After harsh rivalries and electric conference championship games, we finally have the rankings for the first 12-team playoff.
No. 1 Oregon-Bye
No. 2 Georgia- Bye
No. 3 Boise State- Bye
No. 4 Arizona State-Bye
No. 5 Texas vs No. 12 Clemson
No. 6 Penn State vs No. 11 SMU
No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 10 Indiana
No. 8 Ohio State vs No. 9 Tennessee
Should be thrilling!
There are some arguments about who should have gotten that last spot—which I’ll get into later— but overall, I think the playoff committee did a pretty good job. That being said, I have a few thoughts.
Penn State is set up for success
The Nittany Lions pulled the side of the bracket that conference championship losers had all been hoping for.
Penn State will host an SMU team that has yet to beat a ranked team, then play Mountain West champion Boise State on neutral ground.
If I am a fan of the Nittany Lions, that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. In the first round, you get a team with the 57th-ranked strength of schedule, then turn around and face the team with the 78th strength of schedule on neutral ground.
Penn State’s issue is that it hasn’t beaten anyone either. Its best win is against Illinois, and then after that, it is probably 7-5 against Minnesota. Not a great resume either…
That being said, the Nittany Lions hung tough with the No. 1-ranked Oregon Ducks this past Saturday in the Big Ten Championship, and at times looked like they could make a deep run for the national title.
All I’m saying is that if I am a Penn State player, and you told me all I had to do was beat Boise State and SMU, I’d say sign me up. Both horse teams have some playmakers, but I feel confident that we will be seeing Penn State in the semi-finals in a few weeks time.
Speaking of SMU…
The Mustangs deserved to make it over Alabama
The SEC is down bad bad bad.
Only three teams in the playoff??
Bums.
The Southeast has been moaning about how Alabama deserved that final playoff spot over SMU, but that is nowhere near the case.
The main argument is that the Crimson Tide had a much higher strength of schedule than the Mustangs—18 compared to 57—but the fact of the matter is that SMU won when they needed to. Alabama did not.
The Crimson Tide were lined up to make the playoff, but they lost to Vanderbilt mid-season and were blown out by a lowly Oklahoma team only two weeks ago.
Losing to a 6-6 team 24-3 half a month before the playoff committee decides your postseason fate is the reason you were kept out, not because of SMU’s strength of schedule.
On X/Twitter, the Crimson Tide’s athletic director Greg Byrne complained that, “With this outcome, we will need to asses[s] how many P4 non-conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to participate in the CFP.”
He’s got a point, Alabama did play some nasty teams out of conference. They had to beat (5-7) Wisconsin, Western Kentucky, South Florida and Mercer.
SMU scheduled Nevada, BYU, Houston Christian and TCU.
Apart from Houston Christian, SMU played a much harder schedule out of conference than the Crimson Tide.
SO Alabama… you lost in conference games to far less superior teams (besides Tennessee). That is not an excuse to moan and whine that you were “robbed”. May I remind you that it was you yourselves who replaced undefeated Florida State last year?
The fact of the matter is that SMU never should have been in a position to be replaced by Alabama if they had lost A CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP.
SEC bias runs deep.
There will be epic matchups throughout the playoffs.
Though some matchups could be boring and end in blowouts, some games and potential matchups may be incredible.
Unsurprisingly, the eight-nine seeded matchup of Tennessee vs Ohio State is likely to be a fun shootout.
The Buckeyes are down tremendously, losing to their arch-rival Michigan for the fourth year in a row, the Ohio State faithful are ready to fire head coach Ryan Day the second after he loses.This game against the Volunteers may be their first chance.
One of the various aspects that Tennessee plays well that Ohio State does not play well against is the pass rush. The Volunteers’ defensive line is ferocious, meanwhile, the Buckeyes have struggled at times to protect the quarterback and runners.
Looking into the next round…the winner of the battle at the ‘Shoe gets a date with Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
Ohio State and Oregon already matched up this year with the Ducks taking down the Buckeyes in epic fashion.
Tennessee would be interesting, the Ducks and Volunteers haven’t played since the Marcus Mariota days in Eugene as Oregon smoked Tennessee 59-14.This game would be electric with two fast and high-flying offenses as well as pretty stout defenses.
Looking at some other games…I am really interested to see what happens with Texas and Arizona State.
I believe the Longhorns will take down Clemson in the first round before heading to Georgia for the Peach Bowl.
Texas’ QB situation is interesting, as redshirt sophomore Arch Manning is the fan favorite and is more dynamic than redshirt senior Quinn Ewers, but Ewers is the veteran and has been in bigger games before.
Meanwhile, for the Sun Devils, the human bowling ball, senior running back Cam Skattebo is sure to make it difficult for the Longhorn defense.
It could be an interesting matchup where the heavily favored Longhorns may underestimate Arizona State.
We’re just two weeks out until the playoffs kick off, and it’s sure to be a doozy. While this is the final edition of this column, I think it’s only right I end with some predictions!
First round
No. 5 Texas beats No. 12 Clemson
No. 6 Penn State beats No. 11 SMU
No. 7 Notre Dame beats No. 10 Indiana
No. 9 Tennessee beats No. 8 Ohio State
Quarter Finals
No. 5 Texas beats No. 4 Arizona St
No. 6 Penn State beats No. 3 Boise State
No. 2 Georgia beats No. 7 Notre Dame
No. 1 Oregon beats No. 9 Tennessee
Semi-Finals
No. 5 Texas beats No.1 Oregon
No. 6 Penn State beats No. 2 Georgia
Championship
No. 5 Texas beats No. 6 Penn State