College Football Ramblings

This was a pretty exciting weekend for college football. Not for a Penn State fan like myself, but for fans of the sport in general. There were some upsets, which always makes me happy. This is the first year of the playoff with a 12-man selection committee choosing who makes the playoff.

Now before the new rankings come out this Tuesday, I want to make a few observations and maybe mention my own desires…

Going into the weekend, the standings looked like this with their results of this week and current record:
1. Alabama (11-1) beats up on Auburn (15th).
2. Oregon (11-1) destroys Oregon State.
3. Florida State (12-0) barely beats Flordia.
4. Mississippi State (10-2) lost to Ole Miss (19th)
5. TCU (10-1) beats Texas.
6. Ohio State (11-1) over Michigan.
7. Baylor (10-1) struggles against a bad Texas Tech team.

I am not going any further because unless some major losses happen, these are where the four teams are coming from. Since Mississippi State lost, they will drop out of the four and the question is whether or not TCU/OSU/Baylor should move into the number four spot.

TCU lost to Baylor back on October 11th in that insane 61-58 game. Which makes you ask the question, why isn’t Baylor ranked ahead? Well the next week they lost to West Virginia 41-27, who TCU then beat in a very close game. It is very tough to argue against either team since they have so many of the same opponents.

This brings me to Ohio State. They lost to Virginia Tech early in the season. It was a pretty ugly loss, but since then they have looked pretty damn good. You have no clue how much that makes me want to vomit by admitting that. The selection committee could knock them since JT Barrett got hurt and will miss the rest of the season. I mean, should a team with a third string QB be in the playoff?

This is where I sort of miss the BCS process. We all hated how the BCS chose who played in the title game, but there method was not horrible for picking the top four teams. Combining a bunch of human polls with some computer polls. Maybe factor in this selection committee somehow.

So here is what I want to happen next week:
-Arizona beats Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship
-Missouri crushes Alabama in the SEC Championship
-Kansas State beats Baylor
-TCU beats Iowa State
-Georgia Tech defeats Florida State in the ACC Championship
-Ohio State absolutely destroys Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship

These are all doable things. Well maybe not Mizzou crushing Bama, but I could see them upsetting the Crimson Tide.

So what would the rankings look like if that all happened? Would you leave FSU in there even though GT beat them? Arizona and Oregon would have the same exact record, but the crux would be both of the Ducks losses coming to the Wildcats, who lost to USC and UCLA. Missouri and Alabama would both be 11-2, although one of the Tigers losses was to Indiana. At least Alabama would have losses to them and Ole Miss.

Why am I not on this committee?

At that point, your top four would probably look like this:
1. Ohio State (12-1)
2. TCU (12-1)
3. FSU (12-1)
4. ???

I have no clue who would really deserve the fourth spot. You could make an argument for so many teams. I mean, does it make sense to have someone like FSU, who is not even their conference champion? Do you need to have the SEC champ?

In my scenario, Ohio State needs to win and needs to represent the Big Ten well. I am tired of hearing about the Big Ten being a weak conference and the SEC being this unstoppable juggernaut. Come on Buckeyes, do something for the greater good for once in your miserable existence. Honestly, they lost two years in a row in the national title game and since then the SEC had won every year until last year. This is your chance OSU!

Speaking of the SEC and their dominance. Did anyone notice that in the four ACC/SEC matchups this week, that the ACC won all four? But oh no, the SEC is so much better than any other conference. When playing the other power conferences (ACC/Big 12/Big Ten/Pac-12), the SEC is 5-6.
ACC: 1-4
Big Ten: 1-1
Big 12: 3-1

Hmm, that is not really all that dominant. And four of the SEC teams did not even play a non-conference game against a power conference opponent. I should see what their record is against C-USA teams…that seems like who they played the majority of their games against. Not that I should make fun, since the Big Ten is probably not much better. Give it to the ACC and Big 12 for not being afraid to play them.

I discovered something the other night while watching the Alabama & Auburn game. Jesse Palmer and Carson Palmer are not brothers. I do not know why, but I just always assumed they were brothers. Or at the least, they were related. I mean, is it that ridiculous? Same last name, both quarterbacks?

Jesse looks like he should be the better looking, yet less talented older brother, right? And hey, I am not hating on Jesse Palmer, I actually enjoy when he is announcing games.

Okay, one last thing. I really like Baylor’s uniforms. It actually has more to do with the font.

Alright, that is the end of this little rambling mess. I am sure there will be more of this type of stuff in the upcoming weeks.

Author: Ngewo