Originally published Sunday, December 7, 2014 at 4:00 PM
Ohio State edged TCU and Baylor for the No. 4 spot in the college football playoff for a matchup with top-seeded Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. No. 2 Oregon faces No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl in the other semifinal.
Seattle Times college football reporter
Weighing in late Saturday night on his football team's case to crash the college-football playoff over Texas Christian, Baylor coach Art Briles asked a sideline reporter, 'What country do we live in, America?'
Well, as a matter of fact we do. And Sunday, first the playoff committee honored a fundamental American concept - what have you done for me lately? - and penned Ohio State into the final slot in its playoff bracket.
That left not only Baylor, but TCU, without a dance partner for the playoff and made for a lot of backbiting and second-guessing in the Big 12, the only Power Five conference not represented.
Alabama, top-seeded, will play Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, matching Nick Saban's playbook against Urban Meyer's on Jan. 1. No. 2 Oregon gets third-seeded Florida State in the Rose Bowl the same day in a pairing of this year's presumed Heisman Trophy winner, Marcus Mariota, against last year's, Jameis Winston.
The day felt a little like Selection Sunday, without the capital letters, and without Seth Greenberg explaining why Virginia Tech should be in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Until now, we've never had such a playoff determination at the highest level of college football, and the committee immediately wrestled with another first: The BCS era had never seen a team make a closing argument like Ohio State did, winning 59-0 in the Big Ten title game against air - no wait, that was Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes thus edged in from their No. 5 perch the week before, while TCU dropped from No. 3 to sixth and Baylor couldn't make the telling dent it needed, even in beating No. 9 Kansas State. The Bears finished No. 5.
'It was really about Ohio State moving up,' committee chair Jeff Long told ESPN, saying the vote was decisive. 'It was really about Ohio State, not TCU.'
Once the Buckeyes rolled Wisconsin, the Big 12 never had a chance. Long conceded that the coaching representation on the committee holds considerable sway, and the Big Ten had it in spades - Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez, former Nebraska AD Tom Osborne, and even Michigan State grad Tyrone Willingham, the ex-Washington coach.
In waving through Ohio State, the committee was willing to forgive the worst loss of the three (to Virginia Tech). And Ohio State beat three teams in the top 45 of the Sagarin computer rankings, compared to TCU's five and Baylor's four.
Long was clearly reaching when he cited Ohio State's nine wins against bowl-eligible teams, as if that's a benchmark for excellence in a watered-down league.
Bob Bowlsby, the Big 12 commissioner, took shots from Briles for not declaring Baylor, winner over TCU, the conference champ, and Bowlsby harrumphed to ESPN that the vote meant his league was penalized for not having a title game, and 'it would have been nice to have been told that ahead of time.'
Briles' America was left to decide whether the committee had fulfilled a charge Long once defined: Picking the best four teams as opposed to the most deserving. That's an elusive concept, given that 'most deserving' seems to equate to resume, and what's more reflective than the resume?
Some playoff advocates no doubt feel empty, and if anything, the vote may speed the day when the format expands to eight.
After TCU fell from third to sixth - it apparently needed to score 200 points against Iowa State - it was impossible not to think back to the first six playoff releases starting Oct. 28.
They were beguiling, but only because of the new format. The committee warned that this wouldn't be like bberitaa.blogspot.com or coaches vote; each week would be a fresh look.
Those votes were thus sound and fury signifying nothing. They kept the hype machine humming, while affording neat cover for any change of direction by the committee.
It came the final weekend. The Big 12 has never seen the veer run to such perfection.
Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com
Posted by Unknown on Sunday, December 7, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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