There she is. After all the talk and consternation, we have the 12 teams.
Really the only drama in regards to teams being in or out coming into Sunday was between SMU and Alabama, but in the end, the committee thought SMU kept the ACC Championship Game close enough to get the final at-large spot over 9-3 Alabama. I think that was the right call, but I still won’t believe the Mustangs are in over the Crimson Tide until I see them on the field in Happy Valley.
With that, just some thoughts on the bracket as a whole:
– The 5 and 6 seeds were given a gift from Heaven. Penn State lost the Big Ten Championship Game and was rewarded with the best draw in the whole thing while Oregon won and got a much worse situation. We have to fix this.
– There’s no justification for having either Penn State or Texas ahead of Tennessee. The best win between those two teams is PSU beating Illinois at home. The 5-9 seeds should have been, in order, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, Texas, Penn State.
– This goes back to the first point, but Boise State and Arizona State having two of the four byes is just asinine. Give the conference champions automatic berths, but the byes should be given to the four best teams.
– Notre Dame is going to throttle Indiana.
– Clemson might fuck around and end up in the semifinals despite being a thoroughly average football team.
Now we go. Even with its flaws, I’m fired up to watch this College Football Playoff. Merry Christmas.
