The first ever playoff in College Football is now set. The final four teams that will compete for the national championship are now Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State. Not to say I told you so, but after studying the committee criteria I believed that we would be given the top four conference champions for this playoff. I wrote about that here:
http://www.frontofficefootball.net/blog/2014/11/17/the-georgia-playoff-run-alive-and-kicking
When it comes to Ohio State jumping into the final four and TCU falling out, the reasoning was explained here weeks ago:
http://www.frontofficefootball.net/blog/2014/11/19/the-georgia-playoff-update
I point this stuff out because what is coming to college football is great for the sport. Actually, it’s great for the fans of college football. This committee and the criteria by which they put this playoff together provided us several new elements moving forward:
The committee rewarded teams that played 13 games vs 12. Basically, you had to be a conference champion in order to get in. The Big 12, who were just behind the SEC in adding a conference championship game must now add teams in order to have a 13th game. This means more football for fans of college football.
When comparing Baylor and Ohio State for the 4th spot in these playoffs, strength of schedule played a part as Ohio State played the 45th ranked schedule while Baylor played the 59th. The issue moving forward for schools is not who you lose to, but who you schedule. Ohio State lost to Virginia Tech and home, Baylor lost to West Virginia on the road. But where Baylor hurt their resume was in scheduling Northwestern State from the FCS. Ohio State did not schedule an FCS school this year, which helped their resume. Ultimately, fans of college football will get better games and less cream-puff games moving forward.
Undefeated is important, but it is not an end-all-be-all. Florida State made the playoffs as it should have as an undefeated conference champion. But their place as the third ranked team was not because of their schedule, but the nature of their games. They were consistently challenged and nearly defeated by unranked teams. After finishing first in game control in 2013, Florida State was ranked 25th in 2014. Moving forward, the committee will give you credit for being undefeated but will not overlook your lack of dominance.
A two loss team will have a chance at this moving forward. If your team plays in a tough conference in a particular year, the team can overcome that by winning their conference and reaching the playoffs. Arizona would have been the great test for this had they defeated Oregon. It will be a terrific argument moving forward if a two loss SEC or Pac 12 team deserves a spot instead of a 1 loss Big 10 or ACC team.