The previous method for college football to decide the national championship game was terrible. The committee often times took the number 1 and 2 teams in the country. Makes sense right? Wrong. Sometimes the number 3-5 teams were not much different than the number 2 team in the country. Then when the BCS game would finally occur, it would often times be a blow out. For two straight years Alabama dominated the game, and I would stop watching by half time. It's not like the commercials were there to entertain me like the Super Bowl.
2014-2015 marks the first year of the College Football Playoffs. Now a committee of 13 people make their own national rankings, and at the end of the year, they pick four teams to make the playoffs. Well now we have a similar problem we had in the past. Hopefully the playoffs get rid of the blow out games we've seen in the past, but how does the committee decide who gets the 3rd and 4th seed. Alabama and Oregon have just been dominating college football however they do have one lose on the season. Florida State got ranked third, which can be justified by their weak play but undefeated record. That left one spot for three teams. TCU, Baylor and Ohio State have all been playing great football and made the decision difficult for the committee. Going into Sunday, TCU was ranked 3rd and was coming off a 55-3 win over Iowa State. TCU did everything they could to lock up a top four spot. Baylor wasn't looking as good. Going into Sunday, Baylor was ranked 6th coming off a 38-27 win over 11th ranked Kansas State. Lastly, Ohio State was ranked 5th going into Sunday. Ohio State was coming off a 59-0 win against 17th ranked Wisconsin.
According to ESPN:
Points Per Game Differential
- TCU +26.5
- Baylor +24.6
- Ohio State 24
Strength of Record
- TCU 4th
- Baylor 6th
- Ohio State 7th
Game Control
- Baylor 5th
- TCU 6th
- Ohio State 11th
Before the College Football Playoff committee announced the final rankings, I made my own top 6.
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. TCU
4. Ohio State
5. Florida State
6. Baylor
Alabama and Oregon don't need explanation. TCU was ranked 3rd and played well enough to keep it. They battled a lot of good teams throughout the season.
Ohio State lost a potential Heisman winner, Braxton Miller before the season started and lost their 2nd string QB, JT Barrett against Michigan before the Big Ten Championship. Ohio State was ranked 5th and starting their 3rd string QB in the Big Ten Championship against a solid Wisconsin football team. Ohio State walked out with a huge 59-0 win and deserved a spot in the playoffs.
The only argument I have a hard time justifying is putting Florida State at number 5 and missing the playoffs. How do you tell the reigning champion and their Heisman QB, that their undefeated season was not good enough to make the playoffs? In all honesty they have not played well at all. If college football wants close and exciting games, TCU may be the team they should have picked.
Actual college football playoff rankings,
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State
5. Baylor
6. TCU
The playoffs are a great idea but there are still some flaws. I think the playoffs need to expand to top 6 or top 8 teams and/or the process for the playoff teams need to be changed. I don't see any reason why TCU lost a playoff spot and fell to 6.
Side Note
I don't understand why the two games that decide who plays in the National Championship are the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. These two bowls were very popular and made a lot of money. I don't understand why the NCAA didn't take two less popular bowls, like the TaxSlayer bowl and GoDaddy Bowl, and make them the play in games for the National Championship. It would have left the Rose bowl and Sugar Bowl to draw a lot of attention (and money) to other teams while the playoff bowls would be hyped already because of the teams in them and what they are playing for.
TCU didn't fall because they played bad. They actually did exactly how you'd want them to perform, and that's what did them in. Ohio State performed exactly how you didn't expect them to perform in taking a third string quaterback and absolutely destroying a better than average Wisconsin team. Personally, I think that Ohio State won the last stop more than TCU lost it.
ReplyDeleteBut you have to look at the full season as well. TCU won its final game with a +52 point differential and Ohio State won with a +59. The playoff spot was TCU's to lose not Ohio States to win. TCU played well enough to keep it and the committee made a mistake. I'm all for the Big Ten because it make the Minnesota Gophers look better but TCU was robbed!
ReplyDeleteWell whatever the case is, I know that a Urban Meyer-Nick Saban match up brings in much more money than a TCU-Nick Saban game.
ReplyDeleteI think what hurt TCU the most is that they were Co Champs of the Big 12, while OSU was the outright winner of the Big 10. It is a clear advantage to have a 2 division system in your conference with a decided winner, and I fully expect the Big 12 to pick up two more teams, I would guess Boise State and BYU.
ReplyDeleteYes Sam because all the committee was think was Alabama must be 1 and Ohio State must be 4 so we can have an Urban Meyer - Nick Saban game. That makes sense.
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