The committee left Georgia football out of the playoff and paid the price, but will the committee learn from their mistake?
The College Football Playoff Committee got what they deserved, two minimally competitive snooze-fests in the form of playoff games. They continuously tell us that they want the four best teams in the playoff and made their decision accordingly. The result was Alabama and Clemson winning by a combined 38 points.
According to the committee, the “third best” team in the nation was a Notre Dame team that struggled against Ball State, Vanderbilt, and Pittsburgh. Those teams had a combined record of 17-21. Their signature win was a week one victory against a Michigan team that was shellacked by a Florida team that Georgia football beat by 19. The committee’s “fourth best” team wasn’t much better. They only played two ranked opponents all year and lost to one of them.
On the other hand, Georgia took a much different path. The Dawgs played six ranked opponents, more than the Sooners and Irish combined. They also have two wins against top-10 teams, while the supposed third and fourth best teams in the land have combined for exactly zero wins against top-10 teams. Georgia battled against the best team in the nation after winning their division in the best conference. Meanwhile, the Irish relaxed at home after a long season of beating up on sub-par competition and the Sooners avenged their loss against a then three loss Texas team.
Yes, Georgia has two losses. Yes, this would’ve been avoided if Georgia took care of business in the SEC Championship game. Neither one of those points negate the fact that the Georgia Bulldogs are still more talented than the two teams that were dominated in the playoff games. Their losses came on the road against a top 15 team, and in a championship game against the most talented team in the country. Outside of that, they dominated against competition that is head and shoulders above what the Irish and Sooners faced.
If you are of the belief that Georgia did not deserve to get in because “they had their chance and they blew it”, you cannot also believe that the four best teams deserve spots in the college football playoff. The quality level of a team is not based entirely on their record, that should be a given. If Georgia deserves to be excluded from the playoff based solely on their record, why didn’t UCF get in? They’re an undefeated conference champion. If we’re using the same logic, they deserved to get in over Oklahoma because the Sooners didn’t take care of business against Texas. Why do we pick and choose when a team’s record outweighs their talent and overall performance?
The big question is what does this mean moving forward? Notre Dame is now 0-6 in BCS or New Year’s Six bowls since 2000. They refuse to join a conference in football, and why should they? Once again they were rewarded for playing a group of random power five teams that could be described as nothing more than mediocre at best, and once again they were embarrassed when they had to prove that they truly belonged. Will the committee continue to reward weaker teams in weaker conferences that have even weaker schedules like Oklahoma and Notre Dame? Or will they learn from this disaster and actually pick the best teams to be in the playoff?
Clemson crushed Notre Dame’s heart and soul for four quarters. After getting obliterated in the first quarter, Oklahoma spent the remainder of the game holding on for dear life in a desperate attempt to refrain from getting run out of the stadium by Alabama. Neither the Irish or the Sooners stood much of a chance against their opponent at any point during their respective games. If the committee wants to avoid another colossal embarrassment, they’ll actually select the four best teams from here on out.