WITS focus: The College Football Playoff

What I Think: Sports edition

Road to the Fin...Last Four?

Here we are at the midpoint of the college football season.  Depending on their bye week every team has played 6 or 7 games.  So where do we stand on the road to the playoff?

11 undefeated teams:  Two of these are "Group of Five" teams with weak schedules.  Even if they stay unbeaten they have virtually no chance of making the playoff.  Of the nine Power Five conference teams, 4 will lose to a fellow unbeaten in the regular season.  Theoretically five teams can go undefeated and claim Power Five conference championships.  This would be playoff nightmare scenario number 1.

9 one loss teams:  Five of these are Group of Five teams, of which only Houston has any cachet as a national level team.  At least 4 of the current unbeatens will fall into this category.  But there are spoilers out there, teams that can really muddy the waters.

Oklahoma and TCU - Every team in the Big 12 plays every other team.  And these two loss powers can inflict losses on Baylor and West Virginia, leaving the Big 12 with no undefeated team, or even no team with fewer than 2 losses.  Oklahoma State could also enter into this equation.

Florida State - Clemson coach Dabo Sweeney said Clemson has beaten everyone but Clemson.  Not for lack of trying.  Five turnovers against Louisville and four against NC State were offset only by clutch plays, stout defense, and the home field advantage.  But the Seminoles are not coming to Death Valley, and they could easily derail the tigers' unbeaten season if given a chance.

Wisconsin - The Badgers had close losses to Michigan and Ohio State.  But if Ohio State puts a loss on fellow unbeaten Nebraska, Wisconsin could seize the division with a victory of their own against the Cornhuskers, setting up a grudge match with the Wolverines-Buckeyes winner in the Big Ten title game.

Utah and Washington State - The Washington Huskies have the straight line to an undefeated season and PAC 12 championship.  But that line leads through the home field of the Utah Utes, the Apple Cup with the rival Cougars, and a potential rematch with Utah in the championship game.

A few of these occurrences could lead to a fairly straight forward mix of four zero or one loss conference champs for the playoff.  But too many, or too few, could lead to five undefeated conference champions,  a bunch of one loss teams, or even some two loss conference champ.

The College Football Playoff Committee may have some interesting choices ahead.

Quick WITS

What I Think, Sports edition

Oh, Furman.  You hurt me so. It would help if you'd get the offense rolling before the 4th quarter.

I don't know what Notre Done and Oklahonot are going to do with the rest of their season.

Speaking of being eliminated, if Clemson were to be Louisville, Florida state would be able to single-handedly deny their own conference a playoff berth by winning out.

If Clemson doesn't win the ACC, at least their season so far has given coaches a lot of film to teach players. The score so far - dropped passes, letting an inferior opponent hang around, dropping the ball before reaching the endzone, and (by SC State) tossing a kickoff to a ref in the endzone without downing it.

So if North Dakota St wins a 6th consecutive FCS championship to go with its 6 wins in a row over FBS schools, can we just slot them into the FBS playoff?

Because unless Baylor wins out or the PAC 12 doesn't cannibalize itself, there's going to be an open slot.  more than one if Houston stumbles.

At this point the Big 12 might want Houston joining...now.

The ACC contenders are going to be making noise in the first half of the season, the Big 10 the second half.  Be interesting to see how the national championship committee scores that as time goes on.

I feel like I'm forgetting something.  Oh yeah...

Furious Football Fever

I didn't make it to the Furman home game this week.  I had a sore throat and fever and didn't sleep well.  But I was able to monitor via internet as Furman consistently turned over and turned away the Samford Bulldogs.  While they did allow over 500 yards of offense, the Paladins got the job done 35-17.  And they thereby kept alive the slight chance of a conference championship and playoff berth. Go Paladins!

But my illness did grant me the opportunity to grogily view the "Greatest Thursday in College Football History-y-y-y!!!". (If anyone could fix the exact date ESPN ceased being a sports network and became and endless, inane hype machine, please let me know.)  And the night went swimmingly from my perspective.

1) Baylor looks to be a legitimate contender in the Big 12.
They dominated inferior competition, as great teams should, leading up to the match up with a quality Oklahoma Sooners team.  And then they dominated the game.

2) Oregon lost. 
Don't get me wrong, I like the Ducks.  And had they made it to the national title game, I'd have rooting for them.  But an Oregon victory would have all but guaranteed a PAC 12 championship, meaning the only spots for Oregon in the bowl season would have been Rose Bowl or National Championship Game.

But a non-PAC 12 champion Duck team and Big 12 champion Baylor Bears team can meet in the Fiesta Bowl.  That doesn't mean they will.  Odds are against it.  The Fiesta Bowl would get a champion Baylor team for sure.  But then they choose last.  And if the current Alabama-Florida State national championship tilt holds up, the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl would each get two selections before the fiesta Bowl picked an at large team.

But I want to see the two best offenses in college football on the same field.  I want to see a points total that will exceed most of the upcoming college basketball games.  And I want to see the Bears' "Brass" helmets

on the same field with the Ducks' "Sonic Boom" helmets

and "Lightning" uniforms.

That is what I want.  Odds are against getting that match up.  Odds are against them wearing those helmets and uniforms.  And considering the Oregon-Auburn match up from a few years ago, odds are very much against two teams with long layoffs putting up those kinds of points.

But a man can dream.