College Football Weekend Recap: Locking in the Playoffs

The conferences have had their title bouts and the champions have taken their place at the top of college football. The playoff field has also been decided, narrowing down all of college football to four teams: The Clemson Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide. So how did we get these four?

Trying To Make Sense Of The Committee’s Picks

The top three teams are all what we expected, each winning their conference after only sustaining one loss throughout the season. Georgia is by far the purest here, as they are the one team with a conference title that has lost to a ranked team, losing to the then ranked No. 10 Auburn Tigers. Both the Sooners and Clemson have put their early season stumbles in close games far behind them.

The Bulldogs came back to win 28-7 in the SEC title, while Clemson rolled Miami 38-3 for the ACC and Oklahoma manhandled TCU 41-17 to control the Big 12. But how did an Alabama team that failed to play last weekend sneak in?

As we learned last season, when the Ohio State Buckeyes leapfrogged the Big Ten champion Penn State squad that had given them their only loss, the conference title is not everything.  A massive role in making or breaking your college football season is not only who you lose to, but how you lose. The problem here is that even with the one loss on the record, Alabama’s strength of schedule is only ranked 34th to the Buckeyes 13th, according to ESPN’s rankings.

The reason Ohio State takes home the Big Ten title and not a playoff berth is the same reason people love and hate college football. Every single game matters.

For better or worse, the biggest reason that the committee bounced Ohio State was for a horrific showing against Iowa in a 55-24 road loss. This is why college football is so entertaining, because every game truly does matter, and no team can mail in a game. But it is also what makes it maddening, as the Buckeyes went on to win big against Michigan, Michigan State and surge past Wisconsin for the Big Ten, all of which is for naught because of the second loss.

It was the right call because it was the consistent one. Every season, the playoffs are decided because of the body of work over an entire season, not a month or a conference title.

Chain Gang

The best turnover receives the weekly Turnover Chain. This week it goes to the UCF Knights’ cornerback Tre Neal, who had the interception in double overtime to pull the Knights to 12-0 after going 0-11 last season, winning the AAC Championship game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0YX2lam6eo

Heisman Highlight

Baker Mayfield posted 243 yards and four touchdowns in the Big 12 Championship, cementing his push for the Heisman trophy despite entering the season as an underdog in a stacked running back class. The throw of the day against TCU was this 52-yard dime to Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.

Game Of The Week

This one is a little out of left field, but the Conference USA Championship game between the Florida Atlantic Owls beating the North Texas Mean Greens 41-17. It was a 10-win season for first-year head coach Lane Kiffin after leaving his offensive coordinator job at Alabama.

It was a Kiffin game in every sense, loaded with trick plays and offensive misdirection. Four players recorded a pass, three of them wide receivers. The game also had an unusual amount of star power for a Conference USA game, with quarterback prospect Mason Fine grasping the eye of college football fans around the country by putting up a 3,749-yard passing season.

Fine had 356 passing yards and two total touchdowns, while former quarterback and star of the Netflix show “Last Chance U” John Franklin III had 146 total yards and two total scores. Franklin took snaps at wide receiver and running back, while passing for another score. After a wild game with plenty of offensive sparks, the Owls took the crown.

Play Of The Weekend

Despite getting worked by the Sooners, the TCU Horned Frogs kept the game close in the opening half. The play of the weekend was by TCU wide receiver John Diarse, who made a fantastic one-handed catch against great coverage to come within one possession.

 


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