After a number of conference championship games that set the table Saturday the College Football Playoff teams were announced by the Committee on Sunday.
In with little surprise after their SEC conference win over Georgia is Alabama who claims the No. 1 spot. At number two are the ACC champs in Clemson with the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish taking the three spot with the Big 12 champ Oklahoma Sooners claiming the fourth and final seed.
https://twitter.com/TheMajorsU/status/1069294978323685381
On the outside looking in is Georgia at No. 5, the Big Ten champion Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 6, Michigan at No. 7 and the AAC champion UCF who went undefeated for the second straight season at No. 8.
So who deserves to be in and who doesn’t? Lets take a look.
(1) Alabama
Alabama is the best team in the country. No question they deserve to be the top team let alone in the playoff altogether.
(2) Clemson
Like Alabama, there’s going to be no argument from me or anyone with the Tigers taking the No. 2 spot here.
(3) Notre Dame
Here’s where shit starts to get murky. Notre Dame went 12-0 so there’s certainly a good case to be made for them to be in the playoff. But let’s be honest with ourselves here because we probably know the majority of Irish fans probably won’t, Notre Dame ultimately played an underwhelming schedule this year when everything was all said and done. Their best win came over a top 10 team in Michigan the first week of the season but beyond that there’s some real question marks. I mean how much weight are we going to be putting in wins over a hugely flawed USC team or a top 15 ranked Syracuse? Not to mention how much longer is the Committee and College Football in general going to let Notre Dame get away with not playing in a conference and avoid playing what should be an all important conference championship game?
Notre Dame still has some prestige but it’s 2018 not 1960.
(4) Oklahoma
Oklahoma avenged their one loss this season by beating a revamped Texas team in the Big 12 Championship so like Notre Dame there’s a good argument for the Sooners claiming the final spot in the playoff. Not to mention Kyler Murray and the Oklahoma offense is extremely fun to watch and one of the best in the country.
With that said they should play Alabama well in the first round.
However who ultimately has Oklahoma beat throughout the season? Their best regular season win came last weekend against a 13th ranked West Virginia team. Beyond that there’s some good wins but nothing notable.
(5) Georgia
Georgia may be one of the best teams in country but their fate was obviously sealed when they lost to Alabama in the SEC Championship Game for their second loss of the season. An expanded playoff I’d put them in but not a four team one.
(6) Ohio State
The biggest screw job this year was Ohio State finding themselves on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff. What ultimately did the Buckeyes in was the thrashing they received from Purdue a few weeks ago. However I’m not sure how much weight that should play considering Ohio State was able to earn decisive wins over ranked opponents such as Michigan State and Michigan. This also goes hand-in-hand with a win over a ranked TCU earlier in year and a road win over a then 9th ranked Penn State squad to start Big Ten play.
Ultimately I’m not going to get too upset about the Buckeyes not finding their way into he playoff. Urban Meyer is a garbage human being and Karma is a total bitch.
(7) Michigan
Michigan got destroyed by Ohio State the final weekend of the Big Ten regular season and have two losses on the season. Nope.
(8) UCF
For the second straight year UCF went undefeated blah blah blah. For the second straight yer too they played dog shit teams and somehow expect to be in a four team college football playoff. Their best wins came against Pittsburgh at home on September 29th and a 24th ranked Cincinnati team which was the only win UCF managed over a ranked opponent this season.
https://twitter.com/UCF_Football/status/1069306035381460992
If anything, what this year’s College Football Playoff committee has shown us is another example as to why it needs to be expanded, at least to eight teams. If was at eight then we can start having discussions about UCF being in and truly getting all of the best teams a chance at the National title.
