College Football Playoff stakes or not, it’s never OK to lose

Alabama is the best team in the nation and by some measures, the best team in the history of college football.

The selection committee makes its big reveal Sunday. A Washington win would nearly guarantee them a spot in the college football playoff. Regardless, with a Washington loss, the Big Ten will get two teams in the playoff.

Michigan – They have two losses and aren’t playing for a championship.

“We knew he was really capable of this”, Barkley said. This game will probably be closer than most think, but I think that experience slightly wins out in this game, and Clemson is the more experienced team.

The topic of the conference championship game came up Monday when Gundy was asked about this potentially being the final late-season Bedlam meeting. Western Michigan would likely be the opponent in Dallas if the Broncos defeat OH in the MAC Championship game Friday night.

A 12-1 ACC champion Clemson. They need some help to sneak back into that top four and here is how you should be rooting for it to go down this weekend. Why not guarantee big-time ratings in the semis by putting the Tide and Buckeyes in one game?

INSKEEP: But often in recent years, yeah. The loss hurts Michigan’s chances by dropping them to fifth. Not even from Ohio State fans. It was the Big Ten championship trophy sitting next to him. The Buckeyes will be able to say that they defeated the Big Ten champions, and that is something that the committee will definitely factor into their decision.

This is the least compelling of the Power 5 title games because even if undefeated Alabama loses, it would still likely be in the top four. MI has showed in the field it is a playoff caliber team, this will bode well for the Wolverines as they stake claim to the fourth and final spot in the college football playoff.

INSKEEP: Well, that’s going to be the source of the argument, right? I think the championship game should carry a lot of weight in my mind.

GOLDMAN: Well, of course.

Second-ranked Ohio State also appears to have cemented a berth even though the Buckeyes will not be playing in the Big Ten title game, which will pit No. 6 Wisconsin (10-2) against No. 7 Penn State (10-2).

Wisconsin (10-2, No. 6 CFP) earned its fourth division crown in six years with six straight victories and by posting a 3-2 mark against top-10 teams. If they win they, too, are conference champs in the Big 10. If they take care of business – they’re in.

If chaos erupts in the weekend’s conference championship games could the Big Ten get two teams into the playoff? But make no mistake: Washington is the better team. The argument for keeping it at four – it makes the regular season more meaningful.

When all of the dust settles on Saturday the committee will start pouring over all of the data and all of the resumes of the teams in contention to pick the four team playoff.

The one thing that could change that would be a blowout win over Wisconsin. The NFL pro football – the TV ratings are a little bit down this year.

In college football, beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder.

“[Quarterback] Trace [McSorely] looked at me on the sideline and said, ‘What’s going on?'” Franklin recalled. The political ramifications of that within college football would be huge, not to mention it would mean shutting out all teams west of the Mississippi. I’ll tell you one other difference with the NFL.

INSKEEP: Are you telling me that fantasy, which the National Football League has embraced, is dragging some attention away from the actual National Football League games?

This is the most at one time since 2000.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) OK, all right.