Welcome back to THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE, your weekly bicycle ride through the rockiest mountains of the college football internet.

Six teams had legitimate Playoff arguments. There are only four spots. Georgia missed out at No. 5, and Ohio State did at No. 6. The Dawgs have to stomach not being in the field despite pretty clearly being one of the four best teams in the sport. The Buckeyes, who are used to being on the Playoff fence, have to get over coming out on the short end.

So let’s see how the two fan bases are doing online.

Former Buckeye QB and current ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit called for Georgia to make the field. Is Herbstreit part of an anti-OSU conspiracy?

It starts at the top. An Eleven Warriors poster lays out the cold, hard facts:

ESPN OWNS THE CFP 1) ESPN owns the CFP 2) ESPN is a major investor in the SEC network 3) The CFP committee just said “if Oklahoma would have lost, we would have put a two loss Georgia in over an 1 loss Big 10 conference champion” 4) What’s better for ESPN? A Big 10 team or a 2 loss SEC team?

After this was posted, Georgia, of course, made the field, while the network made sure to keep out Ohio State, a team with terrible television ratings and whose games are never played on ESPN or Disney channels.

<phone starts vibrating intensely on table>

Oh.

But, yeah, Herbstreit’s involved, says this 247Sports message board poster:

whats with this guy? like full on campaigning on ESPN to put Georgia in at #4... almost sounded ballistic if the committee wouldnt put them in.. shilling for the SEC as usual.. gotta get paid right? lol

Has Herbstreit been co-opted by fellow ESPN personalities Desmond Howard (a Michigan alum) and David Pollack (Georgia) to try to drag down Ohio State at all costs?

First with Herbie it was Desmond Howard, a total Weenie promoter, which Herbie never confronts and now I swear he is beming David Polacks (sp?) bitch because all Polack does is promote the SEC knowing that Herbie will agree with him. I used to defend Herbie but have now seen enough to know where he stands on tOSU. Lost all respect for him. He will more than likely begin promoting Tua for Heisman even though Haskins has done much more than Tua. I think Jalen Hurtz proved last night that any qb could be a winner on the best team money can buy!

Yes. But at least Ohio State’s never broken any NCAA rules.

Maybe Ohio State fans can just stick it to the four-letter network by not watching the Playoff at all. That’ll get Ohio State in next year.

This poster argues:

BUCKEYE NATION SHOULD BOYCOTT THE PLAY-OFFS THIS YEAR Last year I did not watch the Play-off games partly due to OSU being left out and partly due to not giving a crap about the teams. After this year’s snub again, I thought about the teams involved: - Alabama- I dislike everything about Saban and the SEC lovefest; - Clemson- 31-0, Dabo, Southern vibe, weak conference; - ND- I have never liked the program or it’s arrogance, own network, too good for the BIG; - Oklahoma- picked over us twice, beat us recently, no defense conference; My conclusion is that I could care less about any of these teams or the games. More importantly, if all of Buckeye Nation boycotts the Play-offs, ratings nose-dive, ESPN loses money, advertisers buy time for the Rose Bowl where the eyeballs will be tuned in and future Committees will be forced to add another selection criteria- who draws the most fans and viewers. Make our voice be heard loud and proud- Just say no to the Play-offs! Anyone with me?

That’ll do it.

(When Ohio State narrowly missed the Playoff in 2017, Disney was at fault then, too, and Ohio State fans swore not to watch any of it. It’s wild that this enormous corporation has been able to carry out this destructive conspiracy this long.)

Anyone can see that the Playoff is designed exclusively for the SEC cabal.

TIME TO EXPAND THE PLAYOFF, THIS IS A JOKE Right now this format only gives the SEC and all the lovers of the SEC a license to steal because the argument that the SEC is the greatest conference by far can’t be dis proven because they have no competition nor does it allow for teams who struggle early but are playing great at the end of the season. The current playoff picture has become nothing but political just everything else in this country.

This one was posted shortly before the committee unveiled the field, which included one SEC team that had a 13-0 record. The Big Ten was robbed.

Another proposal: Maybe Ohio State should just do what the SEC does and play eight league games, replacing a conference game with a cupcake.

Here’s the vision:

PROPOSAL: THE ONLY WAY FORWARD W/THIS ABSURD COMMITTEE STRUCTURE Since we’re stuck with this crap committee system, we need to immediately play by SEC rules. Here’s what we (and any other smart team needs to do): (1) Play no one of consequence in the non-conference season. Rack up 60plus ppg and get the narrative about how we’re unstoppable. Quality non-conference games mean nothing (TCU, for example) to the committee. (2) Schedule an FCS team before we play TTUN. Why not rest some guys? (3) Play an 8-game B1G schedule. Why play any more teams from the West division than we have to? Beating them adds NO value to us. Losing to them kills our season. This is how the SEC creates their mystique and stacks the deck for themselves. We can’t beat them (in the “narrative” media game). So let’s join them in gaming the system until the system changes.

I have no joke here. Ohio State and the Big Ten actually should do that for real, but they probably prefer having the extra revenue of all those conference games.

While Ohio State had to face a murderers’ row that included the likes of Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana, Purdue, and Minnesota, the team that really had the easy path was Notre Dame. That’s the model this Dawg fan wants:

If there was no SEC championship... If we hadn’t played A conference championship and we and Bama just sat home tonight like ND--would we still end the season number four? If yes, why should losing to the top team in an extra game hurt us? If no, the ND should fall out of the top four. They should be penalized for not playing a conferences championship.

There you have it. Georgia should follow Georgia Tech out of the SEC.

And while Ohio State fans thought the Playoff was rigged for the SEC, Georgia fans felt Notre Dame was the one with unfair advantages.

SEC needs to step up And demand NDs sorry a$$ play a conference championship or be inelgible.

The party forcing Notre Dame to play a 13th game would be, um ...

Anyway, this is a common idea:

ND should be required to schedule a 13th game the week of the conf champ games if they wanna continue w this independant bs.

The SEC makes tens of millions of dollars every year off its conference title game, and that’s why it has one.

This Georgia fan thought the SEC and CBS were trying to fix the title game for Bama, even though UGA winning likely would’ve put two SEC teams in the CFP.

Greg Sankey He should be embarrassed. It is pretty much obvious CBS and the SEC has picked their winner before this game even started. It is a downright embarrassment. This is twice that every single controversial call has gone for bama

What stake would CBS have in choosing the participants of Playoff games it won’t broadcast? That we don’t know only makes CBS all the more dangerous.

This Georgia fan suggests Notre Dame should be precluded from the Playoff because it hasn’t won a title in a while.

Notre Dame has not won a major bowl since 1991 w/Lou Holtz... Since then they have been invited to one BCS title game and got destroyed. They have been invited to one Orange Bowl and lost. They have been invited to one Sugar Bowl and lost. They have been invited to four Fiesta Bowls and lost every one of them. They haven’t beaten a really good team in a big setting in 27 years. When do we get to stop pretending present day Notre Dame is the same as pre 1990s Notre Dame?

It was not immediately clear when this Georgia fan thinks Georgia’s last national title was.

While the Dawgs have been through a lot, the path forward’s at least clear.

They have to hire this economics major from the class of 1997 as athletic director. If they do that, they’ll find a way to beat Saban’s Bama.

fricked again, a dissertation in the Georgia Way Hire me as the fricking AD and we will roll hard core to the fricking Max and get shite done at all sports. From girls Volleyball, to men’s bball, to football, I promise you all better results, call me and I will make National Championships my fricking life at all levels. Lewis and Hershel will be the Donald fricking Trump of National titles at Georgia, I will get it done or die trying. Econ, class of 97. I will make winning a way of life in all sports. I will get it done.

It’s all straightforward from here.