For those rooting against a continuing consolidation in college football between the SEC and Big Ten, you have one hope left to root for in the College Football Playoff: Arizona State.
Editor’s Note: Notre Dame is not really an ACC team. Please, spare us all. We all know Notre Dame is graded and viewed separately from the ACC.
So with SMU losing to Penn State and Clemson falling to Texas on Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoff, that leaves just Arizona State from the Big 12 or ACC remaining in the 12-team playoff.
Related: Texas vs. Arizona State Opening Odds, Point Spread, Over/Under Announced
The SEC media bias has already been on full display throughout the first two days of the playoff. Fan boys, “analysts”, coaches, and others are already insinuating that this Playoff should basically become the SEC invitational.
Exhibit A: Lane Kiffin.
The Ole Miss head coach posted this as Penn State was blowing out SMU on Saturday afternoon in State College, Pennsylvania.
No matter what, the narrative coming out of this Playoff from some of the loudest voices will be, “The SEC is King. Everyone else is second fiddle.”
But Arizona State has a chance to put a dent into that narrative when they take on the Texas Longhorns in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff on January 1st in the Peach Bowl.
Texas has cruised through the season, despite their two losses to Georgia, one in the regular season and the other in the SEC championship. But Saturday was the first win for the Longhorns over a ranked opponent this season. For all the conversation around quality of schedule, Texas had not beaten a team currently ranked in the Top 25 until they played Clemson on Saturday.
What About Boise State?
You might be saying to yourself, “What about Boise State?!”
Even if Boise State beats Penn State in the quarterfinals, they will be viewed as a Cinderella. No one will be confusing the Group of 5 schools with the top of the SEC any time soon. That’s not a knock on Boise State and the season the Broncos have had, but it’s just acknowledging reality of the current college football landscape.
That leaves the Sun Devils.
Arizona State reaching the College Football Playoff semifinals will be a huge dent in the narrative. There will be a push after this Playoff to remove byes for conference championships, and we might even be heading towards a system that guarantees a certain number of bids per conference, as Josh Pate discussed on our YouTube channel last week.
And while it all might be inevitable in the current landscape of college football, Arizona State can do all of us a favor who throw up in our mouths at the thought of more concentrated power in the SEC and Big Ten. And that’s getting a win over the Texas Longhorns in Atlanta in a week and a half. I hope you’ll be joining the “Forks Up” trend as well.
