Who makes playoff if there is chaos?
Each week during the season, the USA TODAY Sports college staff will provide their answers to on an intriguing question from college football.
The picture for the College Football Playoff appears to be clearing up. If, as expected, both Alabama and Clemson win their conference title games, there would be one spot left for either Oklahoma or Ohio State. But who should get in if both the Sooners and Buckeyes lost in their conference title games? Jace Evans
If chaos strikes, resulting in a twoloss team snagging the final playoff bid, the squad that should get it is Georgia – assuming the Bulldogs don’t get completely blown off the field in their own backyard. While this might seem like the simple answer given Georgia is currently No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings, it’s hard to see how the Bulldogs wouldn’t get in given their resume. In this scenario their only losses would be to the committee’s No. 1 team at a neutral site and the No. 10 team in LSU, which was one of the wildest games of all time away from finishing 10-2. With no other conference champions worthy, a Georgia team that proves once again it could hang with Alabama should get the nod over a team that in this case would have lost to a solid but unspectacular Texas squad twice (Oklahoma) and a team that was inconsistent for the second half of the year and then lost the Big Ten championship to Northwestern (Ohio State). As for Michigan, being the team that got humiliated by the team that then lost the conference championship probably wouldn’t look too good in the eyes of the committee.
Paul Myerberg
Depending on the nature of the SEC championship game, Georgia is prepped to slide in as No. 4 despite having two losses and no conference championship. UCF may remain unbeaten against Memphis, but how would the committee view the Knights’ candidacy and the season-ending injury to McKenzie Milton? Not well. Georgia, Ohio State and Oklahoma would each have two losses, but the committee’s perception of the SEC and the Bulldogs’ strong resume of wins and losses would give them the edge over any other reasonable contender for the final spot in the Playoff field. But that would lead to another issue: No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Georgia meeting for the second game in a row. The committee wouldn’t have another option should the Bulldogs hang tight with an Alabama team that has walloped every opponent on its schedule.
George Schroeder
The popular notion might be to put Georgia into the No. 4 slot (or rather leave the Bulldogs there), regardless of a loss to Alabama. But that’s the wrong move in this chaotic instance. No reason to match those teams up again, right after we’ve seen the game played.
Given the complete lack of any reason to reward a two-loss Michigan team that was exposed last week – and given the losses in this scenario by Oklahoma and Ohio State – it’s time to put together a matchup between last year’s two defending national champions.
If UCF beats Memphis to win the American Athletic Conference championship – doing it without quarterback McKenzie Milton, who suffered that horrific knee injury last week – then given all of the chaos, it’s time to give the Group of Five its shot.
The Knights wanted Alabama … and they’d get ‘em as the No. 4 seed. Might not be pretty – but in that case, which other candidate for No. 4 would you pick to play with Alabama? And the buildup would be delicious.
Erick Smith
So in this scenario you would have three championship from the Power Five conferences with at least three losses. You’d have Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame in as unbeatens.
Georgia would have started the week as the highest-ranked of the potential four at-large teams with two losses with Oklahoma, Ohio State and Michigan also in the mix. And then there’s Central Florida. It’s possible the Knights will run their win streak to 25 games against Memphis.
There’s not a great answer. Georgia getting in would result in a replay the SEC championship game. What if they are blown out? Oklahoma, Ohio State and Michigan would all be off losses. The Wolverines would have been blown out by 23 the last time they were on the field. UCF is without its starting quarterback so they would have to look super impressive to even consider inclusion.
Here’s an idea. Could we just give Alabama a bye to final? That’s clearly the best way to go, especially since whichever team makes it is not going to threaten the Tide. However should Oklahoma lose a close game to Texas, who would want to deny us the opportunity to see Kyler Murray face off against Tua Tagovailoa?