The Playoff is set

National Overview

Oh, college football. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. A glorious 2014 season wrapped up Saturday night with Ohio State’s absolute annihilation of Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game (although technically, Boise State’s Mountain West championship win came later). From the neutral-site Week 1 matchups to the indulgent conference championship games, 2014 was a delightful, wild ride from start to finish.

Now we have the inaugural playoff, which – for the time being – is restricted to just four teams. I’ll get to the lucky quartet in a moment, but let’s take a second to look at how those squads got here. After all the intrigue and chaotic scenarios everyone cooked up, the final weekend turned out to be pretty boring. Oregon throttled Arizona Friday night, easily clinching one spot. Alabama more or less did the same to Missouri midday Saturday. That left Florida State, which pulled away in the fourth quarter on Georgia Tech… and one question mark.

TCU, ranked third last week by the committee, led only 17-3 over hapless Iowa State at halftime, then raced to a 55-3 victory. Baylor controlled its game with Kansas State from the outset, winning by 11. Then Ohio State took Wisconsin to the woodshed, and burned the woodshed to the ground, and salted the earth with the tears of every Badgers fan’s firstborn (reenactment here). That’s when the discussion got very, very interesting.

Playoff Bracket

So, did the committee get it right? I don’t envy those people at all. Three slots were all but filled, sure, but that might have made things more difficult. If another contender had lost the committee would have only had the task of fitting three schools into two spots, instead of one. As it was, I think the committee went one-for-two. Ohio State is the right team at No. 4.

Baylor was the most deserving team, winning a stronger conference and defeating TCU, which had no business being in the discussion by not being true champions. However, perception matters, and the committee clearly believed – along with most of the country, including myself – the Bears looked like the weakest of the three on film. You could see that reflected in how the poll voters ranked the Horned Frogs in recent weeks; there was an overwhelming, unspoken belief that Baylor got lucky against TCU and was the lesser squad. I (and unfortunately for Baylor, the committee) agree.

That doesn’t mean OSU is some kind of juggernaut. The Buckeyes have by far the worst loss of any reasonably good team (by 14 at home to 6-6 Virginia Tech). The Big Ten is terrible, producing only one other team capable of playing with OSU (Michigan State). Lest we forget, Cardale Jones is the former third-string quarterback, and there’s no guarantee he’ll play as well as he did in the Big Ten Championship when he has to face a real defense with a month to prepare.

I also think the committee got Nos. 1 and 2 wrong. I had Alabama first after the win in the Iron Bowl, but it was close. Oregon’s obliteration of Arizona swung the pendulum back to the Ducks, and ‘Bama didn’t have a good enough opponent in the SEC title game to answer. Mizzou isn’t good, period. The Tigers were clearly the second-best team in their own awful division (losing 34-0 at home to Georgia) but had the good fortune of drawing easier interdivision foes than the Bulldogs. Missouri lost at home to 3-9 Indiana. Alabama beat Mizzou by less than Oregon did Arizona, and UO pulled its starters after three quarters.

Oregon’s overall resume is simply better, with a non-conference victory over Michigan State making up for a slightly easier conference schedule. The Ducks also got an opportunity the Crimson Tide didn’t with: a rematch with the team that beat them. By proving that October loss was a fluke, UO avenged its only black mark (also a better loss than Alabama’s, according to the committee) AND notched another top-10 win.

Moreover, putting the Ducks at No. 1 would have allowed the committee to match up the Pac-12 and Big Ten champions in the Rose Bowl and the SEC and ACC champs in the Sugar Bowl – perfect for soothing the irritated old guard who cared more about tradition than deciding a true national champion on the field. It’s the same teams, but a better bracket. This should have been an easy decision and the committee dropped the ball.

Pac-12 Report

Well… how about that? I wouldn’t have been surprised by anything from a close Arizona win to a medium-sized Oregon one, but I really didn’t expect what happened Friday. The Ducks did literally everything offensively I said they needed to do last week, and they did it with a cold, ruthless efficiency uncommon for this program. After some first-half jitters, it was near-perfection. Marcus Mariota completed all 11 of his passes after the break, wrapping up the Heisman in the process.

The defense topped the offense, flat-lining the Wildcats’ attack from before their first snap (UA fumbled the kickoff away on what would have been its first possession) and harassing Anu Solomon into one of his worst performances before an injury ended his night. As I said they must, Oregon dominated the point of attack, never allowing ‘Zona to hit those killer inside runs that opened the secondary up to play fakes in the previous two meetings. It was one of the best efforts by a UO defense in years, and it appeared to finally “complete” the Ducks as a truly elite squad.

For Arizona, it was another in a growing list of agonizing near-misses in championship scenarios. As good as Oregon is, it was pretty stunning to see how lifeless the Wildcats were in what would have probably been the biggest win in program history. Solomon’s previous injury hampered him some, but even his absolute best might not have been enough to make up for a defense that did nothing to slow an offense it had held to a total of 40 points in the last two games. ‘Zona still had a great season, but this result was obviously disappointing.

Heisman Watch

Any arguments at this point are ignorant or the work of huge homers. Marcus Mariota is the best player in the country by a wide margin and will win the Heisman trophy.

Random Thoughts and Observations

The Big 12 isn’t happy with the selection committee, but it should really be mad at itself. The “One True Champion” garbage was embarrassingly transparent; if the conference really thought that was the case, then why did it look down upon the Pac-10 for years when the west coast league was doing the same thing? Funny how things change when someone else is benefitting from the system you helped create (the SEC and Big 12 were the first two conferences to split into divisions and play conference championship games).

Of course, the real culprit is conference commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who royally screwed the Big 12 by declaring the league wouldn’t name a single champion (really? Have you SEEN your conference’s tagline?), instead allowing the committee to decide whether Baylor or TCU was more deserving. The idea, obviously, was to potentially get both the Bears and Horned Frogs in the final four. The committee, thankfully, saw through this pathetic attempt to game the system and said, “no thanks.” The Big 12 would be best served adding two schools to get back to 12 and play a conference championship again. My suggestions would be: Marshall, a rival and eastern partner for West Virginia; SMU, a former Southwest Conference foe of the Texas schools, or… BYU. Why not, nothing is sacred in college football anymore.

Stanzi Winner

There was just never going to be any doubt. Jameis Winston ran away with the 2014 Stanzi. Of the 12 games he played for Florida State, 9 wins came by two scores or less. He picked up five Stanzis during that span, a remarkable 55 percent “success” mark that may stand forever. I’ll probably have to give it at least a few months’ thought, but the Stanzi award may have to be renamed. Here is our winner and the finalists.

Jameis Winston, Florida State: 5

Logan Woodside, Toledo: 4

Everett Golson, Notre Dame: 3

Justin Holman, UCF: 3

Dak Prescott, Mississippi State: 2

James Knapke, Bowling Green: 2

Fredi Knighten, Arkansas State: 2

Christian Hackenberg, Penn State: 2

Anu Solomon, Arizona: 2

Brett Hundley, UCLA: 2

Grant Hedrick, Boise State: 2

Davis Webb, Texas Tech: 2

Nick Mullens, Southern Miss: 2

Cooper Rush, CMU: 2

C.J. Brown, Maryland: 2

Michael Brewer, Virginia Tech: 2

Brian Burell, Fresno State: 2

J.T. Barrett, Ohio State: 2

The days grow short and the leaves disappear, but football season marches on. It’s time for the weird and wacky postseason of FBS football (and don’t forget Army-Navy). The Bowl Preview is coming soon.