On football: College Football Playoff committee has its work cut out for it
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Version 0 of 1. WACO, Tex. — Confusion failed to ebb on college football’s final major Saturday. It even managed to intensify. All four hotly debated teams won, and the one most in question, Ohio State, won with a very loud romp. That left the College Football Playoff selection committee with a considerable puzzle. That 12-member committee, meeting up Interstate 35 in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, will unveil the participants for the sport’s first four-team playoff at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. The foursome figures to include Alabama (12-1), after its 42-13 win over No. 16 Missouri in the Southeastern Conference Championship Game, and Oregon (12-1), after its 51-13 win over No. 7 Arizona on Friday night in the Pacific-12 Championship Game. From there, the committee would choose two teams from among TCU (11-1), Florida State (13-0), Ohio State (12-1) and Baylor (11-1), the teams that held Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 last week in the penultimate rankings. The loudest news from that group came from Indianapolis where Ohio State, supposedly inconvenienced because of the season-ending injury to quarterback J.T. Barrett on Nov. 29, annihilated No. 14 Wisconsin 59-0 in a Big Ten Championship Game during which Cardale Jones went from third-string question mark to game Most Valuable Player. While Baylor and TCU play in a conference (the Big 12) which holds no championship game, each controlled its game as Baylor beat No. 9 Kansas State 38-27 after TCU beat unranked and 2-10 Iowa State 55-3 midday. Baylor and TCU technically shared the conference title, but because Baylor defeated TCU 61-58 on Oct. 11, Baylor Coach Art Briles told the festive mob that had bled onto the field in yellow-and-green: “There’s one true champion! And it’s the Baylor Bears! It’s the Baylor Bears! It’s the Baylor Bears!” That left the enduring question of defending national champion Florida State, which edged No. 11 Georgia Tech, 37-35, in the ACC championship game in Charlotte to add to the Seminoles’ litany of escapes. Florida State disentangled itself from a 28-28 third-quarter tie for a late 37-28 lead and withstood the 331 rushing yards that gushed from Georgia Tech’s unique triple-option offense. Asked if he thought Florida State belongs in the playoff, Coach Jimbo Fisher told reporters, “There ain’t no decision to be made; the decision just got made.” Asked if he thought Ohio State belongs in the playoff, Coach Urban Meyer told reporters, “I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re one of the top four teams in America.” Asked if he thought TCU belongs in the playoff, Coach Gary Patterson said, “Yes. Why wouldn’t I think that?” Asked if he thought Baylor belongs in the playoff, Briles said, “I do.” Briles then implored the selection committee’s former coaches such as former Nebraska honcho Tom Osborne to remove the names of the schools and observe the records only, of which Briles said, “If Nebraska had our resume, would you have them in the final four?” Briles suspected yes. Asked for his playoff view, Baylor senior quarterback Bryce Petty said, “That question is really above my pay grade. All I’m not paid to do is play.” As a “not-paid” player who gashed Kansas State with a masterful 34-for-40 passing for 412 yards, Petty soon added, “I’d be totally lying to you if I told you I wasn’t intrigued with what they’re (committee) going to say.” For the week leading up to the final announcement, the debates concerned whom to choose between TCU and Baylor; how much Florida State’s status as the lone unbeaten team among 128 in the top division overrode impressions of its struggles in victory; and whether Ohio State would make a viable playoff team absent Barrett, who broke his ankle on the first play of the fourth quarter two Saturdays ago against Michigan. That last question disintegrated quickly. After two minutes of play at Indianapolis, Jones, who entered the game with 10 completions in 17 attempts in mop-up duty through the season, already had thrown a 39-yard touchdown pass to Devin Smith. That helped loosen up things for running back Ezekiel Elliott, who scored on an 81-yard touchdown run later in the first quarter. By halftime, Ohio State led 38-0. By the end, Elliott had 220 rushing yards on 20 carries, Jones had 257 passing yards on an efficient 12-for-17 with zero interceptions, and Ohio State had 558 total yards to Wisconsin’s 258. The committee had further confusion. |