The final selections have been made for the inaugural College Football Playoff, and they include Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State. The first 3 teams have been at or near the top of the rankings since the beginning, but Ohio State slipped into the 4th spot, with a resounding 59-0 behind-the-woodshed beatdown of Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship Game on Saturday.
In the previous week’s rankings, TCU was at #3, Florida State was at #4, Ohio State was at #5, and Baylor was at #6. I don’t really know why TCU was ranked so high, especially since they played Baylor on October 11th and lost 61-58. Baylor lost the next week to West Virginia 41-27, but the best way to figure out which team is better, is who won when they played.
However, since the College Football Playoff Committee had TCU at #3 last week, how can they drop them to #6 after TCU beat Iowa State 55-3 on Saturday? I’ve never seen a team drop 3 spots in the rankings with a 52-point win. As I pointed out earlier, I would have chosen Baylor over TCU.
So now the discussion is between Ohio State and Baylor for the 4th and final spot in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State had a fine season, considering they lost their quarterback and Heisman Trophy hopeful Braxton Banks early in the season. Freshman J.T. Barrett did a great job filling-in, until he was injured in their 42-28 win over Michigan a week ago. 3rd string Cardale Jones even threw for 3 touchdowns in their win over Wisconsin.
Their early 41-27 loss to 6-6 Virginia Tech looms large in the debate over who should get the last playoff spot. Ohio State did finish with wins over 3 ranked opponents, including #8 Michigan State and #25 Minnesota, in addition to #13 Wisconsin.
Now let’s look at Baylor‘s schedule this season. While their loss to 7-5 West Virginia doesn’t look very good, their wins over ranked teams were also more impressive than the those of Ohio State. In addition to the win over TCU, they also beat #9 Kansas State and #15 Oklahoma. So their wins were better, and their loss was less embarrassing.
This isn’t an exact science, but that’s what I would look at to decide which teams belong in the College Football Playoff. I’m fine with Alabama, Oregon and Florida State, but I would have put Baylor in instead of Ohio State. Maybe the committee punished the Big 12 for not having a championship game.
Florida State kept moving down in the rankings after close wins, but they are the only undefeated team remaining. They outlasted Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game 37-35. Oregon avenged their only loss, with a resounding 51-13 win over Arizona in the Pac 12 Championship Game. Alabama seemed to keep getting stronger as the season went on, easily beating Missouri in the SEC Championship Game 42-13. The solution is in a post I made back in June 2012, an 8 team college football playoff.
On New Year’s Day 2015, the first ever College Football Playoff will begin with the Rose Bowl in Pasadena between #2 Oregon and #3 Florida State. Following that game will be the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans between #1 Alabama and #4 Ohio State. Look for Alabama to take down Ohio State, and for newly crowned Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Marcus Mariota and Oregon to end the Florida State winning streak at 29 games. This will set-up a final on January 12th in North Texas between Alabama and Oregon for the Championship.
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