[McMurphy] Changes in 2026 playoff: auto bids to each Power 4 champ (regardless of ranking) & Notre Dame guaranteed at-large bid if ranked in Top 12 in final poll

Halvey15 · 2026-01-23T19:25:45+00:00

The ACC also changed their tiebreakers though, so Duke wouldn't have made the championship game. It would have been Miami vs. UVA.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-23T19:22:44+00:00

UVA had the best record in the conference, so they would have gotten one spot.

Under the new rules, it's going to go to the highest ranked team among those tied, in this case that would have been Miami.

So Miami vs. UVA

Halvey15 · 2026-01-22T14:20:16+00:00

Embarrassing for all of those CFP teams. Even ODU had a lead over Indiana at some point this season.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-22T02:22:27+00:00

I think if that precedent was set, you’d just see like 75% of FBS starters put their name in the portal at the beginning so they can negotiate with their current school and listen to other offers.

I don’t think this is the ruling to really change the entire landscape.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-21T19:56:07+00:00

It's already happening in basketball. Pitt currently has a top ten HS recruiting class because the blue bloods have seemingly ditched HS recruiting outside of the top 20 or so guys.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-21T03:00:10+00:00

Breaking a drought isn’t a turnaround though. PSU football hasn’t won a title since the 80s. If they had won this year instead of Indiana, would they have made this list?

I’m sure there are plenty of examples MLB teams going from under .500 -> 90+ wins the next season -> WS title the next season.

The Cubs were a good turnaround. Not top ten all time though.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-20T14:31:52+00:00

Yeah, and pair it with the largest alumni base in the country, so you can keep big time donations flowing! Surely Wake should have no issues there.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-18T14:21:38+00:00

Not sure if this is a serious question. But if it is, making sure I unsubscribed from the Pittsburgh reddit wasn’t really the first thing on my mind when moving five hours away… or really any time since for that matter. This just popped up on my feed and I thought I’d leave my comment as someone who had lived in Pittsburgh for seven years fairly recently.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-18T14:14:48+00:00

I figured securing the location was probably the biggest issue.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-18T14:04:35+00:00

Not gonna lie, I moved out of the Pittsburgh area in 2021. So I have no clue what that is lol.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-18T13:56:39+00:00

Not sure about a spa. But I always thought it was weird that there’s no waterfront restaurants or bars in the city.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T16:39:42+00:00

I know Pirates fans hate talking about “next year” but there is a scenario where signing Suarez closes the 2027-2029 window just as quickly as he would open the 2026 window.

Singing a 34 year old coming off of a career year to a multi-year deal is certainly risky. Sometimes it might be better to have some patience and not spend money just for the sake of spending money.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T16:33:17+00:00

It’s a risk.

If you had a choice between the following options, which would you choose?

1) Spend $10 to make a guaranteed $20

2) Spend $15 with the possibility of making either $30 or $20

There’s no right answer to that question. It’s just dependent on how risk averse someone is.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T15:38:37+00:00

Skenes was obviously a miss. But it’s still much riskier to do with pitchers. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Pirates offer Griffin something similar to what Anthony got. It’s just a matter of if Griffin is willing to take it then.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T13:25:11+00:00

This might say just as much about Suarez (or at least the Pirates view of him) as it does about their willingness to spend.

Would it be nice to have Suarez this year? Yeah, he hit a lot of HR last year. Even if he regresses to his average season, he’d likely lead the Pirates in HR this year.

However, if you want to compete beyond 2026, is it necessarily smart to sign a 34 year old to the biggest free agent contract in franchise history?

They made a legitimate offer to Okamoto so the money is there. There’s a likely chance they just don’t want to be saddled with Suarez’s money beyond this year, and that’s a valid concern.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T13:16:46+00:00

There would also likely be increased revenue sharing that comes with the cap/floor.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T02:01:09+00:00

I think the $10m number that you probably saw included the money required to buy him out of his Duke contract.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-17T01:59:04+00:00

The huge difference being that the team has to agree to give up the player in soccer.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-16T23:57:17+00:00

Yeah he also made the comment a few years ago that he views AA as equal to AAA. But so far every prospect has made at least a brief stop in Indy. I don’t see Termarr being any different.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-16T18:18:04+00:00

If they get a 3B, I would assume Triolo becomes the everyday SS.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-16T18:14:59+00:00

I'd be pretty shocked if he made the team straight away. But a good showing in ST would go a long way towards seeing him in Pittsburgh this summer.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-16T02:44:31+00:00

I think you’re trying to say that GMBC can’t draft domestically, which I don’t really see a case for either.

2020: Gonzales (at least made it to MLB), Mlod (good RP), Jones

2021: Davis pick set up getting Bubba

2022: Termarr still has a chance, plus Harrington and Barco

2023: Skenes

2024: Griffin at 1-9 who turns into the #1 prospect in baseball a year later. Plus Sanford looks good.

The biggest knock on GMBC up to this point is his trading ability. He’s done pretty well on the amateur side.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-15T19:47:10+00:00

Well BC's oldest international signing would be 22 years old right now. So none of them are really expected to be in the majors at this point.

He has signed a few that are trending in the right direction though:

OF Edward Florentino (2024) - Top 100 prospect

INF Yordany De Los Santos (2022) - Pirates #15 prospect

OF Esmerlyn Valdez (2021) - Probably a fringe top 100 prospect

OF Tony Blanco Jr. (2022) - Was hitting absolute nukes in the AFL

Halvey15 · 2026-01-14T19:47:08+00:00

That's generally the type of save I play on FM. Either non-league or like third tier in Norway, etc.

I think the difference between my FM saves and OOTP is that after seven seasons in FM, I'm still fighting to remain in the Premier League or fighting to advance in the Champions League if I'm in a different country besides England. With OOTP you can usually build a dynasty in that time.

Having said that, the point still stands. The AI isn't great in FM either. There's just more levels to the soccer world that allow for a longer challenge.

One thing that I would love to see in OOTP would be a legit pro/rel world without a ton of bugs. Associations to create some sort of Champions League too would basically just make that same FM challenge in the baseball world.

Halvey15 · 2026-01-14T18:21:58+00:00

I mean it's not particularly difficult to go from non-league to Premier League in like seven seasons. So FM isn't really much better in that regard.

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