Does college football playoff need fixed?
As is the case every year at this time, college football experts and fans alike question whether the College Football Playoff (CFP) needs to be adjusted or fixed.
Is it good with just four teams, or should it go to six or eight teams?
So many feel that teams need to be added, and I see both sides of the debate.
Four teams give the playoff an elite feel, but is it really fair that at least one Power Five (P5) conference champion is always left out? This year, both the Big Ten and Pac-12 champions were left out because of Notre Dame, an independent, has been included.
Should only conference champions be eligible for inclusion if the playoff stays at four teams?
This would truly make the conference title more important, and look no further than the last three years where the Big Ten champion (Penn State in 2016 and Ohio State in 2017 and this year) has been left out.
What will it take for a Group of Five (G5) conference champion, like the University of Central Florida (UCF), to make the playoff?
What is most confusing is how the CFP committee never follows the same criteria each year. On its web site at https://collegefootballplayoff.com/index.aspx, it gives different reasons.
Do they want the best teams or the teams that are most rewarding? There has to be a balance, but it seems the formula changes each week.
I think the committee has picked the right four teams with Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma, but I feel something needs changed.
So yes, the CFP needs fixed, but does it get fixed by adding more teams, by using a set formula, or by adjusting the current recipe?
Crazy stat of the week
People will say that Georgia鈥檚 call for a fourth down fake late in the game may have cost them against Alabama in the SEC title game Saturday.
Moreso, I think we should look deeper at Georgia not being able to seal the deal.
Let鈥檚 dive deeper into the last two teams Alabama and Georgia played.
When you look at the National Championship game earlier this year and Saturday鈥檚 game, there were a combined 290 snaps.
Of those 290 snaps, Alabama led for a total of nine snaps. Nine.
The two games saw 120 minutes of action plus overtime in the National Championship game in January, and Alabama led for a total of one minute and four seconds.
If Georgia makes more one play in each game, it is the defending national champions and the two-time defending SEC champions, not to mention it would be looked at as the team to finally end Alabama鈥檚 dynasty.
But instead, the Tide continues to roll.
PSU, WVU, Pitt bowl games
There weren鈥檛 any surprises with the local three teams as the bowl game announcements trickled out Sunday.
West Virginia is the first of the three local teams to play as the Mountaineers face Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Friday, Dec. 28. Look for a shootout in the 5:15 pm contest.
Pitt plays Stanford in the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Tex., on New Year鈥檚 Eve. The game starts at 2 p.m. and a win would catapult Pitt into its offseason with eight wins.
Penn State fell short in its bid for a third-straight New Year鈥檚 Six (NY6) bowl game, but the Nittany Lions secured a berth in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 1. The Nittany Lions, who only start four seniors, will look to win 10 games for the third straight year, and it would be a first since the 1980-82 seasons.
College football鈥檚 popularity
If anyone wonders why college football is considered more important than college basketball, not only is it more of a cash cow, but it also brings in much higher ratings.
The Maui Invitational championship game between Duke and Gonzaga had 2.3 million people watch. The game may go down as one of the best basketball contests of the year, but the 5 pm start time the day before Thanksgiving hurt the rating.
However, the game with two of the Final Four favorites could have aired at prime time any night and wouldn鈥檛 have come close to the Ohio State versus Michigan football game on Nov. 24.
It was the most-ever watched college football game that aired on Fox with 5.685 million people tuning in. Not only that, but the fourth quarter and overtime of Ohio State鈥檚 win over Maryland the prior week had nine million viewers.
Even the Champions Classic basketball game between Duke and Kentucky, arguably the two most popular and two most despised college hoop programs, to start the year only registered a 2.85 million viewers.
Yep, football has been, and will continue to be, the king of the NCAA.
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