The College Playoffs

The College Playoffs

The college football playoffs are here. I had three dogs in the hunt: Georgia, Ohio State and Tennessee. When Notre Dame completely outclassed Indiana, the grousing began. Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffen tweeted disparaging comments about the inclusion of Indiana. Kiffen has always been insufferable. Earth to Lane: shut up. Yes you beat Georgia and play in the SEC but you lost to an awful Kentucky team at home no less. If you had beaten Florida in Gainesville you might have gotten in, but you lost. I have no problem with the inclusion of Indiana. They had a great season. I know some will point to no opponent being in the final top 25 but so what? They played in the Big 10. They beat every team by double digits except Michigan (which beat Ohio State in Columbus) and lost only to Ohio State. Indiana crushed Nebraska which barely lost to Ohio State. By those metrics, Indiana deserved to be in the playoffs. But speaking of insufferable, Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is full of himself and whose pregame bravado was not backed up by his team.

The teams without ugly loses were Oregon (undefeated), Texas (which lost twice to Georgia), Georgia (which lost on the road to Alabama and Ole Miss), Penn State (Ohio State and Oregon) and Boise State (which lost to Oregon).  All the rest had ugly loses. Notre Dame had the ugliest lost (to Northern Illinois). My only gripe was the seeding. My beloved Bulldogs are seeded second even though they lost their starting quarterback. No way Boise State should be the number three seed and Arizona State the number four seed. I have no issue with guaranteeing a spot to the conference champions in the Power Four. I have an issue with guaranteeing them a bye. Why not pick the twelve and then seed them with the top four getting a bye. That way the byes this year would be Oregon, Georgia, Texas and Penn State. The first round games would be Clemson at Notre Dame, Arizona State at Ohio State, SMU at Tennessee and Boise State at Indiana.

The first round results showed dominance by the home teams. Indiana, SMU and Tennessee never had a chance. Clemson came from way down to almost getting within a touchdown of Texas but was thoroughly outplayed. Those detractors of the committee who argued against SMC and Indiana have egg on their faces unless they want to argue that Tennessee should not have been there either. Ohio State was completely dominant and beat the Vols by 25, and it wasn’t even that close. The problem goes back to the seeding. Now Oregon which is number one must face Ohio State. Georgia must play Notre Dame. Both will likely be underdogs. Yet lower seeds Texas and Penn State will be heavy favorites against the higher seeded but weaker Arizona State and Boise State. So expect Penn State and Texas to cruise into the semifinals with Texas hosting either Oregon or Ohio State (Go Bucks!) in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Something needs to be changed. Penn State will play the winner of Notre Dame and Georgia (Go Dawgs!). I, of course, am hoping for an Ohio State – Georgia final in my hometown of Atlanta.