Atlanta 12/8/2014 3:38:19 PM
News / Sports

The College Football Playoff Is Set. Did the Committee Get It Right?

The first ever College Football Playoff was announced on Sunday December 7th. After the final week of college football took place, the committee had all of the criteria they needed to make their final decision. The two teams that did not move in the rankings were Alabama and Oregon.

Alabama defeated Missouri in the SEC Championship, which secured their number one ranking in the standings. On Firday night, Oregon sought out redemption against Arizona as they avenged the only loss on their record. Rounding out the final four was Florida State and Ohio State.

Before the final standings were released TCU was ranked at three and Florida State was at number four. TCU matched up against Iowa State and they defeated them without breaking a sweat. Due to the level of competition in their final game, TCU was unable to improve their resume and they fell out of the top four. Baylor or TCU was figured to make the final four. However due to Ohio State’s impressive win over Wisconsin, they managed to break into the playoff.

Ohio State making the playoff came as a bit of a surprise to everyone. ESPN analyst Joey Galloway felt the committee got it wrong, “I don’t understand how TCU was good enough to be the number three team in the nation, and then five days later they are not in the top four. It doesn’t make sense.” 

Ohio State faced an uphill battle of getting in to the playoff. The Buckeyes play in a fairly weak conference, and were being criticized for the weak schedule. They already had to play their conference championship without their backup quarterback J.T. Barrett. Braxton Miller was the team’s original starter, when an injury ended his year Barrett stepped up as the leader. Against Michigan, Barrett suffered an injury that ended his season. The next man up was Cardale Jones who made the most out of his opportunity with a 59-0 drubbing over Wisconsin. The result led to Ohio State cracking the top four and making the College Football Playoff. 

The matchups for the College Playoff are as follows:

Rose Bowl January 1st 5:00 (2) Oregon vs (3) Florida State

Sugar Bowl January 1st 8:30 (1) Alabama vs (4) Ohio State University

National Championship January 12th, 2015 7:30