Tide, Canes in CFP field; Irish out … The CFP playoff field has been formally announced and there is a something of a shocker as both Alabama and Miami made the 12-team field, while Notre Dame got bounced out. Somehow the committee decided on Miami over the Irish because the Hurricanes won the head-to-head match-up with Notre Dame earlier this season. Makes sense except for the fact that in the final regular season CFP ranking the Canes came in two spots behind Notre Dame and neither have played since.
To no one’s surprise, upstart Indiana, college football’s only remaining unbeaten team, got the #1 seed after the Hoosiers upset top-ranked Ohio State in the Big 10 championship game Saturday evening. Ohio State dropped to #2 and will still get a first round bye along with Georgia, which swamped Alabama 28-7 in the SEC final, and Texas Tech, which won its first outright conference title since 1954 with a convincing 34-7 win over #11 BYU. At the same time, teams at 5 thru 8 – Mississippi, Texas A&M, Oregon and Oklahoma – will host the four first round games on December 19th and 20th with Ole Miss playing Tulane, Oregon facing James Madison, Texas A&M hosting Miami, in what should be a doozy, while Oklahoma and Alabama will play again after the Sooners upset the Tide earlier this fall.
Of course, if its a college committee, we need always spare a few thoughts for those that got screwed. Because somebody always gets screwed! The last thing we will ever be accused of, for example, is being Notre Dame fans, but the Irish, who lost their season opener at Miami by three and then lost again by one the following week to Texas A&M, won ten straight each by at least ten points, got royally screwed, shafted and then pilloried! And we also shan’t shed any tears on the SEC which gets 5 teams in the field, but its hard not to make the case that both Texas, who lost at both #2 Ohio State and #3 Georgia, and Vanderbilt, whose 2 losses were against Alabama and Texas, probably also deserve a shot at a real playoff game.
