Rich: We Need to Change the Way We Look at 2-Loss CFB Teams These Days

Two losses used to end a college football season. Rich thinks it's time everyone stopped acting like it still does.

"In all seriousness, though, we need to take a different look at the way we view teams," Rich said on the show.

The conversation started with Georgia and Alabama, and with a hefty dose of sarcasm about the SEC. As the old line goes, it just means more. So when Ole Miss destroys Vanderbilt, the bit went, that's not a sign of a weak underbelly in the conference, it's a sign of how strong the SEC is. And when Indiana needs a remarkable fourth quarter to beat an equally undefeated Nebraska, that must mean Indiana is ready to be beaten. "That's the way it works."

Georgia's comeback produced one of the wildest sequences of the weekend. Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs took the lead, and then a potential pass interference call sent Kalen DeBoer over the edge. Even Fowler on the broadcast said here comes the flag, and a flag graphic popped up on screen before it was taken down. Instead of a penalty, it was just second down.

"Have you ever seen Kalen DeBoer lose his mind like that?" Rich asked. "Ever?"

The studio pointed out that there were still three minutes on the clock, so it wasn't a guarantee Alabama would have won even with the call. And the last person DeBoer went nuts on was his own player, whose 15-yard penalty gave Georgia a free first down and ended the game.

Here's where Rich's bigger point comes in. Back in the day, a loss like that would have been the end of it. Not anymore. He pointed to LSU, which has two losses including one to Kentucky and is still ranked. "They should be," Rich said. "They're one of the best teams in the country."

He went further. "There's going to be a three-loss team that people are going to be talking about to make the playoffs," Rich said. "It's going to happen."

Ohio State is the test case. Indiana, the defending champs, could beat the Buckeyes next week. If that happens, Ohio State has two losses, the other a last-second defeat to Texas. Is that team suddenly on the brink?

"Get out of here with that nonsense," Rich said. "Ohio State is one of the best teams in college football with the best player in college football."

Not everyone on the crew agreed that the new format is an upgrade. One voice flatly said, "I do not like the 12-team playoff." Rich's response was a warning: wait until they expand it, because that's coming. The room quickly escalated from 16 teams to 24 to 64.

Texas is another case. The Longhorns could lose again in the Red River Rivalry, and then they'd have two losses too. That opened the door for an Arch Manning joke, "the Drake Maye of college football," lifted straight from the crew's text chain and brought to air. But Rich's serious point stood: Texas could lose another one, and people would act like they're done.

Rich sees the sport heading toward the NFL model. "In the NFL, we see all the time teams go from wild card to the Super Bowl," he said. "That's the world we're going to start living in in college football."

The catch is who decides which of those wild card teams gets in. "It's going to be up to a panel to decide it," Rich said. "That's the problem."