TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!

In the outstanding comedy, Trading Places, Mortimer Duke may have foreshadowed SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

The SEC's move to nine regular-season conference games beginning in 2026 was, according to Sankey, based in part on the Playoff Committee agreeing to use 'advanced metrics' to determine a team's strength of schedule (SOS) and Strength of Record (SOR), and to rely upon both calculations when determining the 12-team Playoff field.

In other words, 2024's 3-loss Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina would be in the Playoff, instead of 11-1 Indiana and a second ACC team, SMU.

To wit -

How Strength of Schedule and Record Strength Will Impact CFP Rankings in the New CFP Metric

The system used by the Committee in determining SOS and SOR is the product of SportsSource Analytics and is proprietary. The programming the Committee will use to determine SOS and SOR is not disclosed or available to the general public.

So, SEC Commissioner Sankey was apparently given the inside scoop?

If so, I do not know if the same information was provided to the other conference commissioners and the Notre Dame athletic director.

To get a handle on 'The Machines,' I referred to the Massey Ratings, a widely referred to computer ranking, owned by Dr. Kenneth Massey and On3, and available to the public, to determine a putative Playoff field at the regular season's halfway mark.

You can search 'Understanding the Massey Ratings on On3,' or search 'Massey Ratings' for the up-to-date ranking of the Power 4, Group of 6, and Notre Dame.

The Massey Playoff Predicter through Week Seven, with a team's current SOS and estimated future SOS.

1. 6-0 Ohio State - 33/55

2. 6-0 Indiana - 20/43

3. 5-1 Alabama - 2/9

4. 6-0 Ole Miss - 32/29

5. 5-1 Georgia - 4/11

6. 6-0 Texas A&M - 9/7

7. 5-1 OREGON - 12/18

8. 5-0 Miami - 15/45

9. 4-2 Notre Dame - 6/36

10. 6-0 Texas Tech - 56/56

11. 4-2 Texas - 11/12

12. 6-0 Memphis - 105/86 (actual rank - 28) Memphis knocks out No. 12-ranked LSU. Sorry, Sankey 😁.

I am not surprised by the SEC's current and future SOS rankings. I'm not surprised by B12 Texas Tech's low ranking. I am pleasantly surprised by Indiana and OBD's SOS ranking.

In this Playoff forecast, Oregon would host Texas Tech in a 1st round game.

The ranking for OBD's future opponents: 16. USC, 17. Washington, 24. Iowa, 51. Minnesota, 61. Wisconsin, 62. Rutgers.

On Selection Sunday, December 7, 2025, which teams and conference commissioners will be shouting out -

TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!

The following partial description of committee procedure is from the NCAA website:

"What will the committee use to rank teams?

From the CFP website: "The selection committee ranks the teams based on the members’ evaluation of the teams’ performance on the field, using conference championships won, strength of schedule, head-to-head results, and comparison of results against common opponents to decide among teams that are comparable."

How does the voting process work?

According to the CFP website, it begins like this: "Each committee member will create a list of the 30 teams he or she believes to be the best in the country, in no particular order. Teams listed by three or more members will remain under consideration. At the conclusion of any round, other teams can be added to the group of teams under consideration by a vote of three or more members." You can read about each step here.

There's more. If you're interested search "College football playoff committee rules."

46 minutes ago, Jon Joseph said:

TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!

In the outstanding comedy, Trading Places, Mortimer Duke may have foreshadowed SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

The SEC's move to nine regular-season conference games beginning in 2026 was, according to Sankey, based in part on the Playoff Committee agreeing to use 'advanced metrics' to determine a team's strength of schedule (SOS) and Strength of Record (SOR), and to rely upon both calculations when determining the 12-team Playoff field.

In other words, 2024's 3-loss Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina would be in the Playoff, instead of 11-1 Indiana and a second ACC team, SMU.

To wit -

How Strength of Schedule and Record Strength Will Impact CFP Rankings in the New CFP Metric

The system used by the Committee in determining SOS and SOR is the product of SportsSource Analytics and is proprietary. The programming the Committee will use to determine SOS and SOR is not disclosed or available to the general public.

So, SEC Commissioner Sankey was apparently given the inside scoop?

If so, I do not know if the same information was provided to the other conference commissioners and the Notre Dame athletic director.

To get a handle on 'The Machines,' I referred to the Massey Ratings, a widely referred to computer ranking, owned by Dr. Kenneth Massey and On3, and available to the public, to determine a putative Playoff field at the regular season's halfway mark.

You can search 'Understanding the Massey Ratings on On3,' or search 'Massey Ratings' for the up-to-date ranking of the Power 4, Group of 6, and Notre Dame.

The Massey Playoff Predicter through Week Seven, with a team's current SOS and estimated future SOS.

1. 6-0 Ohio State - 33/55

2. 6-0 Indiana - 20/43

3. 5-1 Alabama - 2/9

4. 6-0 Ole Miss - 32/29

5. 5-1 Georgia - 4/11

6. 6-0 Texas A&M - 9/7

7. 5-1 OREGON - 12/18

8. 5-0 Miami - 15/45

9. 4-2 Notre Dame - 6/36

10. 6-0 Texas Tech - 56/56

11. 4-2 Texas - 11/12

12. 6-0 Memphis - 105/86 (actual rank - 28) Memphis knocks out No. 12-ranked LSU. Sorry, Sankey 😁.

I am not surprised by the SEC's current and future SOS rankings. I'm not surprised by B12 Texas Tech's low ranking. I am pleasantly surprised by Indiana and OBD's SOS ranking.

In this Playoff forecast, Oregon would host Texas Tech in a 1st round game.

The ranking for OBD's future opponents: 16. USC, 17. Washington, 24. Iowa, 51. Minnesota, 61. Wisconsin, 62. Rutgers.

On Selection Sunday, December 7, 2025, which teams and conference commissioners will be shouting out -

TURN THOSE MACHINES BACK ON!

Thanks for this excellent information.

Looking good, Billy Ray!

Feeling good, Louis!