First, LSU ending up ranked #1 over OSU was a foregone conclusion weeks ago. Anyone thinking that it would actually play out differently has been wasting their time speculating and wringing their hands.
Second, the absolutely pathetic CFP Committee has the first obvious, non-tortured top 4 since this entire fiasco began. And being #1 rather than #2/3 is actually a mixed blessing. Yes, Oklahoma is clearly the worst of the four, but don’t think for a second that Oklahoma is sure to lose. And if you’re LSU and you do beat Oklahoma, you then have to face either 1) a Clemson team that is a defending national champion and has learned that it can actually beat a high-quality opponent or 2) an Ohio State team that has just beaten the defending national champion.
From the other angle, I think OSU would rather meat Clemson in round 1 when it has not at any point this year played a truly high-quality opponent. (Sorry ACC fans but it’s true.) And if you are a Clemson or OSU fan, there are added bragging rights if you go all the way from defeating both of the CFP teams that came in undefeated.
The entire CFP set up involves hordes of know nothings sitting around navel gazing and yapping about distinctions that in the end have no solid basis in fact. Is LSU better than OSU and Clemson? Who knows? Surely not these CFP or ESPN knuckleheads. That’s why we play the games!
The convenient way that this has all settled out buys this colossally stupid arrangement another 2-3 years. But it remains colossally stupid. The Big 10 and Pac12 control something like 45 of the top 50 media markets in the US. It is a matter of time before the ADs, head coaches and conference commissioners there wake up to this economic clout and to the fact that their fans are ill-served by the present arrangement — even if we grant that historically the SEC has been a conference that deserves two CFP teams every year (highly debatable). The Big10 and Pac12 have always been more intent on conferences than national championships. Watch them opt out of the CFP after a few more instances of being left out. It’ll be back to the good ‘ol Rose Bowl matchup, which I LOVE to this day.
Well said drellberg.
I remember many years ago OSU played a team from the northeast and beat them. Alabama did not play that weekend but still passed OSU in the rankings.
The SEC has been the strongest conference in recent years, but it has hollowed out. The Big Ten has the best balance; there are several teams in the middle of the pack that can (and usually do) rise up and stick a loss on the league leaders somewhere along the line. The ACC remains a basketball conference; in football, it’s Clemson and then crickets. The SEC is regularly in the running for two playoff spots mainly because the mid-tier programs have collapsed, so the top teams cruise. The PAC 12 has receded because California is now north Mexico, and Mexicans don’t play football. USC-UCLA used to be like Ohio State-Michigan, Texas-Oklahoma, or Alabama-Georgia-LSU (pick two). Fans under 40 don’t remember that at all.
This year Big10 was better than SEC though.
Seriously go back and look at who Alabama played...and beat. Any of those teams finished ranked? Nope. SEC sucked. And keep in mind most of them were overrated most of the year. LSU is the only team worth a darn in the SEC this year.