INDIANAPOLIS – The whole of the Big Ten Championship game never was going to be majestic, not unless one’s idea of beauty includes 2-yard-runs ceased by vicious hits and quarterbacks tumbling to the turf when a sack was inevitable. Michigan’s final artistic statement regarding its suitability for an invitation to the College Football Playoff was presented a week earlier, in The Game. Its 26-0 dismissal of Iowa to complete an undefeated regular season figured to be, and was, perfunctory.
At the ACC Championship in Charlotte, Florida State conjured every illusion David Copperfield has conceived – and some he’d never imagined – to disguise the absence of its first- and second-string quarterbacks in closing a regular season that, despite the margin and method of its 16-6 victory over Louisville, still could be described as perfect.
Michigan and Florida State both did what customarily has been necessary to secure a position in the CFP, which is to win every single game in an acknowledged power conference. In the prior nine editions of this event, no team that met that standard was excluded by the committee that selects the teams.
So with those two having matched Pac-12 champion Washington in the loss column, the only real question is which of the remaining candidates, all stuck with one or more defeats, is most deserving to join them in the semifinals on New Year’s Day.
Given their resounding victory over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship, and their win earlier this season over Alabama, the obvious choice is the Texas Longhorns.
It ought to be UW as the No. 1 seed, followed by UM, FSU and UT.
Which means …
Yes, I know …
No SEC teams.
Is it even legal to conduct a major college football championship tournament without someone from the SEC? I’m not a lawyer, so I can’t be certain.
I’ve written about sports long enough, though, to understand so long as college football decides its champion in this manner – and praise be that it no longer will after this season is over – the results of the games ought to be the only factor in the process of deciding the participants.
The SEC long has been proclaimed the best of the college football conferences, but Georgia’s loss to Alabama in Saturday’s title game left the league with no undefeated teams in a season with more than the usual complement nationally – and with a champion whose journey from September to December frequently has been underwhelming.
How can anyone make a definitive case that Georgia is deserving of a playoff position when every opportunity the Bulldogs had to assure they would be included – and installed as the No. 1 seed, and placed in New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl for a genuine bon temps – was trampled by a zealous Alabama drive?
Despite a miserable first three quarters by anyone’s standards, and disastrous by the measure of a team that had not lost in nearly two years, the Bulldogs were down by a mere field goal with 10 minutes left in the SEC Championship game after Carson Beck’s 1-yard touchdown sneak. A playoff team, at that point, would have emphasized its worth by getting a stop and the generating the necessary score to either tie the game or take the lead. UGA allowed Alabama to advance 75 yards in nine plays and tighten its grip on the game with Rydell Williams’ 1-yard touchdown run.
There was another chance for Georgia to assure its place after the Bulldogs scored with just under 3 minutes left, but Alabama QB Jalen Milroe dashed 30 yards on the first play of the series, then rang up another first down with a 9-yard run.
So Alabama, at least, must have constructed its definitive case with that performance against the former No. 1 team? Well, sure, if we’re to judge the competitors on a single weekend. That never was the idea, though.
The Crimson Tide’s full-season resume is undermined by its preposterous performance at Auburn, needing to rely on the Tigers’ abundant incompetence in order to convert a fourth-and-goal miracle from the 31-yard-line to escape the Iron Bowl with a victory. Auburn was a 6-5 team at the time that play began, then left the stadium at .500.
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That was one of three Tide victories over unranked opponents by less than a touchdown. One of the nation’s four “best teams” only beat Texas A&M, Arkansas and Auburn – one of those teams paid $75 million to get rid of its coach, and another was so desperate it hired Bobby Petrino as its next OC – by an average of 4.3 points.
There also is the not-so-small matter of Alabama’s head-to-head loss to one of the other logical contenders for a place in the CFP field: Texas, which visited Bryant-Denny Stadium in September and traveled home with a 10-point victory over the Crimson Tide to its credit.
It’s maybe a challenge to conceive of a College Football Playoff event without a representative from the SEC, but this may be the year. The league has done little on the football field to verify its assumed superiority over other conferences. In non-league competition against opponents from the other Power 5s, the league went 7-9. The only league that did worse was the Big Ten, at 5-8.
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The ACC, where Florida State reigns, was one of only two leagues that compiled a winning mark. And Florida State was directly responsible for two of those SEC defeats, taking out LSU and Florida, the latter by 9 points even after losing starting quarterback Jordan Travis to injury Second-stringer Tate Rodemaker did not overwhelm in that game, but he did put up 24 points against an SEC defense, something Alabama failed twice to achieve despite playing its entire season with its starter in place. Rodemaker figures to be available when the Seminoles play their next game in a month.
We warned you a couple weeks back that Travis' injury would provide the CFP committee the excuse to exclude Florida State. But the Seminoles can say what the Dawgs and Tide cannot, at least not within this autumn: They won every game they played.
If that is not enough to qualify FSU for the CFP, this year’s edition should be considered DOA.
