OTF Premium Let's Talk the College Football Playoff

[CJ Vogel]

What a polarizing weekend in college football.

The first weekend of the College Football Playoff had some bright moments, but for the most part it was overshadowed by blowout, after blowout, after blowout. It was an utter embarrassment when it comes to competitive football. Which, in actuality, hat tip to Clemson for at least giving the CFP one lead change.

I will start with this, I don't know what the remedy is for college football. The Playoff on a given year likely won't have 12 teams worthy of winning a National Championship. Was the jump to 12 teams the right move? I want to believe so, but this weekend did not provide a lot of confidence in the future of the sport's postseason.

One thing I do know, the games on college campuses were awesome. Could that have been the reason for the blowouts? I doubt it. But I do know the environments created as a result have been spectacular.

There is a simple solution that is needed to be made in College Football Playoff, and I think it would greatly benefit the outcome of the first round of games – erase the concept of the conference winners getting first round byes. Instead, all four first round byes are directed to the best four teams in the nation. 

You would then have first round meetings of SMU and Arizona State or Boise State and Indiana with a Tennessee and Clemson game likely as well. Those are all hypothetical matchups, but the first round competitive level would be evened out in comparison to what we saw this weekend which was not remotely close to a fun slate of football.

That would not fix everything, but it would be a step in the right direction.

It makes very little sense to me that Boise State and Arizona State get byes into round two when at no point this season they were a top four team in the country and arguably never a top ten team in the country. 

But, for the sake of the Texas pursuit to Natty No. 5, it sure is nice to get to face that Arizona State team in round two.

It's a flaw, no doubt. One that I hope is revisited in the spring by the CFP Committee and NCAA.

***

On the flip side, looking ahead to who remains in the College Football Playoff, there is one thing that stands out – DL.

Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, Oregon. 

All four have incredible edge rushers and stout defensive linemen up front. If the National Championship is raised by anyone outside of those four teams, I would be shocked.

It was very clear this weekend when watching Ohio State, Texas and Penn State displayed edge talent that took over periodically throughout each game. Abdul Carter at Penn State had Kevin Jennings running for his life. Barryn Sorrell had a tipped pass for an INT and a sack. And the combination of Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau might be the best in the country.

I don't even need to mention Mykal Williams and Georgia – we all know what they are capable of.

But the point is this. A good quarterback is very important in the postseason, but a defensive line that can take over and dominate football games is the ultimate factor I am looking at moving forward as the talent level evens out a bit.

[CJ Vogel]

Freakish.

[CJ Vogel]

 

[CJ Vogel]

Tip by Sorrell, picked by Simmons. EDGEs make the biggest difference.

[CJ Vogel]

The average margin of victory in the 1st round of the CFP was 19.3.

No game ended in single digits and Tennessee was a complete disaster.

[4thandFive]

Tennessee got handled 

Edited 6 hours ago by 4thandFive

[dentonhorn]

Should cut the thing to eight. Clemson is the ACC champion and they had to play on an opponents home field and thus got no bowl game for their team and fans. They can watch Miami play in one next Saturday I guess .

[horns96]

Expansion to 16-team playoff, which most assumed to be inevitable, would be a mistake.  I think a better solution is an 8-team model with maybe two play-in/wildcard games.

[Tuco Ramirez]

19 minutes ago, CJ Vogel said:

The average margin of victory in the 1st round of the CFP was 19.3.

No game ended in single digits and Tennessee was a complete disaster.

SMU was no prize pig either. My dog has left better gifts in my backyard.

[CJ Vogel]

5 minutes ago, 4thandFive said:

Tennessee got handled 

Embarrasing.

[CJ Vogel]

Just now, Tuco Ramirez said:

SMU was no prize pig either. My dog has left better gifts in my backyard.

The two pick sixes were disgusting. 

[CJ Vogel]

5 minutes ago, horns96 said:

Expansion to 16-team playoff, which most assumed to be inevitable, would be a mistake.  I think a better solution is an 8-team model with maybe two play-in/wildcard games.

I liked the 14-team model.

Byes for only the B1G Champ and SEC Champ. Then it turns into a typical eight team playoff with seeding of highest seed playing lowest seed and so on.

[Deadhead_Horn]

Good write-up, CJ. I understand people thinking this was simply just bad football, but Texas played the winner of the ACC in the first round of the playoffs. In a vacuum, that should be a really good matchup. More than anything, you can make the argument that this just shows the difference in conferences. I expect more of the same in that regard next round, i.e. ASU, Boise State, et al. 

[4thandFive]

Just now, CJ Vogel said:

Embarrasing.

If nothing else TN and OSU was finally a game where we got to see where Big10 schools match up against SEC. 
 

We’ve been wondering all year- who have they played? Only each other. Are they any good? 
 

I think last night showed there are 2 Big10 teams that are good…….BUT they’re also volatile and unpredictable.

[Tim Longoria]

Anything more than 8 teams is rediculous. As I said before on Twitter, I understand that teams like Ole Miss and Alabama feel like they should've been in after those games we saw, but frankly, if your program has 3 losses, and some of those losses are BAD, you shouldn't have any say in determining the champion. 

[Alex Butler]

I like the 12 team format, the seeding should be done like basketball and baseball and you’d have better match ups in the first round. Just because the games didn’t turn out to be competitive this year doesn’t mean that’s going to be the norm. It’s the first year and how great is it to have real actual meaningful college football from now until late January?!?! The home games in the first round was awesome! Every school had an incredible atmosphere. I’m so glad this is where college football is now instead of selection committees and computer ranking determining the top 2-4 teams. It’s not always going to be right but now we get to settle it on the field. 

[CJ Vogel]

30 minutes ago, Deadhead_Horn said:

Good write-up, CJ. I understand people thinking this was simply just bad football, but Texas played the winner of the ACC in the first round of the playoffs. In a vacuum, that should be a really good matchup. More than anything, you can make the argument that this just shows the difference in conferences. I expect more of the same in that regard next round, i.e. ASU, Boise State, et al. 

You’re probably right. 

[Joe Zura]

@CJ Vogel just asking for a friend what happened to your Indiana team 😭

[CJ Vogel]

16 minutes ago, Joe Zura said:

@CJ Vogel just asking for a friend what happened to your Indiana team 😭

Closest loss of the playoff!