The FINAL college football playoff rankings were just released with perhaps a surprise at the fourth and final spot. It was announced that Alabama remains No. 1 after their 42-13 win over Mizzou in the SEC Championship Game, Oregon comes out at No. 2 after their 51-13 win over Arizona in the Pac-12 Championship Game and the defending National Champion Florida State Seminols come in at No. 3 after their 37-35 win over Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship Game. The biggest question came at the fourth and final sport which came to B1G Champion Ohio State and their 59-0 win over Wisconsin, and Big 12 standouts Baylor who defeated Kansas State 38-27 and TCU who defeated Iowa State 55-3. In the end the CFB Playoff Committee decided that Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes would become the 4th entry into the Playoff with Baylor finishing at 5 and TCU at 6 who also became the first two teams out.
https://twitter.com/ESPNCFB/status/541649649363607553
What this means is Alabama will play Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl while Oregon will play Florida State in the Rose Bowl with the winners of those two games getting the opportunity to play in Dallas for the National Championship.
Despite the four team playoff it’s still a tough go around for teams which doesn’t come without some controversy. Obviously Alabama and Oregon deserved to be in given what they’ve been able to do throughout the course of the season. You can make the same argument for Florida State who despite going undefeated probably had the easiest schedule (and didn’t look that good in the process) but were still the defending National Champions and should be in to defend that title.
When it comes though to Ohio State, Baylor and TCU, that’s where we face some problems. Yes Ohio State embarrassed Wisconsin in that B1G title game but it was the Buckeyes with probably the worst loss on their schedule of the three teams in question against Virginia Tech. Meanwhile Baylor had the least impressive win Saturday against Kansas State (but who were still ranked) while TCU had their own rout against Iowa State (but still lost head-to-head against against Baylor). You also have to ask the question as tho whether or not Baylor and TCU were punished for the the Big 12 not having a conference championship game?
Either way the playoff should still be very exciting and offer plenty of intrigue. However if college football was looking to limit the controversy when it comes to determining the National Champion, they still have a long way to go in eliminating just that.