Remember the frustration and all the controversies the BCS brought us with split national championships, undefeated teams left out of the title games (Auburn, Utah, Boise State) among many other things.
Well, thankfully that was replaced with the College Football Playoff, where the top four teams play in two semifinal games, with the winners advancing to the College Football Playoff National Championship. The semifinal games rotate annually among the Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.
But if you’re like me and you feel the College Football Playoff should be expanded to eight teams or go the FCS Playoff route (pictured below), then you need plenty of controversy to help overthrow the current system in place. This of course was one of the main reason which lead to the BCS’ death sentence in 2013.
So with that, here is your rooting guide to for maximum College Football Playoff controversy.
Maximum Chaos
At this point in the season, we know that No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Ohio State are pretty much locks for the CFP by the selection committee. However, No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Washington aren’t locks by any means.
Of those four teams, Alabama is the only one that is still undefeated. If they were to lose to No. 15 Florida in the SEC Championship on Saturday, the committee likely won’t have them fall very far, if at all, unless of course it’s a major blowout for the Gators.
No. 2 Ohio State doesn’t even play this week since they finished second in the East Division. No. 7 Penn State defeated the Buckeyes earlier this year which gave them the tiebreaker to advance to Saturday’s Big Ten Championship game against No.6 Wisconsin.
This is where it gets fun.
No matter who wins on Saturday night between No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Penn State, there is going to be some drama. If the Nittany Lions win, they’ll not only have won the conference title, but also the Big Ten East division — something that Ohio State couldn’t do.
There is no doubt that the best conference this season is the Big Ten with four teams currently ranked in the top 7. Can you imagine how chaotic it will be if the Nittany Lions win and are still left out of the playoffs in favor of Ohio State.
Now if No. 6 Wisconsin were to win — marking its third top 10 win of the season — that would help Ohio State a bit because the Buckeyes beat the Badgers in overtime earlier this year. But this still leaves the selection committee in the awkward position of leaving out the Big Ten conference champion for another team (Ohio State) that didn’t even make it to the conference championship game. Again, there aren’t any good solutions for the committee with this one which should put on a smile on your face if you love chaos. But for the ultimate chaos, football fans everywhere should be rooting a little bit more for Penn State.
Of all the championship games, No. 4 Washington by far has the toughest matchup against No. 8 Colorado. Because the Huskies played one of the worst non-conference schedules this year, they are barely hanging onto that fourth spot.
For maximum chaos, the more two-loss teams the better as the committee will somehow have to find a way to separate the teams and thus putting conferences against each other in an even more dramatic way. And with only four spots in the college football playoff, one of the Power 5 conferences (SEC, ACC, Pac-12, Big-12, Big Ten) is already left out. And if Washington loses you can bet either Michigan or the Big Ten champ will move in to take that spot to give the Big Ten two teams in the CFB Playoff.
I can only imagine the outrage we would see from the Pac-12 and Big-12 conferences if this were to happen. Both of those conferences have already been left out before with the other conferences getting in every time the past two years.
Add in the possibility that No. 3 Clemson could get upset as well to No. 23 Virginia Tech on Saturday and there is a case that the Big Ten could send a record three teams into the CFP.
And if you thought the outrage over Donald Trump winning the Presidential election was bad, imagine what an all SEC-Big Tenn CFP affair would do to the college football world.
And don’t forget about No. 9 Oklahoma. The Sooners are one of the hottest teams in college football right now and have two legitimate Heisman Trophy contenders. If they can get past Oklahoma State and pick up a great Top 10 win, they be one of a handful of two-loss teams that deserve getting in.
So sit back, grab some popcorn and cheer on Oklahoma, Florida, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Colorado in what would be one of the craziest weekends in all of college football.
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