Five Thoughts On The College Football Playoff Rankings

I’ve been trying to write a Wednesday column after the Tuesday madness of the CFB Playoff rankings release, but this week was too much so I just flipped it into five thoughts. Let’s go.

1. The CMU game probably doesn’t matter

What we’re sort of missing in all the consternation about the Oklahoma State-Central Michigan game is this: It will more than likely end up not mattering. If Alabama, Washington and Clemson all win this weekend (they are all favored), they all would have gotten in over a 1-loss Oklahoma State team that just won the Big 12 anyway. That would leave you with 11-1 Ohio State or 11-2 Big 10 champion going against the 11-1 Cowboys. Who do you think is getting in?

Not us.

“You have to win your preseason games,” Mike Gundy said on Monday as Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World reminded us. “If you win your preseason games and you go the stretch in this league and you’re almost undefeated, one loss or not, you got a chance to be in. That’s more important than all the other stuff that they’re talking about, in my opinion.”

2. Most pros apparently DOES matter

This is incredible. Kirk Herbstreit arguing that Ohio State should have been in last year’s playoff because it had 13 NFL players. Here’s the best part: He’s not necessarily wrong. This highlights the absurdity of this entire process. Nobody actually knows what “best” means!

Joel Klatt noted this with one tweet on Tuesday.

four BEST
1 Bama
2 Michigan
3 Ohio State
4 USC

four most DESERVING
1 Bama
2 Washington
3 Clemson
4 B1G Champion

— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) November 30, 2016

What we end up with is some hybrid of best and most deserving that involves a moving target of criteria that can shift and be molded into whatever the Playoff committee feels in a given year (i.e. whatever gets the #brands in). This is complete and total insanity that must be defended on national television every week.

I do have some sympathy for Hocutt, who has an impossible job trying to quickly explain complicated/inconsistent decisions made by 12 people

— Matt Brown (@MattBrownCFB) November 30, 2016

3. Somebody is getting screwed

Here is the reality: If Ohio State gets left out this year, it got screwed because it was one of the best teams with one of the best resumes (/whispers Ohio State’s resume is probably better than Penn State’s).

If Penn State (wins the Big 10 and) gets left out, it got screwed because it beat Ohio State and won the conference that includes (apparently) two of the three best teams in the nation. Because you have this insane hybrid system with ever-changing criteria, a team or conference will always feel jilted.

“You’re going to have two teams in the (Big Ten) championship game this year that aren’t even ranked highest in the polls, right?” Gundy said Monday to the Tulsa World. “So here’s what I’m saying. Is the winner of the Big Ten in? I thought that’s what a conference championship game was for. It goes right back, and I’m not blaming anybody, I’m not saying that we’re predicting, all I’m saying is that’s why I said I think [having a conference title game is] somewhat overrated.”

The problem that nobody is talking about here is inequitable schedules. Ohio State and Penn State played different teams in the non-conference (and Penn State lost to Pittsburgh), and because the committee has to measure so many different variables, you end up with ridiculous justifications (NFL players!) because any justification will work.

I actually feel bad for the committee. When the PFB squad can barely agree on OSU’s second-best receiver, how is the committee supposed to pick from 128 teams across the country every year? It is crazy.

Like I said earlier this week, this is not a wrong way to pick a postseason, it’s just kind of a crappy one because nobody actually knows what the parameters are to get into the national championship hunt.

4. Let’s talk about TCU

Herbie says at the video at the bottom of this post that comparing TCU and Baylor from 2014 (co-conference champs that went 11-1 and got left out) to Ohio State in 2016 (not a conference champ that went 11-1 and will likely get in) is like comparing “apples and oranges.” Is that actually true?

Read this:

The rationale of the College Football Playoff Committee. pic.twitter.com/HoJp7o0YIN

— TCU Sports (@TCUSports) November 30, 2016

This is all about your helmet sticker. I really believe this. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it many times again. The teams that recruit the best (USC, Alabama, etc.) only have to not disprove something. They are universally viewed as being elite college football teams so when they lose it is a slip-up and not an indication of being a flawed team.

When TCU or Oklahoma State lose, it is a validation of the fact that they do not have as much talent to begin with. You can see how slippery this slope is and how, unless a non-powerhouse goes 12-0, the playoff could feasibly only ever be big-name teams. That’s a shame.

This guy writes for 11 Warriors, by the way. Elite writer. Great blog. He doesn’t even really understand why Ohio State is being treated with kid gloves by the CFP committee.

I've been wondering why this flawed as hell, young ass Ohio State team has gotten the benefit of the doubt all year by the CFP committee.

— Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) November 30, 2016

5. I hope the committee doesn’t get an out

Here’s my dream for this weekend now that the Big 12 has ejected: Alabama loses, Washington loses, Clemson loses. The committee has to choose between:

• 12-1 Alabama (didn’t win conference)
• 11-1 Ohio State (didn’t win conference)
• 11-2 Wisconsin (Big 10 champ)
• 11-2 Colorado (Pac-12 champ)
• 11-2 Clemson (didn’t win conference)
• 10-2 Michigan (didn’t win conference)
• 11-2 Washington (didn’t win conference)

Good luck with that!

I want the committee to be dared to put three (!) Big 10 teams in the playoff, admit the conference title games don’t mean anything when the #brands don’t win them and watch Alabama burn the whole dang thing to the ground.