[su_spacer size=”20″] As Georgia begins Its quest in the toughest conference in the land to try and find a way into the College Football Playoffs, something caught my attention, which some people just aren’t going to like. The defending National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes, led by one of the finest coaches in the game today, shouldn’t be given a chance to defend their title, unless every other Power 5 Team has at least 2 or 3 losses on their resume and the boys from Columbus are undefeated at the end of the regular season. That’s right. I said it. And I don’t care what they did last season. The College Football Playoff is not a “lifetime achievement” award.[su_spacer size=”40″] Visit the College Football Playoff official website. It reads, “When circumstances at the margins indicate that teams are comparable, then the following criteria must be considered:” And the 2^nd attribute just below “Championship won” is “STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE”!
[su_spacer size=”40″] Andrew Schutte, from Football Nation, astutely pointed out the following:
[su_spacer size=”40″] “There’s no doubt the committee honored that strength of schedule mandate throughout the 2014 season. Heck, it was the sole reason Marshall was left out of the rankings for several weeks, despite an unblemished record. It was a factor in each of the seven ranking releases; the committee justified a team’s slot by noting its wins over Top 25 opponents.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Teams who have faced tougher opposition are clearly favored in the eyes of the committee. A whole new era has been ushered in with this new playoff system; teams will need credible foes on their resumes to prove themselves with their schedules. Something Ohio State did just a year ago.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Well, in fairness to all the other teams in the FBS, Ohio State won’t be able to do that again unless something miraculous happens. Give OSU credit. They will start the season with Virginia Tech on the road in Blacksburg. And you can only play the teams that are actually on your schedule. But, just as other teams suffered last year due to their lackluster opponents, I cannot see rewarding the Buckeyes for what this obstacle course, on paper, appears to be.
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Now, Michigan State in Columbus and the traditional slugfest with the Wolverines, guided by the brash Jim Harbaugh will certainly give some validity to the Buckeyes schedule by seasons’ end, as would a BIG10 Title against a worthy adversary. But, no matter how talented this OSU team will be, if all things are equal, and the committee doesn’t deviate from their new guidelines, you are going to be hard pressed, in my opinion to squeeze the Buckeyes into the top 4 based on this body of work alone. I know this won’t be settled for six more months, but we’ll revisit this again during the season. And if laughter is the best medicine and you know someone who’s sick, just show them the Buckeye 2015 Football schedule. It’s pretty good for a chuckle!