Random Thoughts: CFB Playoff

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Yes, it’s basketball season, but this week’s edition of Random Thoughts centers completely around the College Football Playoff.

Predictable

It really wasn’t a shock – the opening round of College Football Playoff games featured games that weren’t exactly competitive.

I’ll admit, I’m still surprised by Ohio State’s margin over Tennessee, simply because I didn’t know quite what to expect going in. I thought the Buckeye would (should?) win, as long as the team that showed up against Michigan didn’t take the field against the Volunteers. Obviously, that didn’t happen. The team that showed up Saturday night was the team many Buckeye fans expected to see throughout the season.

Again, there really weren’t any surprises. How many people thought Indiana would actually go to South Bend and win? How many thought Texas would lose at home to Clemson? How many thought SMU would actually go to State College and beat Penn State? Ok, that one is fair – I at least thought that might be more competitive.

Too many?

Is 12 playoff teams too many? I suppose it’s fair to say it’s too soon to say. After all, this is the first year of the 12 team playoff. I also think it’s fair to say yes, 12 teams is too many. Heck, I pointed out when the playoff field expanded that it was too many.

So what’s the correct number? Honestly, I think eight may be too many but at least in some years, it may be ok. Six seems to be a better number. At least you can make the argument that in most years, there are six teams that could be truly considered national championship contenders. The top two seeds would get a bye and the remaining four would square off in the opening round.

Of course, that’s not going to happen. The number of teams isn’t getting reduced. In fact, it’ll probably go to 16 teams at some point.

Ohio State

Looking back, the only think that stopped Ohio State against Tennessee was two bad calls in the second quarter. The first was the interception that despite a video review, was most likely out of bounds and even if it wasn’t was a horribly missed call on blatant pass interference, and the roughing the passer call that wasn’t even close.

One more thing – time will tell, but if this is the Ohio State team that shows up on New Year’s Day and two games after that – the Buckeyes will indeed win the national championship.

SEC

Dear SEC fans and coaches – please stop. Alabama, you really need to stop. One of your three losses came to a Tennessee team that got smoked by Ohio State. There’s more, but you get the picture.

Ole Miss – see above although I’ll admit, the Rebels might have had a better case than Alabama. Still, there’s the home loss to a bad Kentucky team and if you want to talk about strength of schedule, your non-conference games were Furman, Middle Tennessee and Georgia Southern.

As it turns out, the SEC was good this year. Good, not great. Also, the SEC isn’t entitled to 4-5 playoff spots every year.

NCAA

Dear NCAA,

Please fix the seeding/bye system and do it pronto. It’s too late for this year, but it’s obviously not right. Three of the higher seeds in the quarterfinals are underdogs. That’s backward. The whole conference champions should get higher seeds thing is well intentioned, but it’s very flawed. I know this is the first year of the expanded format so it’s ok, but please do fix it during the offseason.

As always, if you have thoughts or comments on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com. In the meantime, have a Merry Christmas!