The four teams selected for the National Championship playoff have now been announced; and three of those teams are entirely uncontroversial: Florida State (undefeated, and the reigning national champion); Oregon (who avenged its only loss of the season--against Arizona--to the tune of 51-13, just the other day); and Alabama (whose 23-17 loss to Ole Miss, way back on October 4, remains its only blemish), were all but certain choices. But Ohio State, TCU, and Baylor all had very reasonable cases to be made for the fourth spot. TCU clobbered an outmanned Iowa State team last weekend, 55.3. And Baylor--which, at about the same time, defeated Number 9 Kansas State, 38-27, is the only team to have defeated TCU this season, in a shootout on October 11, 61-58. But Ohio State's 59-0 romp over Number 13 Wisconsin also made a rather powerful statement. In the end, I really cannot quibble with the committee's selection of Ohio State--just as I could not have quibbled if it had chosen TCU or Baylor, instead--but I can (and do) quibble with the current, restricted format. Yes, it is an improvement over the old system of a "mythical" national championship. But it is just not sufficiently inclusive. Granted, no matter how many teams might be included in a playoff system, it is almost certain that the fans of some teams would complain about the exclusion of their own favorite teams. That is certainly the case with the NCAA basketball playoff system (the so-called "Big Dance"). But the more teams that are included, the less compelling the case that might be made that if only an excluded team had been given the opportunity, it could have won the whole shebang. Which is why I would prefer a 16-team playoff system (or at leas an eight-team playoff system). Anything larger than that would probably be impractical for a sport so physically demanding as football is.
lets all go out for Pizza after the game too... as much as I've tossed around the idea of an expanded playoff to 6 (giving the top 2 seeds a first round bye) or even 8, the problem is, you start letting in ever 2, possibly 3 loss team. Or Boise State,, etc. I think you have to draw the line somewhere and 4 seems fine. Sure, TCU and Baylor fans are upset, but they both lost. Had FSU lost, they'd had been on the outside looking in. SEC and Pac 12 may get multiple chances as they have losses that other conferences wouldn't have been afforded, but I do think those are the two deepest conferences in terms of teams being competitive. The right 2, 1 loss teams are in. Order of the top 4 we can debate all year.... but I do think the right 4 are there.
The people of Norman OK called and are looking for their football team. They swear that wasn't them on the field with Clemson. Maybe aliens abducted the team
I don't think so. I liked the traditional bowl games and traditional match-ups. I can remember only a couple of times when there wasn't a clear-cut "mythical" winner. And even with the new system, it all becomes mythical if a team loses a key player in the first round or earlier.
That's pretty much what bowl games are for. The playoff systems doesn't give out any more trophies than before.
well, tough night for football in the south. SEC proved how overrated they really are in terms of conference power as the SEC west, the same SEC west everyone on EsecPN was spooging over, went 1 for.... with ironically, the worst of the batch winning. LSU Bama AU Ole Miss MS State FSU shat itself. I think I watched the worst play in the history of ever with that backwards pass in the 3rd. I turned it off at that time. Ridiculous.
I think the need for the playoff system was proven last night. Had we had the BCS the powers that be would have definitely put in Florida St. and Alabama in the BCS championship. Because of course they would want ratings pay over who deserved it. Ohio St. put down Nick Satan and the Tide and Oregon buried the Seminoles.
As i stated when the 4 were announced, I wanted to see Meyer v Saban as Meyer knows how to beat Bama even with the injured squad OSU has And, it came to pass.
The FSU players did not show themselves to be classy. They got a good ole fashioned butt whooping. Now go tell that to the opponent and wish them well, don't run away to the locker room and Mizzou keeps grinding out wins, good for them and good for their program the Hawgs and Dawgs showed real mettle
Interesting fact in that Oregon beat Ohio State in the very first NCAA basketball championship tournament in 1939. Will history repeat in football's very first playoff as Oregon will take on the Buckeyes? I believe so as Oregon will take a high scoring contest and Urban Meyer will have to be happy with second place, which isn't so bad.
Jameis stayed on the field, as did the coach. 70% of the team went into the locker room with their tails between their legs. It was clear this was not the same team as last season and they were eeking out wins against decent (but not great) teams. As soon as they played a top tier team, I knew the party was over for the Seminoles. They stayed close for a while, but Oregon eventually hit the accelerator pedal and left them in the dust. Congrats to OSU beating Alabama. Oregon vs. Ohio State Should be an exciting game if you like offense powerhouses.
The Arizona Wildcats must be the #1 team in the nation. Oregon just dismantled Florida State and is a 7 point favorite against Ohio State, and Arizona has beaten Oregon two out of the last three times.
as I watched the game.... as we'd go down by 12, then down by 5, then down by 12.... each time we were down by 12, I thought "man, if they cash in one time when they are up by 12.... this game will get ugly quick.... We had a chance coming out after half, to take a lead, then let it slip away with the first of two fumbles. when we went down by 19.... Jameis tried to get ridiculous to try and keep up in it and produced the worst play in Seminole history.... I knew it was over at that point. I'm pulling for Oregon though. as far as the playoff.... I still like it. I just wished they had used the BCS formula to pick the top 4.... not a committee that can be swayed by ESPN and peer pressure. All year, we heard "the sec is the best.... the sec west particularly is unstoppable and should be the top 4 in the playoffs...." yeah, that didn't work out too well now did it. The only thing I didn't like about the BCS was there was no way of knowing who the #2 team was that deserved a shot if you only had 1 undefeated team. It also crashed and burned when LSU and USC both claimed a title.... the formula seemed good at getting it close enough that if a playoff was expanded to 4 teams, they would have a good thing. Either way.... ouch. at least the SEC is also eliminated.
Ready to jump on the next bandwagon and change your screen name to "Big10"? After that mauling that the SEC west took at the hands of everyone Id be thinking about it if I were you. The defense from both teams in Mississippi and Alabama was laughable this bowl season. They were badly exposed. Had Meyer actually had a QB that could run the read option that game would have not been close. But then again, our 5th string QB tossed a TD last night, so I guess it doesn't matter. Those Crimson Tide cupcakes couldn't handle the Buckeyes.
as I watched Bama fans blow my facebook and twitter up (with some pretty amusing Jameis memes), and even during the entire month of December... it seemed that they thought OSU was a gimme game for them. They were all saying the same crap that they did last year with the OU game. Even then, they were saying "even though FSU and AU are playing for the title, we're really the best".... a statement that Brent Musberger said before kickoff. Bama is perpetually overconfident.... truly a product of all the success they have enjoyed, no doubt. I think they simply overlooked OSU. FSU, may have fallen victim to overlooking a team as well.... but with 9 comeback wins, I didn't feel FSU really ever took any team for granted.
No, Bama didn't overlook OSU -- they just got whipped. Alabama overachieved this year simply by making it into the CFP. If they want another shot at it next year, they'll probably have to go undefeated. FSU made Oregon look better than they actually are. I expect Ohio State to provide much tougher competition. It should be a good game.
I was always a Seminole fan, especially when Bowden was coach. They always seemed to be the quickest team on the field. Unfortunately for them, the are all quick now, even Ohio State. Never thought I'd see the day when OSU was quicker than Alabama but I believe they are. Coaches not being able to get the right defensive players into the game is changing everything. Linebackers are going to end up looking like cornerbacks.
it's the evolution of the game... the 90s and 00s were marked by speed from the southern schools. Speed that teams like Notre dame just couldn't handle when they played a weak Big 10 schedule to go undefeated a few years back. I was outside hoping that Oregon just was "west coast good" but when they met speed that FSU had, it would be too tough to handle. I was wrong. So was bama The best thing about the playoff I like is teams like Oregon finally get a fair shake at a title consistently. I hate it was at the expense of my team.... but when a 1 loss oregon constantly gets overlooked for SEC teams with the same record, and very little proof of who's better that particular year.... oh well. Hope Oregon wins
The FCS runs a 24-team playoff, which means that if you don't get seeded in the top 16, you have to play fives games if you get to the championship game. That's makes for a pretty long second season, as you implied. I think a 16-team playoff is the sweet spot for both the FBS and FCS. In the FBS, the first two rounds could be played in early to mid December, at the home fields of the better seeded teams. Then the final four could play as they did this year, in the Rose Bowl and some other rotating Bowl bid. I don't know what the future intentions of the FBS are, but they should have known up front that a 4-team playoff would never cut it. Sometimes there are just one or two powerhouse teams in the country, but in other years, like this one, there is a lot of parity at the top.
I said the fans did.... it was like (most) they didn't beleive OSU was on the same level as they were. Social media translates to that getting back to the players and how they think.....
