Mason Rudolph wins the 2015 Stanzi Award

For a few bizarre minutes Saturday, it seemed we might have chaos. Florida held an unlikely early lead on Alabama after a punt return touchdown, while North Carolina refused to go away against Clemson. Had the top two teams in the committee’s rankings gone down, we could have been in for a very strange final four.

But, as is the case more often than not in college football, the powers that be prevailed. Alabama reasserted itself after a sluggish first half to knock out the Gators. Clemson held on after a bad offside call on North Carolina’s final onside kick. Michigan State restored sanity after allowing a long TD pass against Iowa, and just like that, the Playoff was set.

I don’t necessarily think these are the four best teams in the country, but they are the most deserving. All four are Power Conference champions, which is the most important factor, and this season there will be no controversy over who got left out. Stanford, even at 11-2, wasn’t good enough.

The regular season technically isn’t over – there’s still the matter of that Army – Navy game – but we’ve essentially reached the postseason. And for the record, Navy is very good, and should pick up a 10^th win this weekend. But let’s take an early look at the Playoff.

College Football Playoff

It isn’t in the exact order I would have liked (how Alabama maintained that No. 2 spot is beyond me) but the teams are as I predicted last week: Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma. Clemson, as the obvious top seed, gets Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, while the Crimson Tide and Spartans meet in the Cotton Bowl.

OU opened as a favorite to upset Clemson; that’s my early feeling too. I like the Sooners to beat the Tigers and go on to win the National Championship over Alabama, though I’ll delve much deeper into those games in my upcoming bowl preview series. Oklahoma has simply been too good over the second half of the year to pick against.

Pac-12 Report

Stanford, as it so often does, struggled to put away a lesser opponent in USC. However, as Stanford also often does, it found a way. After squandering a potential 28-0 first-half lead on a pair of field goals and a turnover on downs inside the Trojans’ five, the Cardinal led only 13-3 at the break. At that point, SC woke up and scored two quick TD’s to take a three-point lead.

Ah, but of course, we were dealing with Stanford, which plays the long game better than any team in the country. On the verge of a devastating three-and-out after USC took the lead for the first time, the Cardinal cooked up one of their signature escapes, with Kevin Hogan finding Christian McCaffrey on a nifty angle route out of the backfield for 67 yards. Moments after Stanford took the lead back, it got another score, this time from the defense’s signature play: a sack-and-fumble.

The game wasn’t completely out of reach, but the contest essentially ended with that stretch in the middle of the third quarter. As such, Stanford was crowned the 2015 Pac-12 champ; not the best team in the conference by any reasonable measure, but the best this season at dealing with adversity.

Heisman Watch

The disappointing list of Heisman finalists has been announced, with the nation’s most deserving player left out of New York entirely. I covered in-depth last week why Alabama’s Derrick Henry should not win the award, so I won’t re-hash that argument. I agree with the other two finalists, although I wouldn’t give the award to DeShaun Watson or Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey simply didn’t have enough of an impact in Stanford’s two losses to justify winning the award, and his high yardage total is dramatically inflated by kick and punt returns. In a battle between the two most deserving quarterbacks Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield is the obvious choice over Clemson’s Watson.

Random Thoughts and Observations

It’s probably only a matter of time before the Playoff expands to eight teams (though I pray it will stop there). However, in certain years – most, I would argue – only four teams are deserving of inclusion. 2014 was a bit of an anomaly, as Baylor, TCU and Michigan State would have all been worthy entrants in an eight-team field. That isn’t the case this year. Stanford owes its 2015 Pac-12 title to injury (Oregon) and officiating (Washington State), and isn’t deserving of a shot at the National Championship. No mid-major school went undefeated and Notre Dame had two losses as well. The only other team that could have had a chance was Ohio State, but after the Buckeyes’ mediocre performance against a middling (at best) schedule this season, there’s no way they should have been in.

The truth is that while there may sometimes be five or even six teams deserving of the Playoff, there will rarely be a full eight. Preeminent college football analyst Phil Steele has long called for a four-team playoff, arguing that at eight teams, the field will inevitably be muddied by a 9-3 or 8-4 conference champion or even a better squad that failed to win its conference. Conference championships should be a prerequisite for Playoff consideration; failing to include that criteria already increases the danger that the committee’s regional bias (see Alabama at No. 2) will result in incorrect selections. Expanding the playoff could be a fatal mistake for college football. While it is cliché, it’s also the truth: college football has the best regular season of any sport, because of just how important each game is. Playoff expansion could and would water down that special aura around the sport.

2015 Stanzi Awards

  

There was only one winner this week, thanks to the light schedule, and it didn’t have an impact on the Stanzi race.

Earnest Carrington, Louisiana-Monroe

Opponent: New Mexico State

Performance: Two INT, one FUM (for TD), won by seven

Much more important is the crowning of this year’s Stanzi winner! As a reminder, here are the finalists:

Mason Rudolph, Oklahoma State: 3

Treon Harris, Florida: 3

Jeremy Johnson, Auburn: 2

Chad Kelly, Ole Miss: 2

DeShone Kizer, Notre Dame: 2

Trevone Boykin, TCU: 2

Matt Linehan, Idaho: 2

Dane Evans, Tulsa: 2

Thomas Woodson, Akron: 2

Mitch Leidner, Minnesota: 2

Patrick Mahomes, Texas Tech: 2

P.J. Walker, Temple: 2

Kyle Bolin, Louisville: 2

Clayton Thorson, Northwestern: 2

Philip Ely, Toledo: 2

Jaquez Johnson, Florida Atlantic: 2

Jake Rudock, Michigan: 2

Marquise Williams, North Carolina: 2

Rudolph and Harris are neck-and-neck with three Stanzis apiece, so we have to delve into their individual performances to determine a winner. In a bizarre bit of trivia, both players turned in all three Stanzi weeks consecutively, with Rudolph going for eight total turnovers against Texas, K-State and West Virginia and Harris turning in six turnovers against Vandy, South Carolina and Florida Atlantic. Both players had one turnover returned for a score. Harris’ performances were slightly better, but Rudolph’s came against better competition.

I went back and forth on these two. It’s pretty hard to go against Harris, who was dreadful after taking over midseason for the Gators. And yet, the thing that finally swung the debate was Rudolph. He’s a much better player and had no business picking up three Stanzis, let alone three in three weeks. So there we have it. Introducing the 2015 winner of the Stanzi Award: Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph!

What a season it’s been. Hard to believe the Playoff is set; it seems just yesterday the preseason polls were coming out. It was a strange and wonderful year, and now we get the magic of the FBS postseason. My bowl preview series will be out shortly.