This is an opinion column.
It’s hard to screw up college football, especially this time of year, but College Football Playoff, Inc., figured out a way.
Not only does no one care about the traditional holiday bowl season anymore, but two of the big-ticket playoff games on Saturday were complete jokes.
Ole Miss walloped Tulane 41-10 and Oregon destroyed James Madison 51-34. Don’t let that second score fool you. It was never close. The Ducks raced out to a 34-6 halftime lead and could have finished with 100 points.
I blame the bureaucracy of the Woke Left for the CFP’s terrible matchups, but I’m willing to concede that others might see it differently.
The CFP is contractually obligated to include at least one Group of 5 team in its 12-team postseason tournament. Fine, whatever. That spot went to Tulane, which was ranked No.20 by the committee in the final CFP Top 25. James Madison, ranked No.24, then snuck in the CFP’s backdoor after five-loss Duke won the ACC. What a disaster.
Worthy teams like Notre Dame, Vanderbilt and Texas missed out on playoff spots because the CFP is more interested in handing out participation trophies than actually putting together the best postseason possible.
The College Football Playoff remains a work-in-progress. These awkward transition years from the old bowl system to a legitimate playoff are frustrating to watch because the College Football Playoff could easily be one of the best postseason in sports if it would just quit wasting everyone’s time and expand to 24 teams.
There is hope. The first round wasn’t a complete waste. Alabama’s come-from-behind victory at Oklahoma and Miami’s win against Texas A&M were proof that the CFP is inching closer and closer to a proper national championship tournament. The quarterfinal matchups are excellent, too. The New Year’s lineup:
— No.10 Miami vs. No.2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl Classic, 6:30 p.m., New Year’s Eve.
— No.5 Oregon vs. No.4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, 11 a.m., New Year’s Day.
— No.9 Alabama vs. No.1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl, 3 p.m., New Year’s Day.
— No.6 Ole Miss vs. No.3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, 7 p.m., New Year’s Day.
The problem for college football is that the CFP is missing an entire round of playoff games. With a 24-team playoff, the eight best teams would all have first-round byes. That would allow the committee to seed a 16-team first round with competitive games on the second weekend of December.
The 16-team, second-round would then play on the third weekend. That would allow the main-line bowls to still field an eight-team quarterfinal for the New Year’s slots.
And it’s not like this is some kind of outrageous idea either. The FCS has a 24-team playoff and works well.
I say fa-la-la-la to a full month of compelling college football playoff games.
It’s a crime that Notre Dame and Texas were left out of the playoffs while Tulane and JMU showed up with coaches who were on their way out the door. Tulane’s Jon Sumrall was hired by Florida and JMU’s Bob Chesney is now at UCLA. Their old teams weren’t prepared for their playoff games.
Part of the problem with college football in its current form is the hiring and recruiting calendars. Nothing should be allowed to happen until after the playoffs are over.
ESPN’s Nick Saban isn’t the first person to suggest a separate tournament for the Group of the 5 teams. That plan could work, but only if the power conferences and Notre Dame decided to break away from the NCAA.
That seems unnecessary, but I like the idea of a Group of 5 national championship tournament better than the matchups we had on Saturday.
The exception was Miami’s 10-3 victory against Texas A&M in the early time slot. That game was a major victory for the ACC and College Football Playoff selection committee. Miami deserved to be in the playoff, but so did other teams.
FROM THE MAILBAG
We’ll end Sunday’s column with an email about the behavior of Alabama’s coaching staff following the Crimson Tide’s first-round victory against the Sooners.
Ron in Northport, Ala., writes …
I’ve just watched field videos of Alabama’s coordinators celebrating after the Oklahoma game. I can’t remember when Nick Saban’s guys were leaping around, back-slapping players following a big win. I think they walked off knowing that [Saban] was gonna be asking tough questions about either the next game, or a certain play, or what recruit they need to call. That’s not a criticism, but I just don’t recall the joy …
ANSWER: Saban never played in a 12-team playoff game on the road at night. I’m pretty sure he would have at least cracked a smile before screaming at his assistants about the quarterfinal matchup against Indiana.
Alabama showed some toughness I didn’t know they still had in its stunning come-from-behind victory against Oklahoma. The Woke Left hasn’t ruined college football yet.
MAILBAG SOUND OFF
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