Obviously the big news of the day is that the College Football Playoff bracket was announced yesterday. Not everyone in college football got in. Some took that better than others.
To be clear, of the trio of Miami, Notre Dame and Alabama I thought Notre Dame had perhaps the best case to get in. They would probably be favored on a neutral field over the other two, and have played the best football in recent weeks, albeit against a schedule sponsored by Charmin.
it’s interesting to me that Notre Dame’s principled stance against the college football playoff only emerged after the Irish were left out of it. That’s how you can tell the difference between a genuine stance and a juvenile temper tantrum. This is the latter rather than the former.
Do you remember when Georgia buzzed through the SEC in 2023, finishing 12-0, then lost to Bama in the SEC Championship Game and got left out of the playoff? Remember how the Bulldogs had a hissy fit and took their ball and went home? Of course not, because Kirby Smart’s team reacted to the snub by beating Florida State so badly it appears to have permanently broken the Seminole football program. I guess we’re just built different, bro.
Heck, even Vanderbilt is built different than that, as Clark Les made clear in talking about his team’s matchup with Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl.
“We love playing football here,” Lea said. “To realize that we get a chance to close out a special season, a special group of players on a great bowl stage in a great city against a really, really tough opponent, as a football fan, as a football coach, as a football person, it’s hard not to get excited about that.”
Maybe it’s harder than you think, Coach.
Stop. Just stop, Roll Bama Roll. You had me at “Alabama was humiliated.” This loss seems to have thoroughly shaken the Crimson Tide faithful, who were rumbly after the loss to Oklahoma in which a special teams play made the difference for the other team. They were grumbly after another uninspiring Ty Simpson performance in the Iron Bowl. But getting physically dominated up front in a game which many in Gumplandia couldn’t conceive of losing is going to make for a great Finebaum show today. Lose to Oklahoma again in the first round of the playoffs and Kalen DeBoer could find himself inching ever so slightly into the hot seat in Tuscaloosa.
We’ll be back later to talk more playoff miscellany and Bulldog news. Until then…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!