College Football Playoff Chaos (Photo from Google images)
The College Football Playoff committee was supposed to make the expanded 12-team playoff to reduce the controversies and to ease the chaos. One thing you learn as a University of Tennessee fan is to expect complete and utter chaos while questioning everything!
Expansion
This is the first year the College Football Playoff (CFP) has expanded to a 12-team bracket system. Prior to the CFP, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) produced the matchups based on a combination of computer rankings from 1998 – 2013. In 2014, the CFP created a four-team bracket style competition to determine the National Champion. However, the expansion was really all about the money. Of course, we want to extend the college football season. All 12 teams in the playoff will receive $4 million for each round they make plus $3M for expenses.
Selection Process
So how does this CFP work? There are 13 members on the committee who rank the teams known as the CFP Selection Committee. To learn more about the committee members, click the link below and you can decide if this is the best group to make non-biased selections https://collegefootballplayoff.com/sports/selectioncommittee/roster
Who gets selected? The four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1- 4 and also have a first-round bye. Said in another way, the best team from each conference: ACC, Big12, Big10, and the SEC will be seeded in the top four playoff spots. The remaining 5 – 12 teams will include the fifth ranked conference champion based on the final rankings. (The CFP committee will still rank the top 25 teams.) Non-conference champions and independents, like Notre Dame, will be seeded no higher than a fifth seed. Because of this, the CFP seedings could look different than the final rankings. (Sorry, Beka this can get confusing, but I didn’t make the rules.)
Current Rankings
The rankings are changing weekly with the chaos from each weekend. Here’s the current ranking and explanation of the breakdown from NCAA.COM. The teams in bold are the current conference champions.
1. Oregon — highest-ranked conference champion (Big Ten) and seeded No. 1
2. Ohio State — at-large pick (second team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 5
3. Texas — second-highest-ranked conference champion (SEC) and seeded No. 2
4. Penn State — at-large pick (third team in the Big Ten), seeded No. 6
5. Notre Dame — at-large pick (independent), seeded No. 7
6. Miami (Fla.) — third-highest-ranked conference champion (ACC) and seeded No. 3
7. Georgia — at-large pick (second team from the SEC), seeded No. 8
8. Tennessee — at-large pick (third team from the SEC), seeded No. 9
9. SMU — at-large pick (second team from the ACC), seeded No. 10
10. Indiana — at-large pick (fourth team from the Big Ten), seeded No. 11
11. Boise State — fourth-highest-ranked conference champion (Mountain West) and seeded No. 4
12. Clemson — first team out of the CFP
13. Alabama — second team out of the CFP
14. Arizona State — fifth-highest-ranked conference champion (Big 12) and seeded No. 1
More Chaos
This weekend’s matchups were worth watching. Chaos can come from anywhere, especially on the road, against your rival, and with your future on the line. Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 23-36 on the road in a stadium with most of the fans wearing orange. Vandy scored 14 quick points in the start of the first quarter, but the Vols got rolling and scored 23 unanswered points. Tennessee will stay ranked in the CFP and should host their first playoff game in Neyland Stadium.
Miami lost to Syracuse 38-42 in Syracuse. With this loss and zero ranked wins, the Hurricanes could (and should) fall out of the CFP bracket. Miami joined the ACC in 2004 and was expected to dominate. However, the Hurricanes have won zero ACC Championships. Clemson will now play SMU (Southern Methodist University) for the ACC Championship.
Ohio State
Ohio State hasn’t beaten Michigan since 2019. OSU spent millions of dollars to build a roster with enough talent to beat Michigan. Favored by 20+ points, this is one of the best OSU teams. They had 60 minutes to beat one of the worst Michigan teams, but Ohio State still lost! Head coach, Ryan Day, is most likely in the coaching hot seat for another Buckeye season without a Big10 Championship.
The Buckeyes showed their biggest fight at midfield when a brawl broke out after the game. A Michigan player tried to plant their flag on center field and that was the most aggressive the Buckeyes looked all day. And where was Day during all the chaos? Oh, he just stood there, looking confused and frozen. Funny, we’ve seen this stiff behavior and astronomical spending in other leadership roles where they lost and will be unemployed in January. According to my social media feeds, a $37.2M dollar buyout is worth getting Day out of the state of Ohio. Some fans want Day out now, others say a National Championship is the only way to save his job. All while Day is still standing on the field saying “what happened”?
Bowling
My Chanticleers beat Georgia State on the road to make Coastal Carolina University bowl eligible!! In the words of senior LB, Barry Brown “we going bowling”! Chants up!
Get your popcorn ready and expect more chaos to unfold. The next College Football Playoff ranking announcement will be on ESPN at 7:00 PM EST on Tuesday, December 3rd. With the final selection show at noon on Sunday December 8th. LET’S GO VOLS!
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