Baylor, TCU or Ohio State: Good Luck, College Football Playoff Committee
By Ty Duffy
Like the BCS, the CFB playoff committee will work, when there is no decision to make. This year, it isn’t going to work. Alabama will be the top seed in the Sugar Bowl. Oregon will be the top seed in the Rose Bowl. Beyond that, there’s no clear right choice.
Florida State is almost undoubtedly in. Florida State was beaten in discussions. They were not beaten on a football field. The Seminoles went 13-0 in a purported Power 5 conference, albeit with eight one-score wins. It’s not their fault Notre Dame and Oklahoma State collapsed or that Florida is coached by Will Muschamp. If this is a competition, Florida State should have to be eliminated on a field.
So, is the fourth team Baylor, TCU or Ohio State? Good luck with this one, playoff committee.
Baylor has the best two wins, over Top 10 TCU and Kansas State teams. That would arguably be the best two wins of any team in the playoff discussion. Importantly, they beat TCU on an actual football field.
TCU has the least damning loss, by three points on a controversial call at Baylor. They also went outside the Big 12 and thumped Minnesota, Ohio State’s second best win. All cylinders rolling, they may be the strongest team.
Ohio State made far and away the loudest closing statement, beating a Top 15 Wisconsin 59-0 with their third-string QB. They also have far and away the worst loss, to a mediocre Virginia Tech by two touchdowns at home. How good were Michigan State and Wisconsin?
The only thing we can say definitively: the committee needs to up its TV game for 2015. The back row must have been squinting while enjoying the limitless supply of bottled water. Is it a law that hotel conference room carpeting has to be sad?
4 games heating up the room for @CFBPlayoff selection committee pic.twitter.com/5WCzXUruMA
— Jeff Long (@jefflongKU) December 7, 2014
Prediction: The CFB playoff committee was born from failure to make a firm decision about how to choose a Top 4. In that spirit, the committee avoids the toughest decision it would have to make, TCU or Baylor. Seeds are irrelevant. Rose: Oregon vs. Ohio State, Sugar: Alabama vs. Florida State. Let’s get it on.