Will the College Football Playoff Committee Leave Texas Out Even if They Win the Big 12?
Every Tuesday the College Football Playoff rankings are released and every Tuesday I am disappointed. Why? As a guy who works for a Big 12 website, what I am about to say is going to be a little awkward, but the Texas Longhorns are getting screwed.
I know some of you may not care about the Longhorns and that’s fine. In fact, in a little over a month from now, Texas football will no longer be my concern. But until then, I am going to give them a fair shake as long as they are still in the Big 12 Conference.
By now I should know that watching the selection show is not good for my health. All it does is make my blood boil and cause me say things that I can’t repeat here. For example, let’s look at the latest rankings.
Right now, Texas is on the outside looking in when it comes to the top four. While I don’t have a problem with that (for now), I do have a problem with Ohio State and Oregon being ranked ahead of Texas.
The good news is that Ohio State didn’t win their division and won’t be playing in the Big Ten title game. That means that if Texas wins the Big 12 championship, then they will likely jump ahead of the Buckeyes.
However, the situation with Oregon is a little different. The Ducks have been ranked ahead of the Longhorns in every single playoff ranking this year. How that has happened is beyond me. Just take a look at the schools side-by-side and it is clear which team has the better resume.
Texas should be ahead the Ducks without any question. They have the better strength of record, strength of schedule, and have more wins over Top 25 teams. When the College Football Playoff committee chairman Boo Corrigan was asked why Oregon was ranked two spots ahead of Texas, he had this to say.
“Oregon has continued to dominate. Obviously, they lost to Washington earlier in the year and coming out last week in the way they played Oregon State which is a team we really respect. They held them to just seven points as opposed to 34 which they have averaged on the year. The season Bo Nix is having with 78% completion percentage, and they continue to impress the committee with their offense and their defense.”
ESPN’s Reece Davis followed that up by asking “What consideration was given to the common opponent that those two have? Texas beat Texas Tech by 50 and Oregon beat them by one possession.”
Corrigan’s response was: “We look at everything as we have talked about each week that we have been here. We aren’t relying on one single data point or one single game. We are through 13 weeks right now and making sure we go through everything.”
At no point in Corrigan’s incoherent rambling did he make a single point of why Oregon should be ranked ahead of Texas. It doesn’t matter if you look at one data point or 100, Texas has the better resume by a mile. And bringing up the completion percentage for Bo Nix makes me think some moron wrote that on a cocktail napkin for Corrigan to read on air. Instead of making him look smart and make him look like he knows what he is talking about, it just made him look more stupid than his name. I mean seriously, who is named Boo? I thought Halloween was over.
With the way things are going, Texas is going to need help to make it to the playoff. The SEC championship game truly shouldn’t matter. If Georgia wins, then they stay at number one and if Alabama wins then Texas should still be ranked ahead of Alabama considering they beat them in Tuscaloosa by double digits.
I am confident that Michigan will not need to steal punt plays from Iowa to beat them but where things start to get interesting are in the ACC and Pac-12. Florida State is banged up right now at quarterback and Louisville has a good chance to knock them out. That would be good for Texas. As for the Pac-12 championship game, I think it is pretty clear that the winner of that game will get in no matter what and the loser may be on the outside looking in. I am sorry, but if you don’t win your conference then you shouldn’t be in the top four this season. But with this committee, who knows what will happen because they obviously can’t compare resumes.
To me, it’s pretty clear that there is a complete lack of respect for Texas in this committee. That is pretty hard to believe considering the fact that Texas is one of college football’s bluebloods. Maybe Texas should start playing the “We are joining the SEC” card and maybe then the committee will finally show them the respect they deserve because right now, they don’t have any.
