Who belongs in the 4th spot of the college football playoff?
That was the question under frantic debate up until this morning when the finalists were announced on ESPN. Alabama and Oregon are in due to record and strength of schedule (if Alabama were left out it might be the cause of WWIII). The third slot went to the undefeated Florida State Seminoles. And the tie-breaker of sorts went to Ohio State, which meant TCU and Baylor were left out of the fun, and very upset about it. Why did Ohio St. deserve that spot? A: they are a storied program; B: they have a massive nationwide following; C: they have a larger student body; and finally D: because thats who is "supposed" to get in because of tradition.
The board who made these decisions evaluated a number of factors, but let’s talk about the three teams in question. Here are the supposed reasons as to why the rankings played out like they did:
Ohio State: 1 loss to Virginia Tech 21-35
Early in their season the Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech is a surprise upset, but everyone seems to have forgotten that. This weekend Ohio State shutout Wisconsin in a big way with a third string quarterback in the game. Bravo. But lets not forget, if Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon is stopped (which he was), Wisconsin has no chance.That same Wisconsin team lost to Northwestern, and barely beat Minnesota earlier this year. Yes, their halfback is a Heisman candidate, but they are overrated and most people know it. Therefore the amount of credit given for this win is too much.
TCU: 1 loss to Baylor 58-61
TCU had the third seed going into this weekend and beat Iowa St 55-3 yesterday. This morning they dropped to the sixth ranking. They went from three to six and they almost won by 50 points! In response to the news TCU’s coach Gary Patterson said this today, “If we want to control our own destiny, we need to be undefeated.” I guess so because with their only loss being to their Big 12 co-champion Baylor, and with the beating they put forth this weekend, I am not sure they could have done anything more. They showed amazing growth from a 4-8 season last year.
Baylor: 1 loss to West Virginia 27-41
Baylor was ranked at 5 last week and executed a solid win this week against a ranked Kansas St. team, but it was not enough to push them over the top. One would think they would be arguably as fit as anyone to fill the fourth spot. In addition, they did beat TCU, who was one of the other contenders for the fourth spot. However, Baylor had a very weak non-conference schedule which did not help their case.
The debate between Baylor and TCU is one that shows no clear winner. But it seems logical that one of them would be filling the fourth spot. In the end the committee went with a choice that will bring more national viewers, and a bigger level of hype for a matchup with Alabama. Even though it was what we were all expecting it is still disappointing. If you were hoping this new playoff system would be more fair, then I guess it may not your year.
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