The first round of the College Football Playoff ended, as expected, with a bit of a whimper. James Madison got crushed by the Oregon Ducks in a game that was over long before the clock hit zero. That game was only one of four, and we learned a little something from all of them. In no particular order, here is my non-exhaustive list of the lessons we can take from these games both for the quarterfinals, and for the College Football Playoff in general.
Lesson #1: Nick Saban was right, insofar as it matters. The Armani Bear raised some eyebrows earlier this week when he remarked that the G5 teams should really be part of a separate playoff. Frankly, Tulane and James Madison didn’t do much to prove they belonged in this playoff, each getting shellacked by four-plus touchdowns.
If the objective is to get the twelve best football teams in the nation matched up on the field then having teams from the American Conference and Sun Belt involved isn’t going to be consistent with that. But what’s at stake here isn’t precisely that. The playoff committee has committed to trotting out the sacrificial 12-1 lambs of the land to prevent the G5 from having an argument that they shouldn’t have been left out that one year when perhaps a team from the Sun Belt might have caught somebody napping for a round one win.
Eventually that is probably going to happen. When it does it will be a bonanza for the committee. And the trade off is that we don’t get to see the fourth best team from the Big Ten or the SEC, who wasn’t going to win it all anyway. Honestly I think I’m fine with that.
Lesson #2: The committee was probably right to leave Notre Dame out. Fighting Irish fans were mad watching Alabama fall behind in the first half against Oklahoma on Friday. They were furious watching Miami and Texas A&M set the game of football back four decades on Saturday. But the truth is head-to-head regular season matchups have to matter for the integrity of the playoff process, and the Irish lost to both of those teams playing crappy football at Kyle Field. If you start having late season beauty contests the whole process probably loses what little integrity it has left. Miami may not have played pretty, but they were the last team in and won in a hostile environment.
To me that’s at least enough to say they belonged in.
Lesson #3: Ole Miss won’t be an easy out. The Rebels looked just about as good against Tulane in the playoff as they had in the regular season. And it was clear that Ole Miss fans are behind this team and think it can go deep in the playoffs. Expect a lot of baby blue in New Orleans on New Years Day, and an Ole Miss team that will be looking to leave it all on the field against the Dawgs.
Lesson #4: Oregon is gettable. The Ducks took their eye off the ball a little late in their win over James Madison, and they never were in serious danger. But the Fightin’ Lannings gave up over 500 yards of offense to the champions of the American Conference. Their linebackers looked less athletic in coverage than they’ll need to be against the likes of Indiana or Texas Tech.
Lesson #5: Carson Beck is still Carson Beck, and that may be a problem for Mario Cristobal. Beck was 14 of 20 passing for 103 yards against the Aggies and looked about as inaccurate on downfield throws as I remembered from my nightmares. However a Hurricane defense that sacked Marcel Reed seven times and created three turnovers made up for it. I don’t think the Hurricanes can count on that for three more games.
Lesson #6: The Georgia defense may be that good. I really thought that with two weeks to game plan Brent Venables would be able to shut down the Alabama offense. At first it looked like he just might, but the Tide and OC Ryan Grubb adjusted well and ended up putting up 34 points, 27 more than they’ll had 13 days earlier against the Red and Black. Perhaps more importantly Georgia just looked way more physical than the Sooners. That bodes fairly well for the coming weeks I think. While there are no guarantees, I like the fact that this Bulldog team lines up and hits as hard as anyone in America. That’s something you just can’t develop or teach this late in the season if your team hasn’t already developed it. Until later…
Go ‘Dawgs!!!
