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More teams, more bellyaching.
The College Football Playoff’s first round served a series of blowouts, resulting in blowback that the selection committee whiffed on its picks for at-large bids.
But, is the committee really to blame for the first-round drubbings, and if so, which teams would have been better qualifiers?
Hosts Blake Toppmeyer and John Adams debate that question on this edition of “SEC Football Unfiltered,” a podcast from the USA TODAY Network.
They offer diverging viewpoints on whether the committee flubbed:
Did CFP committee pick wrong at-large teams for playoff?
Toppmeyer: The committee flubbed with SMU. I wrote as much before the playoff. The Mustangs hitched their credentials to an ACC runner-up finish, but they drew an easy conference schedule, lost two games, lacked a marquee victory and lost at home to BYU, which finished 10-2. The Cougars or Ole Miss would have been a better playoff choice than SMU. I would have picked Ole Miss, slotted the Rebels at No. 10 and bumped Indiana to No. 11.
Despite the blowout losses, I don’t take issue with Tennessee or Indiana making the playoff.
The Hoosiers went 11-1 within a “Super Two” conference. Their only regular-season loss came against Ohio State, one of the top frontrunners to win the national championship. True, Indiana lacked a signature regular-season victory, but if we played that game, where does it end? Whom did Texas beat in the regular season? Also, I watched Alabama get blown out by a mediocre Oklahoma team. Who’s to say Notre Dame wouldn’t have also smacked the Crimson Tide?
As for Tennessee, its 10-2 record from inside the SEC and a solid strength of schedule made the Vols a worthy qualifier.
Other than SMU, I don’t think the committee flubbed its at-large picks, but I do think they got seeding wrong. Ohio State built a résumé worthy of a No. 5…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/more-sec-teams-solve-college-110529680.html
Author : The Tennessean
Publish date : 2024-12-29 11:05:00
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