Did the CFP Committee Get It Right?
This is the first time in the CFP era that an undefeated Power 5 conference champion gets snubbed of a playoff spot.
There has been a yearly controversy for college football since the four-team playoff format started in 2014. This year's controversy might be the worst one yet. For those of you who aren’t familiar with what I am talking about, allow me to explain it to you. Between 1998 and 2013 the national championship game was in the BCS era. The two teams in the championship game were not selected by humans, but rather by a computer-generated system that picked the two best teams according to the data. So, there were always teams getting snubbed because there are over 100 teams, and at least up to 10 that deserved to be in it every year. In 2014, they changed it to the CFP, which stands for College Football Playoff. In this system, there are now four teams that are selected to play by a committee of “experts” in this field. Now I put experts in quotations because there are a lot of inconsistencies in the committee’s choices every year. Let’s go through some of their controversies through the years since 2014.
2014: Ohio State over Baylor
Of course, the first year of the inaugural CFP had to have some controversy. Many people believe it should've been 11-1 Baylor in the fourth spot over Ohio State who was 12-1 and just won their conference championship in dominating fashion vs Wisconsin. What screwed Baylor over was not having a conference championship like all the other Power 5 conferences, so Ohio State had one more win to their resume. I do believe if Baylor had a conference championship and won it, they would’ve been the fourth seed. Instead, it was Ohio State, who ended up winning the whole thing that season. So what we learned here from the committee is that they value conference championships the most, more specifically the Power 5 conferences. That’s important for later on.
2017: UCF Gets Snubbed
This is another one where a team should’ve been over the fourth seed, but the fourth seed ends up winning the whole thing. UCF went undefeated through the whole season and even won its conference championship but was still jumped over by 11-1 Alabama who didn’t win its conference. This sparked a lot of noise by not just UCF fans but college football fans as a whole. People even started claiming and crowning UCF as the rightful champs. So here, the committee shows they favor even one loss Power 5 teams over Group Of 5 champions.
2020: Ohio State Over Aggies
This was a weird season for obvious reasons. Covid prevented a lot of teams from playing a lot of their games. One team was Ohio State who only played six games and went 6-0. Even as an Ohio State fan, I think Texas A&M who went 8-1, should’ve been over the Buckeyes who only played six games. This decision was more because of the brand over getting the right team in, which the committee loves to do. However, Ohio State did put on a show and ended up dominating this game versus Clemson, but did get blown out in the championship game against one of the best Alabama teams ever.
Now let's talk about this one. This will be the first time in the CFP era that an undefeated Power 5 conference champion gets snubbed over any one-loss team. Florida State won the ACC championship vs Louisville to go 13-0 and got knocked out of the top four in favor of Alabama and Texas who are both 12-1 but won their conferences. Everyone who watches college football knows the reason for this choice, but it still doesn’t make it right. In game 11, FSU star QB Jordan Travis broke his leg in a gruesome way. That is the sole reason for FSU not making it, which has to be devastating for Travis to have that kind of burden on his shoulders knowing if that hadn’t happened to him, they’d be in the playoffs. College football has always shown a bias toward the SEC, and it feels like they just couldn’t leave out an SEC team. Texas beat Alabama in Alabama in week three, so Texas was rightfully ranked at three. While Alabama beat Georgia in the SEC championship, a one-loss Power 5 team should never be above an undefeated Power 5 team no matter what. Even with the argument of the starting QB not being able to play, it shouldn’t apply. In 2014 Ohio State snuck in with backup QB Cardale Jones and won the whole thing. The starting QB being out doesn't take away the fact that the team of FSU had a great season all around. They didn’t go undefeated only playing the QB all season.
The only good thing about this is that this is the last time we will see a four-team playoff format. Starting next season, the 12-team playoff format begins, so there should be no snubs with that many teams making it in. According to people on the committee, they will prioritize conference champions first and foremost, then go from there. This is also a good thing since the conferences will be expanding and adding more teams. So, every conference will be more competitive. With all that being said, the committee got it wrong but we won't have to worry about these kinds of controversies starting next season.