The 12-team Playoff is here and let all fans rejoice!
That is, until Round 1 began and we saw just how large the disparity is between the highest-ranked teams and those lower in the bracket.
The results were rather clear cut across this first round. The better rosters destroyed their lower-ranked roster competition. Coaching and game prep had very little to do with any of it; these games were won on the line of scrimmage by the bigger and more athletic players. This has always been the case in college football.
This has immediately led to fans and pundits crying foul as to which teams do and don’t deserve or belong in the Playoff.
Let’s be clear here, there is a difference between those two terms. Deserving a playoff spot does not mean that team is in the race for a title and thus “belongs” in the playoff. The reality is that the majority of the teams in this new expanded playoff don’t belong.
In truth, there isn’t a problem with this field of 12 playoff teams based on the criteria laid out by the format. The format calls for auto bids and inclusion of teams that may or may not belong in the national title hunt, but by this format they are still deserving of their spot.
By the Format
By the format the Top 5 conference champions get a bid into the Playoff. Those who received these auto bids are Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State and Clemson. In order for this expanded playoff to get approval, there needed to be auto bids for conference champions. Only Clemson sits outside the Top 12, at No. 16, and they received their bid as they won the ACC over SMU.
By the format, they deserve a playoff spot.
Ashton Jeanty was gang tackled by the Ducks in Game 3.
(Photo By: Craig Strobeck)
As for Boise State and Arizona State, they will be tested soon enough in the second round. Penn State should demolish Boise State at the line of scrimmage and that would put an end to Ashton Jeanty’s college career. Texas just has too many athletes for Arizona State to deal with. These other two conference champions will more than likely lose in similar fashion as the first-round underdogs.
That doesn’t make them any less deserving of their playoff berth. It does highlight that auto byes for conference champions (regardless of their actual standing) need to change. These auto byes for lower-ranked teams skewed the entire playoff, so instead of No. 1 Oregon taking on the winner of a Boise State vs. Indiana first-round game, the Ducks now go against Ohio State, the true No. 6 ranked team.
This is a format problem and it bypassed the committee, whose job was to just rank the teams.
The Committee Sent the Right Message
The cries from SEC teams left out in the aftermath of these blowouts has been a constant, though the committee absolutely made the right decision to leave the three three-loss SEC teams out of the playoff: Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina. Of the three, Alabama was actually ranked No. 11 in the final ranking, but due to the format they were bumped for ACC Conference Champion Clemson.
Was Clemson more worthy than Alabama? Based on the format they were, and that is how this playoff is structured.
Are Indiana, SMU and Tennessee more deserving than Alabama? Yes.
Every team has to play its schedule. Yes, Indiana had a weak schedule, and part of that is because their out of conference schedule was so pathetic. However, in the case of Indiana, they have won only nine games in the last three seasons. They have the most losses out of all FBS teams. So it’s not a surprise they are going to schedule a weak out of conference schedule in the hopes of getting some wins in any given season. What shocked the college football world was that they were actually good this year under Curt Cignetti. They went 11-1, with that loss being a blowout loss to Ohio State.
They did everything that was asked of them and their lone loss came to a 10-2 team, who oddly enough had a loss to a team that Indiana beat, Michigan. Yet, no one is questioning whether Ohio State deserves a spot in the Playoff.
The same goes for SMU and even Tennessee. Both played their schedules and, for the most part, won the games they were supposed to win.
Penn State and Oregon in the B1G Championship game were clearly a cut above most of the playoff field.
(Photo By: Eric Becker)
For Alabama, however, they lost to 6-6 Vanderbilt and 6-6 Oklahoma, where they didn’t even score a touchdown. As for Ole Miss, they only have a slightly better argument as one of their losses was to a 7-5 Florida team that was surging at the end of the season. Neither team took care of business against teams they should have beaten.
Sure, both Alabama and Ole Miss hold wins over SEC champion Georgia, but that alone doesn’t mean they deserve a playoff berth. All it means is that they have a low floor and a high ceiling. By contrast, Indiana has a higher floor but a lower ceiling.
The Committee ruled that the floor was more important than the ceiling, and that’s the way it should stay.
Every single team in the playoff had some ugly wins. Oregon had one against a 5-7 Wisconsin team and Georgia had one against 4-8 Kentucky. Winning ugly is still a win.
The Committee made the right call on this field of teams. The problem is the format ,and the format has to change so that the No. 1 seed doesn’t have the hardest path to the semi-finals.
But to all those teams that were left out, don’t blame the Committee or the format. Blame your team for not taking care of business and winning the games they are supposed to. These blowouts are guaranteed to happen in the 12-team Playoff because the fact of the matter is that all these teams deserve their spots. But the reality is that only six may actually belong in the Playoff and they are: Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
And all six potential contenders for the National Championship got their invites.
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By: Eric Becker
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in technology in SLC, Utah.
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David Marsh is a high school social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon. As a teacher he is known for telling puns to his students who sometimes laugh out of sympathy, and being both eccentric about history and the Ducks.
David graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012 with Majors in: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Geography. David began following Ducks Football after being in a car accident in 2012; finding football something new and exciting to learn about during this difficult time in his life. Now, he cannot see life without Oregon football.