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College Football Playoffs: 12 takeaways and harsh reality from opening weekend
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College Football Playoffs: 12 takeaways and harsh reality from opening weekend
ATHENS — College football has seen that version of Ohio State football before, and it was and is a scary one.
Comments
One addition to the future schedule discussion: Now that college football isn't afraid of scheduling games on the same day as the NFL, ditch the Monday night championship game.
Great read, Mike… nail on the head with all 12 takeaways. I'll add an observation of my own— you're on a roll. Thanks for dropping these solid holiday gifts off in recent days. Go Dawgs!
Mike, I have to ask this.
Have you been recently taking some sort of magic smart pills?
If the Dawgs can up their game as much as you've upped yours…
Go, Dawgs!
Hm. A few things I guess.
Why should the season start earlier? What's wrong with having a championship game on January 20, and how is that worse than having games in mid-August? Kicking the season off on a long holiday weekend seems like a great tradition to me. And you yourself argued that playing in the heat is worse for the players (and probably the fans) than in the cold.
Yes, blowouts happen. I don't see how that's a reason to actively invite them into what is supposed to be the most competitive phase of the season. As for your point that at least there's football on - I mean, yeah, for about a half. Then it gets turned right back off. Personally, I'd prefer not to have a game to watch than to be promised "playoff games y'all!!" only to come away disappointed and annoyed. Besides, there are still bowl games. As much as bowl season has fallen off, can anyone still tell me with a straight face that a random bowl game between, say Indiana and SMU couldn't have been as entertaining as these last four games?
And let's not forget the original anti-expansion argument - these snooze fests are coming at the expense of the regular season. I'm sure some will argue that it's still interesting to see those last few teams vying for those spots at the end of the year. But that's just a lower stakes version of the drama we could have (and already did have) with a more selective playoff. There are still roughly the same number of teams tryng to get the few remaining spots, all it does it shift the window of focus down in the rankings.
Lastly, I don't think these poor results are simply a matter of the committee getting it wrong. Other than maybe the best version of an Alabama team that lost to Vanderbilt and got blown out by Oklahoma, what other teams could they have selected that would have definitely put up more of a fight? I double checked. Not a lot of compelling options out there.
I get that expansion was inevitable. But they didn't have to jump straight to 12. 6 seems like the right number to have at least started with.
But of course, there will always be a bubble, so there will always be people saying it needs to be more inclusive. We're already seeing it with the 12 team field, and we can't even get a decent first round game as it is.
Nice article Mike. I never thought i would be saying this about a ut player, but I gotta give credit to Nico. He took some brutal shots from the osu defense last night. 1 hit even cracked his helmet, i have never seen that happen (that i can remember) in my 55+ years of watching football games. The score was out of hand, and the game outcome was already decided. He could have easily given up, but he refused to quit, and kept fighting. He earned my respect last night. Hope the young man has a great career at UT, except for the games he faces our DAWGS..GoDAWGS!
Oh and one last thing. Just to be clear, I want to see a bunch of awesome, exciting playoff games. I'm not just here to nay say. I've always been against expansion beyond 4, but like I said below, I knew this was inevitable and have accepted it. If future brackets prove me wrong, I'll happily admit it. But so far it's been playing out exactly as predicted.
I cannot take anything Tennessee does serious as long as Willie Martinez is coaching their secondary. It looked very familiar with DB's running wind sprints with their backs turned to the ball trying to catch up to WR's. OSU did their homework and knew where to attack Tennessee's defense. Get a team down by 21 in the 1st quarter and the game is over.
The number and structure of the playoff would be fine if the "selection committee" did a better job "selecting" teams. Indiana and SMU had no business being in the playoff. There must be a formula for strength of schedule, home and away wins/losses, point differential, and conference strength incorporated into the formula. Hate to say it but maybe the old BCS computer ranking was ahead of it's time. It would work better now than with a 2 team scenario.
Best article in awhile. Of course having ample material helps.
This was all so predictable.
Is it possible the SEC isn't that great this year? 2 teams left and both look like the 2nd tier of the 8 teams left.
Texas is not going to beat the winner of OSU/Oregon who look like the 2 best teams.
Georgia will need a surprise effort by Gunner and the wide receivers who let's be brutally honest, have **** this year.
We have the worst wide receiving corps in the top 25. It's pretty pathetic. I've held back for a long time but they are the biggest reason we will not win this year. A travesty on a team that otherwise should be a national championship team.
Defense is finally healthy and jettisoning Humphries was a tough but necessary move. Kid just doesn't have the instincts and looks lost too often. Harris is much better even if not as physically gifted he has the instincts.
So our defense can keep us in every game but that is a lot to ask. At some point the wide receivers have to catch the ball.
The wide receivers have to get open and catch the ball. That's all. Go Dawgs!
College Football is a mess right now. First round playoff game is played at higher positioned team's field. Home field advantage for one round. Remaining rounds at a neutral site. Why? Because of the need for Bowl games? Some question the teams that are there, but is it really any worse than when TCU got the nod, knocked off Michigan and then got bulldozed by UGA? Who belonged then? Probably the most exciting game yesterday was the South Dakota state vs North Dakota state game. Sad. And the NIL thing is out of hand - players dumping teams right in the middle of the playoffs because they want either more money or playing time or whatever. Free agency right in the mist of higher competition. Who's idea was this? It's become a train wreck.
IMHO the CFP is doomed unless it can produce a ranking system everyone can agree on. At this point it appears a matter of where do you want to feel the hurt. It's bad optics and sends a poor message to exclude an undefeated or 1-loss team (despite an easy pathway) and include a 3-loss team that has navigated a much more difficult pathway. Somebody gets their feelings hurt either way. There is no easy answer to this. The CFP had better get it sorted or teams and fans will begin to lose interest. At this point all I care about is our Dawgs being ready and play their best football moving forward.
Go Dawgs!!
While the first round games ended up not being nail-biters, I was actually fine with SMU, Indiana, Tennessee, and Clemson getting in because I wanted to see what they were made of. And that's what the 12-team expansion allows… see if any fringe teams really belong, and put that discussion to bed while at the same time identifying a true natty champion who earns it versus being a fan of the pollsters. I'm also glad Georgia is on their side of the bracket, as it'll be hard to beat a very good Texas team a third time (until we have to); and as much as I hate to admit it, Ohio State looks to be the most athletic team in the field. Go Dawgs!
@E_Roc
Naw, I don’t have you confused with someone else.
It was you, with that signature name, and it was just before November 5, and it was nasty and had exactly what I posted earlier in it.
But if that’s how you want to play it, then so be it 🤷♂️.
I will always be on the lookout for it now that you came out of left field with it on a football article on this site.
MAGA for life, and, as always,
GO DAWGS!!