CFB Playoffs

It is December 4 and the race to earn the four spots in the national championship playoffs is approaching the finish line. As with the BCS and even the old voting post bowl way of picking the national championship, the only way this works is if the right number of teams finishes clearly ahead of the pack. In 2005 Texas and USC were undefeated and clearly the best teams in the country and the BCS selected them to play for the national championship. Bingo. In 1977 after Notre Dame upset Texas in the Cotton Bowl there were a few teams with legitimate claims to the title. That was not so good. This year we have a chance to have four clear cut teams but are more likely to have some cloudiness, which should be expected. Should Alabama, Oregon, TCU and FSU win their games Saturday as favorites and Baylor and Ohio State lose then the current top four will be in and the only potential problem will be with seeding. That would leave us with four programs that have separated themselves from the rest and give us representation from four of the five power conferences. The biggest potential problem is with TCU and Baylor, if Baylor beats Kansas State and TCU does not stumble versus Iowa State. Even if we all think TCU is better than Baylor and even if we think there were some odd ref calls in the TCU-Baylor game, the committee would be setting a dangerous precedent if it picked a same-record TCU over Baylor being that Baylor won the head-to-head match-up. And before you counter that by saying that the road team, TCU, led throughout, the winner, Baylor, had 297 more yards. That is enough of a difference to raise an eyebrow if TCU gets the bid. The other thing about Baylor that bothers me is that the committee seems to be punishing them for a poor non-conference lineup--and I am all for that--but looking the other way with other teams. Remember when Mississippi State was the top ranked team in the country and looking for a final four spot? The Bulldogs played Southern Miss (3-9), UAB (6-6), South Alabama (6-6) and UT-Martin (6-6 in FCS). They also played Kentucky and Vandy from the SEC East. Yes they play some very good SEC West teams, but Baylor played TCU, West Virginia, OU, Kansas State (Saturday), and Texas. The difference is not overwhelming. So what's a fan to do? Well watch the games Saturday and hope for good action. Then we can bitch next week when the games are set. Have fun.