Another weekend of college football is in the books, so let’s go through who let themselves down on the gridiron with my Championship Weekend Villains:
Wisconsin: The Badgers were bad in all facets of the game on Saturday, picking a horrible time – the Big Ten Championship – to produce the worst performance I can remember from a Wisky team in many years. Their 59-0 capitulation to the Ohio State Buckeyes was, frankly, embarrassing. There was scarcely a moment in the game when they were competitive.
Not sure where to start with this one. I guess with the offensive bellcow, Melvin Gordon. The star back has been gashing teams all season, but was tremendously handled by the Ohio State defense. Gordon was held to 76 yards on 26 carries and had a fumble that was returned for a touchdown by Ohio State’s Joey Bosa.
With Gordon unable to find running room, all the pressure was transferred to Joel Stave at quarterback, and Stave’s never been particularly good at throwing the football. Nor was he particularly good at it on Saturday night, completing 17-43 for 187 yards and three interceptions. Offensively, it was a night to forget for Wisconsin.
And it wasn’t a particularly good night defensively, either. The Badgers let a third-string quarterback complete 12-17 for 257 yards and three touchdowns, and when they weren’t busy making Cardale Jones look like Peyton Manning, they were watching RB Ezekiel Elliott run over the top of them.
Elliott, who had a huge game last week against Michigan, was at it again in Indianapolis, carrying the ball 20 times for 220 yards and two scores, at 11.4 yards per carry. How ironic that the most Gordon-like performance came from someone other than the man himself.
An embarrassing night for Gary Andersen’s team, and one that the Wisconsin faithful will want to forget about pretty quickly.
College Football Playoff Committee: Man, do these guys have a tough job tomorrow. No matter what happens, they’re going to be someone’s villain – hence their appearance on this list – because about six teams who could make a petty legitimate case for being one of the four teams in the inaugural playoff.
You can pretty much nail down Alabama and Oregon in the top two spots, and probably in that order, and Florida State are undefeated ACC champions so, despite their recent escapism, they’ll probably have a spot. But then, I wouldn’t have a problem with them being left out, because of the way they’ve survived through games lately. Is there a luckier football team in the country?
If you take it as gospel, or near enough to that, that we’ll see Alabama, Oregon and Florida State in the four-team bracket, then do you choose Ohio State, who looked amazingly good in winning the Big Ten Championship, a one-loss TCU squad who had a big win today against an inferior Iowa State squad, or Baylor, who narrowly beat a good Kansas State team and have a win on the board against TCU.
A week ago, I had a line drawn through Ohio State because they were down to their third string quarterback and I wasn’t sure that their offense could produce points and yards the way I figured Wisconsin’s, led by Melvin Gordon, could, but Saturday night’s performance has halfway convinced me that the Buckeyes deserve a spot.
So, does a won-loss Ohio State go in over a one-loss TCU who lost to Baylor but controlled most of the game, or a one-loss Baylor team who lost 41-27 to West Virginia? Does the playoff committee consider that the Buckeyes’ victory was a lightning-won’t-strike-twice moment? Can Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliot produce twice? What about the strength of the Big Ten – perceived or otherwise – compared to the Big XII?
There are so many variables, but here are my Final Four:
1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State
Don’t ask me to quantify why, exactly, but I’ve just got a sneaking suspicion that the Buckeyes are going to squeeze their way in there.
Whatever happens, there’s bound to be some controversy over the next few days, and despite some of the assertions I’ve read where a six- or eight-team playoff would solve all these problems, we’d just see them replicated between teams lower down and on the outside looking in. There’ll always be someone(s) on the outside looking in.
Good luck, Playoff Committee. You have a job I don’t envy, and as soon as you walk into that room tomorrow, you’re going to be someone’s villain. Whether those villains are headquartered in Waco, Columbus or Fort Worth is yet to be determined.
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