CLIFTON PARK, NY – When looking at the field of four in this year’s College Football Playoff, you can comfortably
say that the selection committee got the top 4 teams right.
Well, for the most part.
It’s certainly not like last year, when you could have easily made the case for TCU or Baylor. This year however, most agreed that Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma deserved to be in the playoff.
But here’s the thing, I don’t think it should have been such an easy decision.
There’s no problem with Clemson, Alabama and Michigan State in the field. The team that comes into question is Oklahoma, a team that lost to a five-win Texas squad in October.
For me, it came down to the Sooners and previously undefeated Iowa.
When you compare the two team’s resumes, the obvious difference is the Sooners’ loss to Texas and Iowa’s three-point loss to Michigan State over the weekend.
Not to mention Iowa lost its top running back Jordan Canzeri in the first quarter Saturday, and for the Hawkeyes to lose their top back as a run-first team it’s a big loss. Yet they only lost by three points in a game that SEC Network’s Paul Finebaum said the Hawkeyes had “no chance” of winning.
The Sooners’ only credible wins were against Tennessee and Oklahoma State.
Sure they beat Baylor and TCU, but the Sooners’ were facing each teams’ backup quarterback. And for a team like TCU or Baylor, when the backup or even third-string quarterback is in, it’s not too hard to beat them. And that same Texas squad took it to Baylor over the weekend.
While Iowa’s credible wins aren’t that much different, beating solid Northwestern and Wisconsin teams, the Big
Ten is easily the best conference this year. The Big Ten sports three teams int he top seven and five in the top 15 of the College Football Playoff rankings. That’s certainly worth something.
In the end, what probably separates Oklahoma and Iowa is the timing of their losses. The Sooners’ came in October while Iowa’s loss this past weekend.
Not to mention, Iowa was never a flashy team and lost style points to the average college football fan.
At the end of the day, the committee might have gotten it right by putting Oklahoma in the playoffs, but this is definitely worth the discussion. Especially considering it didn’t happen at all on Sunday.
