Power 5 Week 14 Recap: More like “Pity Committee”
Ohio State in the Playoff? Get out. Coastal? Get out. USC? Ha.
By: The Waco Kid
This weekend proved to be quite a shakeup in the College Football Playoff rankings. The committee can no longer put off the inevitable by expecting it to all play out. They lost Florida, Miami is out, and so decisions will have to be made. The only question is, will they make the correct ones? Of course not, the NCAA perpetuates the ongoing of breastfeeding. They thrive on the teets that have always fed them and shy away from new sources of calcium, like that six-year-old in the Grown Ups movie. The league does not want to move on, they want to cling to what is normal and not accept that times are changing. This is why a 5-0 Ohio State team, who has played only one team over .500 is being considered for the playoffs over a 7-1 Texas A&M team, a (same record) 5-0 USC team, an 8-0 Cincinnati team, and an 8-2 Iowa State team.
The fact that the Big 10 had to change their rules just to get OSU into the conference championship is a gross injustice to all college football fans. And based on what? The eye test? Get some glasses. This team beat a good Indiana team by 7 and beat a dismal Penn State team by 13. Is anyone else looking at PSU’s record for the year? This was not a good win by any means and yet it is a qualifier for this team to make the playoffs. Justin Fields is an exceptional player, but the Buckeyes have yet to prove why they deserved to be ranked #4 in the nation. USC is undefeated in their first 5, so is Cincy, and A&M was not supposed to play Alabama until way later in the year, so that would have left all of these top teams 5-0 right along with Ohio State.
What’s the main difference? Show me the money!!!! The dumbest part is, Texas A&M has repeatedly ranked in the top three of revenue throughout the nation. If sports channels had a lick of sense they would tie their wagons to that horse and ride it into the sunset rather than promoting overrated programs like Texas and OSU. The Buckeyes are being given a pass because of who they have been, not who they are and if they make the playoffs, they will draw an Alabama team that will have no similar sentiment. Nick Saban will punish this team for showing up, and they can cry to Kevin Warren all they want but at the end of the day they are the inferior team.
Let’s go ahead and get things started in the Pac 12. As mentioned before USC has the same record as Ohio State and is nowhere near being ranked for playoff contention. Now I will say the Trojans have no business even cracking the top 10, it was just making the point that no 5 win team is a proven one. SC more than others. The Trojans beat Arizona in the final seconds...an Arizona team that just lost to Arizona State 70-7. That does not sound too much like a top team in the nation. On top of that close call, this past weekend the Trojans had to rally back and score 20 points in the fourth quarter just to put away a subpar UCLA team. Kedon Slovis was impressive throwing for 344 yards and 5 touchdowns, with only two interceptions but a playoff team does not repeatedly find itself having to rally against unranked teams just to get a win. Southern California does find themselves in the Pac 12 Championship against Oregon, but my money’s on the Ducks. Even if they do somehow pull out a win their resume and eye test is just too sad for playoff berth consideration. The game is on a Friday, that alone should tell you the importance.
Arizona hosted Arizona State this past weekend for an in-state rivalry. DJ Taylor returned the opening kickoff for the Sun Devils and it only got worse from there. I won’t go into much detail because this was a one-sided blowout and I already stated the pitiful score above. All that is left to say on this one is RIP Kevin Sumlin’s coaching career. Sumlin was my guy when he was at A&M, “Swagcopter” and all, but there has been a steady demise and it seems his abilities have hit rock bottom. Luckily, for him, his bank account just got a whole lot fatter.
Source: Sportsbookreview.com
After a full-blown Richard Nixon-type pardon of Ohio State’s lack of games played, the Big 10 had a strong showing of two of their higher-ranked teams this past weekend. #14 Northwestern hosted backyard foe Illinois in the battle of the deep dish. This one wasn’t pretty by any means but it did not have to be. The Wildcats pretty much had to show up and were guaranteed a win. NW’s defense did what they have all season and held the opposition to a minimal amount of points, and when you can play that well defensively, your offense does not have to do much. They were able to score three on the ground and one through the air and that was more than enough to secure the win and a Big 10 Championship berth for the team from Evanston. The day continued with a trip to Iowa for Wisconsin. The Badgers have been trending downward since their first two games of the season and continued that spiral against the #16 Hawkeyes. Quarterback Spencer Petras threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns, and running back Tyler Goodson put the game away with an 80-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth. Iowa sent UW back to Madison with a 28-7 loss.
Then there were the outliers for the week. Three games each in different conferences that had impacts on the top 25 rankings. #22 Oklahoma State traveled to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears, in the giant toilet bowl looking venue called McLane Stadium. And let me tell you the Cowboys sure flushed the Bears right out into the Brazos River like the turd of the team they looked like on Saturday. The worst part about this loss was that Chuba Hubbard, OSU’s best player, opted out of the season and was not present. That did not stop backup Dominic Richardson from playing next man up and rushing for 169 yards and 3 touchdowns. That on top of Dillon Stoner’s 247 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns put this one way out of reach for the Bears. State headed back to Stillwater with a 42-3 victory. The one positive BU can take from this is that they did not have to head back to Oklahoma.
Macky Mack and the Funky bunch were feelin’ good vibrations all around on Saturday. This was supposed to be a matchup between two of the better teams in the ACC. There was obviously one better team. Throughout the game, all you heard was Michael Carter or Javonte Williams’ names being called out. The Bash Brothers were in rare form against the Miami defense and what they were able to accomplish was nothing short of spectacular. They combined for a total of 544 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Where there are those high numbers you also have to shout out to the offensive line for moving bodies and getting downfield, so kudos big guys. To add insult to injury Sam Howell also ran one in and threw for another score. The Canes offense did not have a chance to make this one competitive due to the lack of defense being played. North Carolina cemented their spot in ACC folklore by whoopin’ Miami 62-26.
Finally, the pot stirrers themselves, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. The Chanticleers played Troy this week in what should have been a blowout. It ended being a lot closer than most fans anticipated. Troy put up a great fight and had the lead in the fourth quarter until CC quarterback Grayson McCall threw a touchdown with only 45 ticks left on the clock. This did just enough to push the #13 team in the nation into a 42-38 victory. Now Coastal has been making waves with both analysts and fans combined, saying that they deserve a shot at the playoffs because of their 11-0 record. Stop. No need to get hopes up when I, as an unknown sports blogger, have a better chance of making an appearance at a College Playoff game. Let’s be honest the BYU win was a good one, but if any other team in a Power 5 conference were to submit a resume with their top two wins being BYU and Kansas, they would get laughed out of the building. And then I hear from those same CC playoff supporters, oh well A&M should have beaten Auburn, LSU, and Mississippi State by more but we can ignore the South Carolina blowout because they are no good. Are you kidding? Coastal barely beat Troy. No more discussion here.
After this week we will see how the committee judges teams and what are the most important aspects factored into being a playoff contender. Unfortunately, we all probably know how this one is going to play out Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. But who knows if Oklahoma wins the Big 12 I am sure the committee can find some justification for including them too.
See you on the couch next week.