The College Football Playoff in its inaugural season was supposed to get rid of any BCS bias or controversy that has plagued college football for years. It was supposed to determine a true champion, but it’s possible the best team may not even be among the final four squads.
On Sunday afternoon, the CFP committee decided the four best teams in the country were, in order, Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State. Just a week ago, now-No. 6 TCU sat in the third spot, and this last Saturday Baylor made a valid argument to represent the Big 12 in the CFP after its win over Kansas State.
The mess college football was in during the BCS era carried over into the CFP one, and there may be even more controversy than before.
But let’s not crucify the committee members just yet. First off, they were in a no-win situation. No matter what teams they decided should be in the playoff, the committee would have been wrong. When the rankings came out, it didn’t really matter what fourth team was there because a number of college football fans would not have agreed.
I think the committee sent a message by picking the Buckeyes, and that message is you need to be a clear conference champion to make the CFP. The Big 12 is one of the best conferences in all of America, and it’s a shame that neither the Horned Frogs nor the Bears will have a chance to prove their worth, but neither is a true champion. Yes, Baylor did win the head-to-head matchup between the two, and if a Big 12 team were to get in, I believe it should have been the Bears, but not playing in a conference championship game really ruined their chances, as well as the Big 12’s.
I know, Ohio State plays in the Big 10, possibly the worst Power 5 conference in all of college football, but the Buckeyes have been on a tear as of late. Throw in the fact that they used their third-string quarterback and still routed No. 11 Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship game, and it goes to show that this team is pretty well rounded.
But most importantly, Ohio State is a true conference champion. Not only did it upend Michigan State in early November, but the Buckeyes won the rest of their games en route to a Big 10 Championship — the ultimate, deciding factor to the CFP committee.
So really, it wasn’t about Ohio State being actually better than TCU or Baylor. Hell, I still think if the Buckeyes square up against either of those squads, they lose the game. However, to the committee, winning a conference championship is more important, and as unfortunate as that is for the Big 12, it’s not a bad precedent to lean on.
And why not use that as a criterion? If you can’t win your conference, should you really be in the playoff? Baylor should technically be the champion of the Big 12, by virtue of its victory over TCU earlier in the season, but the conference chose to name the Bears and Horned Frogs co-champions, and that gave the committee pause and kept Baylor out. If the Bears had been the clear Big 12 champion with no questions asked, I think there’s no doubt it makes it into the playoff, but thanks to Trevone Boykin and TCU, they can’t represent the Big 12, and if Baylor can’t, then no one can.
In the end, the committee wasn’t going to satisfy everyone. Someone, somewhere would have had beef no matter who was put into the CFP. The members have used a number of metrics and equations to determine who the best four teams in the nation are, but in the end, playing in a conference championship game appeared to be the difference.
@GriffDoug