NCAA Football Report (Week 14)
The entire purpose for the re-organization of the way to determine the national champion was largely due to the dominance of the SEC.
The Southeastern Conference was quickly becoming the only conference in the country that ever had much of a chance to win the national championship.
Although the BCS system brought about a national championship game it quickly turned in to a test of who could beat the best team from the SEC.
Out of the 16 BCS National Championship games, the SEC won nine of them including seven of the last eight national championships.
Things were not going great as it always seemed like the BCS system was giving an advantage to the SEC teams and ranking them among the top teams, sometimes even putting them as the top two teams.
People demanded a better way to determine a champion that forced these SEC teams to play better competition outside of their conference.
Now they had to play the best teams in the country with the inclusion of two more teams and the establishment of the College Football Playoffs.
The new system proved what many thought as the SEC was no longer the only good conference when the Ohio State Buckeyes took out Alabama in the semi-finals.
The Buckeyes were crowned the first National Champions in the new era and last year the ACC stood on top with Clemson taking the title.
Alabama did put the SEC back on top in the second year but the CFP has been far more even than in years past.
The SEC was no longer the ruling power in the country as the Power Five conferences seemed to all have a legitimate shot at putting one team into the playoff every year.
Only one conference would be left out and that was supposed to create a much better battle for the National Championship.
This year things got complicated though as the Power Five conferences were a complete mess with no teams really taking control.
Just when things seemed to settle down another top four team would take a loss leaving the rankings in question.
Every week it happened and every week new teams would try to solidify their spot in the top four at the end of the year.
Heading into Championship Week there was a lot on the line for almost all of the Power Five conferences.
The only one out of it was the Pac-12 who saw USC rise to the top but their hopes of a playoff spot were erased weeks ago.
In the Big Ten Championship, the only undefeated team left took on their biggest test as Wisconsin faced Ohio State.
The Buckeyes came out on top complicated things even more as a Wisconsin win would have locked up a spot for them as they would have been the only undefeated team left in the Power Five Conferences.
In the SEC the Alabama Crimson Tide weren’t even involved leaving Georgia and Auburn to fight for the title.
The Tigers lost and in turn, lost their spot in the top four while Georgia put everyone in a tough spot as they were now SEC champions but began the week ranked behind Alabama.
Two of the conference saw their biggest teams take care of business though as Clemson beat Miami and Oklahoma won the first-ever Big 12 title game against TCU.
Their wins virtually guaranteed their spots in the final four but the results in the other games left a lot of questions.
Did Ohio State deserve a spot in the playoff as Big Ten champions despite losing two games? Would Wisconsin get a berth even after losing the Big Ten Championship?
Would Alabama deserve a spot after losing to Auburn and not even winning a championship? Could Georgia leap over Alabama after winning the title? Did Auburn deserve a shot after beating Alabama?
It was all up in the air until Sunday when the committee released their final rankings and set the stage for the playoff.
Clemson and Oklahoma took the top two spots like many assumed after their wins and then the committee went back to the old ways.
Both Georgia and Alabama took the final spots placing two SEC teams into the playoff and setting up the possibility of an all-SEC final.
Georgia will play Oklahoma while Alabama will take on Clemson in the semi-finals and if both can win they will repeat a scene from the BCS.
It will be hard to argue with the results though as they will need to earn their spots in the final although it will be far easier said than done.
Oklahoma and Clemson are no pushovers and despite the strength of the SEC, there is a chance that the parity can continue or a new conference takes over.
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