College Football Playoff – What Happens Now

by | Dec 2, 2018 | NCAA

College Football PlayoffCollege Football Playoff talk is in full swing.  Championship weekend is now over and all we have to do is wait for the committee to dole out the four spots.  The Chaos that we were hoping for did not happen.   The teams that were predicted to win.  Did win.   There were no surprises this weekend.  Chaos would have helped things.  At the least it would have made things more interesting.  We really have none of that now.

Who is Number Four

We know for sure from what happend tha that Alabama, Notre Dame and Clemson are in.    There is no doubt of that.  Alabama needed the reverse of last year.  Jalen Hurts coming in for Tua Tagovailoa.  The difference was that Tagovailoa was hurt(s) so the change had to be made.  But really Tagovailoa was not very effective in this game and the change probably should have been made at half time.  In the end it did not matter.  For most of the game Georgia had Alabama where they wanted them.  It looks like in reality Alabama had Georgia right where they wanted them.  What does this mean for the playoff?  Not sure but I really could see the committee putting Georgia in due to the way that they played Alabama.

Who is out for Sure

The teams and conferences that are out for sure.   It is big and it is going to hurt.  There will be a lot of people that will not be happy.   I am an advocate of win more and you will be rewarded.  In the Pro Leagues that is true.   Win more and you are in.  In the College Football Playoff that is not the case.  Since the final selection is made by the College Football Playoff Committee the whole selection process is subjective.  They get to decide who the best four teams are.  So those on the outside looking in are the B1G, The Pac 12, and every team that is not in a power five conference.  With the current format there is no chance for a non power five team to get in.  Should there be?  Not completely sure maybe the Group of Five should just break off and have their own championship.  They would probably do it right with a full playoff.

Sunday Showdown at Noon

The way this plays out will be all about who is the fourth team in.   The teams that are in play for that spot.  Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia.  It will be one of those teams.   From the way things played out this weekend.  The only team that was in the top four that lost were the Georgia Bulldogs.  I am pretty sure that the committee put Georgia there just in case Georgia was able to beat Alabama.  That would have given them the leverage they needed to put Georgia and Alabama in the playoff again.  With a Georgia loss and Oklahoma win then they flip those two teams.    By putting Ohio State in the sixth slot Ohio State needed Georgia and Oklahoma to lose and then put on a show against Northwestern.  Since the first two things did not happen.  It really did not matter what Ohio State did in the Big Ten Championship game.  They won but did not pull away till the fourth quarter.   It was not the display they needed.

What we Expect to Happen

The way everything played out yesterday I am pretty sure that the Committee wil announce the following list.

  1. Alabama
  2. Clemson
  3. Notre Dame
  4. Oklahoma

Those teams in that order.   First round of the playoff will be Alabama vs. Oklahoma and Clemson vs Notre Dame.  Alabama and Clemson will win and then the only people that will care about the championship game will be in South Carolina and Alabama.