NCAA Playoff Picture

Anyone upset over the final NCAA Football rankings. Anyone have any heartburn over who was selected to be in the college bowl playoff for the National Championship? For me, it’s ‘no’ and ‘no’. During the season I thought the Baylor Bears suffered from a lack of respect but if they had gone 2-0 against the Oklahoma Sooners instead of the other way around they could easily be in the playoff. But, they didn’t and Oklahoma clawed their way back to the top of the Big 12 and back into the top 4 by virtue those wins against Baylor and extremely close wins down the stretch after a puzzling loss to Kansas State. The Sooners beat Iowa State by 1, Baylor by 3, TCU by 4 and Baylor by 7 in overtime. The only “easy’’ win was against Oklahoma State. The question begs to be asked, “Is Oklahoma really all that good or is the Big 12 a strong conference now?” First off, I know there are only 10 teams in the Big 12 but, get this, 6 of the 10 have winning records overall and in conference play. The knock on the Big 12 has been that they play poor defense and judging by the scores I saw this season, I still think defense is an unpleasant after-thought. It looked like Oklahoma was going to set a new standard of defense in the conference but it was just heartburn and it quickly dissipated. Aside from an inexplicable loss to Kansas State Oklahoma would be a no-brainer to be in the top 4. As it is, you have three 13-0 teams at the top and the only 21-1 team is the 4th. You have 4 conferences represented LSU (SEC), Ohio St (Big 10), Clemson (ACC) and Oklahoma (Big 12). The other three 12-1 schools in the top 20 are all not in a power 5 conference. You’ve got Memphis (AAC), Boise State (MWC) and Appalachian State (SBC). Unless they get wins over Power 5 teams they will never crack the top ten. Fair or unfair, that’s just the way it is.

So, I am happy with the Final Four of college football particularly because I am an Oklahoma fan but, the same ole bump in the road will be the end of the Sooners run when they have to play LSU in The Peach Bowl. LSU knocked former #4 Georgia out of the playoff with a 27 point win in the SEC Championship game. Georgia has a good ball club but, they were no match for the Bayou Bengals last weekend. I just don’t have any faith in the Sooner’s defense to stop the best offense LSU has had since Nick Saban won a National Championship with LSU way back in 2003. Current Tigers head coach Ed Orgeron hired current OC Steve Emsminger last year and the LSU offense has become a 21st century offense with QB Joe Burrow leading the way. The Sooners have little to no chance against Ensminger’s offense. Even the wise guys opened their book on the game with LSU as nearly a double digit favorite. Clemson is a 2.5 point favorite over Ohio State. It was funny because it seemed that Ohio State and Clemson were lobbying not to play LSU. I honestly think that the National Championship will be between LSU and Clemson and that game will be a toss-up in my mind.

The only other question in my mind is, will Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney be interested in coaching the Dallas Cowboys in 2020? You know, assuming Jason Garrett doesn’t lead the Cowboys to a Super Bowl title this season. Yeah right, like THAT is going to happen.

Clemson, Ohio State, and LSU were no brainers but the fourth spot was back and forth. I wanted Baylor to beat OU just to beat OU but I wanted OU, in the CFP, because they would be nationally and in prime time embarrassed and forever be the NCAA equivalent of the 0-4 Buffalo Bills. One and done x 4 works for me. I wish that the Alamo Bowl had selected UT and A&M. Who cares about Utah, is that in Canada? I agree and think it will be Clemson vs LSU.

As long as Jerry is in charge, well, that says it all.

Clemson, Ohio State, and LSU were no brainers but the fourth spot was back and forth. I wanted Baylor to beat OU just to beat OU but I wanted OU, in the CFP, because they would be nationally and in prime time embarrassed and forever be the NCAA equivalent of the 0-4 Buffalo Bills. One and done x 4 works for me. I wish that the Alamo Bowl had selected UT and A&M. Who cares about Utah, is that in Canada? I agree and think it will be Clemson vs LSU.

 

As long as Jerry is in charge, well, that says it all.

Another Jerry hater? Oh well.