With Alabama taking it on the chin at Auburn, by a more than convincing margin, things have changed when it comes to who gets in and who gets left out of the four team playoff for a national championship.
Teams who should be out.
The aforementioned Bama. For two reasons. If you're the #1 team in the country, you're not supposed to lose to anybody anywhere, even a cross-state rival, especially by almost two touchdowns worth. Second, while the other big boys were slugging it out in power conference games, just last week Bama scheduled lowly Mercer -- MERCER -- to pad their stats. Have they no shame? And while an early season loss may be later forgiven (see Clemson @ Syracuse), one on the cusp of the playoffs is fatal. When the pressure was on, the Tide ebbed when it should have flowed. They gotta go.
Same with Miami. They were right there, undefeated, until they got pounded by an unranked Pittsburgh team. The 'Canes quickly became no more than stains on the playoff picture. Scoot.
Ohio State. Despite a really good Oklahoma team coming into the Buckeyes house and thrashing them early in the season, we might have got by that over time. But when OSU went into unranked Iowa a couple months later and got blistered 55-24, a colossal beat down, their playoff fate should have been sealed. As in, they don't deserve one.
Teams who should be in.
Clemson. The defending champs, not that that means anything -- it doesn't -- have rebounded nicely since the above mentioned stumble @ Syracuse. They just clobbered a pretty good #24 South Carolina team on the road to finish up the regular season. They might well be the best team in the country.
Oklahoma, probably. Yes, they were defeated at home by an otherwise not-so-good Iowa State team back in October, but also have quality wins on their resume. If they can prevail over a really good TCU team in their conference championship game -- no given -- they will have punched their ticket.
Auburn has to be right there. Yes, they have two Ls on their record. The first at then #3 Clemson in a close game, and a head-scratcher at LSU. But since, they've defeated then #1 Georgia and just now #1 Alabama. Minus the couple of patsies any major college program typically plays every year, it just might be the Tigers have had the toughest schedule of them all through the season. Now they'll get another crack at the Georgia Dawgs in the SEC conference championship game. Win it, and they're definitely in. Lose it, and they're out. Seems fair enough.
No team is more deserving than Wisconsin. Not counting Central Florida (see previous post), the Badgers are the only undefeated team to date. It's hardly a secret the powers that be probably don't want to see the Cheesers in the playoff picture. Small market, lesser TV ad bucks, etc., adds up to trying to figure out a way to deny them the chance. But undefeated in a "power" conference is undefeated. Period.
They'll get their shot at glory when they face Ohio State in the Big Ten conference championship game. The Buckeyes, for reasons listed above, should already be eliminated from playoff contention. And if the Badgers fall to such a team when it matters most, shame on them, and the pollsters will gleefully write them off. But even if it's close, and they lose, Wisconsin will still only have one L on their record, no more than any other contender. Still, they can more than validate their presence in the Final Four by dispatching the Buckeyes, who just might be without the services of their starting quarterback. I, for one, would love to see Wisconsin in the mix. I mean, c'mon. What else do they have to cheer for in that state? The Packers without Aaron Rodgers are floundering. They deserve a major break. The Milwaukee Bucks are no better than average in the NBA. The Brewers remain terrible in Major League baseball. No NHL presence. Last time I looked even Harley-Davidson stock wasn't doing so well. The boom years of wannabes standing in line and paying exorbitant prices for bikes are over. On Wisconsin indeed. Sis-boom-bah. Here would seem to be the pertinent question. How can it be that a 12-0 team (Wisconsin) still finds itself at #5 (on the outside looking in), while the four teams above it have all suffered a defeat?
Maybes with an outside shot.
If the Horned Frogs of TCU put a beat down on Oklahoma, might they be considered?
Is that pesky Notre Dame (see huge ad bucks) still lurking?
Georgia? Probably the most boring state not name Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, or Nebraska to drive through. They might sneak back in, even deserve it, if they can knock off Auburn.
Add it all up and what do you have? A massive ball of confusion where nothing has been sorted out until all the above play one more game. It's been pretty much that way all year with those obsessed with the polls -- not that they mattered for the last few months.
But the upcoming games are the ones that will count the most. Win and you're in. Lose and you should be out. Time to separate the proverbial men from the boys.
And isn't that the way it always should have been?
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