Disrespect For Marshall Proves College Football Is Still Broken

The College Football Playoff Committee’s continued exclusion of Marshall in its rankings proves that it still operates under a flawed system.

There are 125 teams who play FBS football. Those 125 teams are divided into ten conferences, with four independent teams not belonging to any of those conferences. All 125 of those teams play by the same rules with the same scholarship restrictions. An outsider might look at that and assume that all 125 teams have an equal shot to compete for a national championship.

Those of us who follow college football know they’d be wrong.

The Marshall Thundering Herd is currently one of only two unbeaten FBS teams in the nation. The other is Florida State. The Florida State Seminoles are currently the No. 2 team in the land according to the College Football Playoff Rankings. Regardless of their 10-0 start, the Marshall Thundering Herd have yet to appear anywhere in the Top 25 of the same rankings since they were first released a little over a month ago. Not only does Marshall not appear, but seven three-loss teams currently hold a spot in that Top 25.

That doesn’t sit well with me.

There were a number of reasons for switching from the old BCS system to the current College Football Playoff system. Maybe I was naive, but I assumed one of the reasons was to give each and every team a fair shot to prove themselves on the field. Boy, was I wrong.

Or was I?

All the Marshall Thundering Herd have done all season is prove themselves on the field. All they’ve done is lay waste to each and every opponent on their schedule week after week. The Herd score an average of 47.1 points per game — the second most in the nation. They allow only 16.3 points per game — 5th nationally. Marshall has proved themselves on the field and then some, yet there is no sign of them on the national scene outside of the occasional “Marshall is still undefeated” drop, followed by a few chuckles.

The lack of respect they are getting stems from the fact that they play in Conference USA, one of the five conferences not part of the “prestigious” Power Five. That combined with a weak strength of schedule seems to be keeping them out of not only the national title conversation, but any conversation about relevant teams altogether.

The thing about strength of schedule is that the very foundation of the idea is flawed. Because not all of the teams play each other, you really have no way to measure them without comparing two games that two teams played against the same opponent — something that for some reason is scoffed at by the old guard of college football. Be that as it may, it seems like the most sensical method of comparison, as Ohio State doesn’t play Alabama’s schedule and Florida State doesn’t play Marshall’s schedule.

I went ahead and ran those numbers. As I stated, Marshall averages 47.1 points per game and allows only 16.3. Then I took a look at the games that each team on their schedule played against opponents from the Power Five. Obviously, Marshall’s opponents are 0-for-10 against Marshall. They are 1-for-14 against the Power Five — not a big difference, but a win nonetheless. In terms of points, Marshall’s opponents allowed just over 34.5 points per game against the power five while scoring exactly 14. Those of you with a knack for basic math already know that’s a point differential of 20.5 — less than three touchdowns.

Marshall beat the same schools by an average of 30.8.

The even if you’re not ready to insert Marshall into the national title conversation among the top four teams, you have to understand the College Football Playoff beyond picking the top four. The committee not only picks the top four, they also select which eight teams get to play in the four other major bowls not involved in the current season’s playoff. There is one spot in those bowls that is guaranteed to a team from the ‘Group of Five”, meaning the five “mid-major” conferences not part of the exclusive Power Five.

That spot will obviously go to Marshall, barring a complete meltdown on the part of the Thundering Herd.

The old BCS used to put a team or two from the mid-major conferences into its four bowls as well. Usually, those teams had undefeated records and were ranked in or near the Top 10 — essentially becoming “BCS busters.” It was arguably the most exciting thing about the old system. You got to watch Cinderella crash the party because she earned it.

Now, because the College Football Playoff Committee has failed to ranked Marshall in its Top 25, the Thundering Herd’s appearance in one of the major bowls will instead feel like the end result of some sort of collective bargaining agreement. That’s disrespectful to the 2014 Marshall Thundering Herd — a team who has done everything they were asked and then some against their schedule and conference.

College football proves more and more every year that it does not care about wins, losses and settling it on the field. College football lives off controversy, history and pageantry. It is the anti-Moneyball. The bottom line doesn’t matter. It only cares about how pretty your girlfriend is and how you look in a pair of jeans.

For that reason, and until all 125 FBS teams have an equal shot at the game’s greatest reward, College Football remains broken.

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Lack Of Respect For Marshall Proves College Football Is Still Broken

By J.P. Scott | Nov 19, 2014

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