The College Football Playoff finalists were revealed Sunday, and the Big Ten conference had only one team selected.
That team was Ohio State, which finished No. 3 in the final rankings with an 11-1 record. SEC winner, Alabama was No. 1, ACC champion Clemson was No. 2 and Pac-12 champ Washington was No. 4.
Big Ten champion Penn State (No. 5) and Michigan (No. 6) were the only other schools with a legit case to make the playoff, but both of them came up just short.
Should either fanbase be angry its school won’t have a chance to compete for the national championship?
No, not even close.
Penn State won the Big Ten championship game Saturday night with an impressive second-half comeback against Wisconsin.
However, the Nittany Lions have two losses — at least one more than all four playoff teams — and played a weak out-of-conference schedule. Penn State faced Temple, Pittsburgh and Kent State out of conference, and none of those schools are elite teams. The Nittany Lions did beat Ohio State 24-21, but Michigan destroyed them 49-10 on Sept. 24.
Ohio State beat Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska (by 59 points), as well as Tulsa and top-10 ranked Oklahoma in out-of-conference play. The 45-24 win over the Sooners came on the road.
Sorry, Penn State, but more losses, fewer quality wins and a weaker schedule than Ohio State isn’t going to cut it.
Michigan, meanwhile, also didn’t deserve a playoff spot. The Wolverines played eight of 12 games at home and lost to an average-at-best Iowa team on the road late in the season. Their chance to make the playoff came in the season finale versus Ohio State and they lost in double overtime.
Wins over a 10-3 Colorado squad and Wisconsin aren’t good enough for Michigan to have a case for playoff inclusion.
A few upset losses in conference championship games this weekend could have created some chaos and made life difficult for the College Football Playoff selection committee, but most favorites won and the top four spots weren’t hard to pin down.
For now, it seems the playoff system is working, and this year’s matchups (Alabama vs. Washington and Clemson vs. Ohio State) should be fantastic.
Thumbnail photo via Joe Maiorana/USA TODAY Sports Images
