All the games have been played heading into Selection Sunday for the College Football Playoff, and the sports has found itself in an unenviable position. But, the sport has no one to blame but itself.
Here’s where we are at. There are five deserving Power 5 conference champions and only four playoff spots. And, to make matters worse, all the teams, Michigan, Washington, Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, and Texas, are major historical powerhouses, to varying degrees. The program with the least prestige out of the five, Washington, is considered a lock along with Michigan to make the four-team field, which will be announced at noon on Sunday.
That leaves three of the biggest brands in college football in Florida State (13-0), Texas (12-1), and Alabama (12-1) fighting for the last two playoff spots. And, it’s incredibly complicated between the three teams.
Yes, Florida State is an undefeated power 5 conference champion. But, an injury to superstar quarterback and Heisman contender Jordan Travis in their eleventh game against North Alabama two weeks ago. Since, the once-potent offense hasn’t looked the same under second-string Tate Rodemaker and third-stringer Brock Glenn.
After Rodemaker started against rival Florida in a 24-15 win that felt like a slog for the ‘Noles offense, he was ruled out of the Louisville game due to a concussion, forcing Glenn into action. The offense stunk against Louisville, and even though Rodemaker will be back for the College Football Playoff, nobody seriously thinks they are one of the four BEST teams. But, they very well may be one of the four most deserving.
After all, they beat every team on their schedule, and they did beat a team in Louisville the same committee had ranked in the top 15, despite playing with their third-string quarterback. The committee has never come close to leaving out an undefeated power 5 conference champion, and a lot of people would reasonably question how it’s fair to leave out a team that never lost for a team that did lose.
If you thought the Florida State situation was complicated, the Alabama-Texas situation is far more complicated. Alabama created this mess today, in part, by beating two-time defending national champion Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, 27-24. How could the committee even think about leaving out a team with Alabama’s talent and pedigree that just won the best conference in college football?
Naturally, it had to be the year when there was a direct head-to-head data point, and the Texas Longhorns beat Alabama back in September in Tuscaloosa, 34-24. Texas lost to Oklahoma in a thriller in the Red River Rivalry in early October, but survived some close calls while quarterback Quinn Ewers was injured before dominating Oklahoma State in Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game, 49-21.
One of these three things are virtually guaranteed to happen when the field is announced
1. Florida State, an undefeated power 5 champion, is left out of the College Football Playoff
2. Alabama, the champion of the best conference with a win over a team on a 29-game win streak, is left out of the college football playoff.
3. Texas, the Big 12 champion who beat Alabama on the road by double digits, is left out of the playoffs.
Yes, the difficulty of the decision the College Football Playoff Committee faces is unprecedented. And, no matter what you think, it is a difficult decision and is not at all straightforward. But, just because it is unprecedented does not mean it was unforeseeable.
Think about it. The conferences created a four-team playoff when there are five power conferences. It’s only dumb luck that has prevented a situation with a deserving conference champion from each conference in the first nine years of the playoff. Consider the stupidity for a moment in creating a system where at least one of those five conferences would be left out every year. If you’re wondering why college football will look much different next year, with huge conference realignment set for next year and a 12-team playoff coming in, it was that illogical decision that is responsible for much of it.
One of the major conferences is going to be mad tomorrow. And, I will feel bad for the fan base of the team that gets left out. But, the sport did this to itself, and the chickens are finally coming home to roost.