College Football Playoff Controversy
Ohio State’s very own Justin Fields was looking to lead his Buckeyes to a national championship before their encounter with Alabama.
February 5, 2021
Over the past six years the College Football Selection Committee has taken some serious heat and this year was no different. With the playoff just wrapping up, they only had four spots to fill with plenty of applications. Some choices come with ease and others are tough due to the pressure from fans and some members of the football community.
A few factors that come into play include a shortened season due to COVID-19 and levels of competition due to not being to play teams in other conferences. We do know that this has been the toughest year to select teams to play on New Year’s Day.
Every year there is the obvious team that gets the automatic lock-in for the playoffs, and since the beginning of the College Football Playoff, that team has been Alabama. This year the national champions had not lost a game all season and played in the hardest conference in college football.
Next to Alabama has always been the “little brother” Clemson, who has been on their tail for the past couple of years as the best team at the collegiate level. Clemson only lost one game this year, but they played without their starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence against Notre Dame, whom they later defeated in the ACC Championship.
The controversy starts with The Ohio State Buckeyes having a six game schedule which is significantly less than other teams who played up to ten games. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney went as far as saying that they’re the eleventh best team in the nation well, those were costly words as the Buckeyes took care of the Tigers in the College Football Semi-Final.
“I don’t think he was out of place with his [coach Swinney] explanation, but I think he got Ohio State fired up and eleven is too low,” sophomore Camden Walker said.
Notre Dame was given the fourth spot in the standings even after losing late in the season to Clemson, which put Notre Dame’s spot in jeopardy.
Texas A&M was probably the most qualified as they only lost one game all year and it was to all mighty Alabama. The Cincinnati Bearcats were also in the mix with only one loss, even though they did not have as much competition in their division.
“Also playing for a chance was Coastal Carolina, they even went undefeated and beat a good BYU team,” junior Tony Leyba said. “Though they’re underdogs I would’ve considered Cincinnati or even Coastal Carolina.” He even took Notre Dame out of his bracket and placed Texas A&M in the top four.
These recurrences happen year in and year out, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to change. Most fans don’t even think this is the biggest problem with the committee, most believe the problem is that the playoff consists only of four teams.
The College Football Committee can’t do anything about these issues until 2025 when the four team playoff contract ends. It seems to be that they are going to continue to select teams that make the NCAA the big bucks and it’s a constant reminder to small programs that no matter how good you are and no matter who you upset, you’re in the back of the line.
