College Football Playoff: Things To Watch
Four Major Points of Emphasis Heading into Selection Sunday
The College Football Playoff Committee released their penultimate official rankings this past Tuesday leading into Championship Weekend and there will be a lot of changes when the official brackets and rankings are released on Sunday afternoon.
As Full Press Media has documented these rankings are mad for TV and a new storyline and narrative comes up each week to hype the drama of these games. Not to mention the rankings show. But all eyes will be on Selection Sunday as it is every year. Everyone wants to see who gets the final slots.
With several teams not playing on Championship Weekend, and Notre Dame, Ohio State, Indiana, and Tennessee already into the playoff, many are wondering where Miami, Alabama, SMU, Clemson, and others will fall into the bracket. If they do. Not to mention the whole debate of SEC, ACC, Big 10, and Big 12. Plus who will get the bye.
Let’s Dive Into the What to Watch
First Year Champions Crowned
Let’s start by saying how about Army and Arizona State winning their conference titles. The Sun Devils were picked dead last in the preseason poll for the Big 12. They are now conference champions. What a job Kenny Dillingham has job with all the sanctions and freshman QB Sam Leavitt and running back Cam Skattebo. Just a remarkable job.
Jeff Monken has done a great job turning the Black Knights program at West Point around. Remember it is tough to coach at the academies. No NIL money since they are government workers. First year in a conference and a chance to go 13-1. Bryson Daily had a great year and could be up for the Heisman.
Shoutout to the Oregon Ducks and Dan Lanning. They go undefeated as preseason betting favorites to win the Big 10 and they do it. Dillon Gabriel is one of the best quarterbacks in the nation. Ducks will be the number one overall seed.
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Who’s Out
The biggest question for everyone watching is who is in and who is out. Well for the most part we know who is in.
Arizona State, Boise State (who won the Mountain West), Georgia (SEC Champion), Texas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana, and Notre Dame, and Penn State.
The talk heading into Championship Weekend, the chaos hypothesis is what happens if Clemson beat SMU in the ACC Championship Game. Well it happened. This would give the ACC a chance at two teams knocking Alabama at 9-3 out of the playoff potentially.
SMU’s only loss in conference will be in the ACC Title game. You have to keep them in potentially. What about Indiana?
There was talk about should Miami get in if Georgia lost. Well, Georgia won and Texas will be in. Issue is Miami played nobody and the way they lost to Georgia Tech and Syracuse, who at the time wasn’t blowing a 24 point lead is not a good look.
Also just because Penn State was gifted the B10 Championship Game do they deserve to be in the playoff. James Franklin and Penn State has not played anyone and has not won a big game. If they are anything they should have go on the road and win a game.
We see the losers of Championship Games in NCAA Basketball get penalized in seeding. If you have an expanded playoff losing a title game in College Football there are consequences.
There will be a lot of talk of Alabama and SMU. Remember the name on the helmet and the jersey matters.
Order Restored
The Georgia Bulldogs and Clemson Tigers kept order in the SEC and ACC. The two dominant teams of the past several years in those conferences raise the championship trophies.
Kirby Smart’s bunch have their third SEC Title and get a little revenge from a year ago. They were knocked out of the playoff losing this game.
Dabbo Sweeney doesn’t use the transfer portal and old fashion recruiting wins the day against the Mustangs who had 22 transfer players on their roster.
Defunct Pac-12 Wins Two Titles
Maybe the conference in the regular season was the Pac-12. And two teams from the now defunct Pac-12 have won titles. Arizona State and Oregon both in their first years as we mentioned.
Everyone made fun of Pac-12 After Dark, but those schools competed each week and showed why there is talent on the West Coast. Just because most people didn’t watch didn’t mean they did not have good programs.
Both Oregon and Arizona State proved the Pac-12, now defunct, was legit.
So many questions remain unanswered as we heading into Sunday Afternoon. The World will be watching the made for TV Playoff.