours ago, tneun89 said:

What matters more to the Playoff Selection Committee, good wins or “good” losses? And is a 1-loss team always better than a 2-loss team?

In 2014, the first season that featured a four-team playoff, ESPN aired the initial rankings in primetime on October 28th. At that point in the season, Notre Dame was 6-1, with its only blemish being a controversial 4-point loss to #2 Florida State, the defending national champions. At that point in the season, Notre Dame only had one Top 25 win on its resume (a 17-14 win over #14 Stanford after a 4th-and-11 touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Ben Koyack with one minute left). Still, despite the dearth of quality wins, many media members pegged Notre Dame as a borderline Top 5 team given the near miss against Florida State two weeks prior. The Committee had other ideas. Notre Dame appeared 10th in the initial rankings, and they never rose higher, as the 2014 season turned into a disaster in November after a 55-31 thrashing at the hands of Arizona State was followed by three consecutive losses.

In the first season of the Playoff, the Committee’s rankings signaled that it valued good wins more than “good” losses. Flash forward ten seasons, and that premise seemed to hold true for most of the four-team playoff era, as the Committee generally rewarded teams with the best wins over teams that could only tout “good” losses.

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Great, article @tneun89!

I so remember that 2014 season, and feel that FSU loss destroyed the team, followed very closely by Northwestern! The Northwestern loss should not have happened either. 😑 I was at the Notre Dame @ USC game with a cousin because they had tickets, so I went. Worst. Game. Ever. ☹️

But to the point, I do believe a 1 loss team should get in over a 2 loss team. This 2024 Notre Dame team is also much different than the 2014 one, and by leaps and bounds. They’re also better than any SEC team currently, seeing as how the SEC is way down this year. Notre Dame has also faired pretty well against the SEC as of late!

The eye test I’m giving this team is an average margin of victory at 33 PPG and a defense only giving up 11 PPG! That right there is outstanding, and way better than the SEC is doing, or just about any team right now!