[CardinalSagehen]

This discussion reminds me why I'd rather have one of the following:
1. Return to the old bowl system, where the winner of the Pac-12 and B1G play each other in the Rose Bowl game every year, no exceptions. The national championship can go back to being mythical, which does not bother me one bit.
2. Expand the playoff to 8 and include all the five major conference champions, one group of five team and a couple of at-large teams. First round played at the better-seeded team's home stadium.

In any case, five teams on Stanford's schedule are ranked ahead of Stanford. Three teams on Bama's schedule are ranked ahead of Stanford. Stanford has six home games, Bama has eight.

So, yeah, apples and oranges...

The Pac-12 schedule is so difficult, I think our three off-season games should be CreamCake U., CreamPuff College and Little Sisters of the Poor.  That would make our schedule, what...the 25th toughest?

SJSU, Hawaii and Rice, or Rutgers, or whatever the worst Florida school is...

Perhaps, but it's all academic with the teams we've had for the last few years. I think we can all see the difference between a team that is just scraping by, even when it wins, and one that dominates and can pick up a couple yards on the ground at will. There is no point in making it to the CFP and getting slaughtered because we're barely good enough to beat Pitt.

I say this in the most optimistic, hopeful, anything-can-happen, we're-still-undefeated mindset!  But my hope for the season is a Pac 12 championship, which is a fair contest and always a realistic objective for Stanford.  Once you change your focus to that, the entertainment value of Northwestern, UCF and ND far exceeds the win-column value of CreamCakes, CreamPuffs and Little Sisters, at least in my book.

[CardinalSagehen]

This discussion reminds me why I'd rather have one of the following:
1. Return to the old bowl system, where the winner of the Pac-12 and B1G play each other in the Rose Bowl game every year, no exceptions. The national championship can go back to being mythical, which does not bother me one bit.
2. Expand the playoff to 8 and include all the five major conference champions, one group of five team and a couple of at-large teams. First round played at the better-seeded team's home stadium.

In any case, five teams on Stanford's schedule are ranked ahead of Stanford. Three teams on Bama's schedule are ranked ahead of Stanford. Stanford has six home games, Bama has eight.

So, yeah, apples and oranges...

The Pac-12 schedule is so difficult, I think our three off-season games should be CreamCake U., CreamPuff College and Little Sisters of the Poor.  That would make our schedule, what...the 25th toughest?

SJSU, Hawaii and Rice, or Rutgers, or whatever the worst Florida school is...

Perhaps, but it's all academic with the teams we've had for the last few years. I think we can all see the difference between a team that is just scraping by, even when it wins, and one that dominates and can pick up a couple yards on the ground at will. There is no point in making it to the CFP and getting slaughtered because we're barely good enough to beat Pitt.

I say this in the most optimistic, hopeful, anything-can-happen, we're-still-undefeated mindset!  But my hope for the season is a Pac 12 championship, which is a fair contest and always a realistic objective for Stanford.  Once you change your focus to that, the entertainment value of Northwestern, UCF and ND far exceeds the win-column value of CreamCakes, CreamPuffs and Little Sisters, at least in my book.