College football Championship Week preview

The Playoff is slated to release its final ranking and assign teams for the Playoff and the other four New Year’s Six bowls on Sunday afternoon. If both teams look underwhelming, they’ll have a good chance.

None of it will be about WMU. However it shakes out, teams worthy of consideration in the final four will get left out.

First up: an undefeated team and another that needs to win to get into the playoffs. Penn State has not allowed a touchdown in its last two games and is No. 20 nationally in total defense. There’s no way to tell. What if they are good enough?

Nobody will every know. “At the same time, they’ve only beaten two FBS teams with a winning record”.

The drama this week was not at the top of the College Football Playoff rankings, though Penn State and Wisconsin fans might beg to differ.

First comes OSU’s responsibility: defeating Oklahoma for the Big 12 title.

Western Michigan is a whole lot better at football than the Big Green or Osprey are at hoop.

It’s the flawed nature of a four-team playoff. Wisconsin would have played as strong, if not stronger, of an overall schedule but would not have seen as much success as MI against teams at the top of the rankings. I’ve done well this year because I’ve gone more by instincts than logic.

With the exception of a fluke loss at Penn State, Ohio State has clearly been the second-most dominant and consistent team over 12 games. A blowout win might be necessary, for both teams. There’s no crystal ball.

No. 14 Auburn is that SEC team right now.

That wouldn’t be the case with an eight-team field. Or even one of the Oklahoma teams that wins the Big 12.

No. 17 Western Michigan shouldn’t get too comfortable.

Unlike some college football anarchists out there that would like nothing more than mass chaos, the selection committee would instead like nothing more than a series of outcomes to make decision day just a bit less hectic. The Big Ten has been far an away the best conference in the country all season, with four teams that could match up with most teams in the country. “When the selection committee believes that there are comparable teams. when there are razor-thin margins between the two, that’s when we go to the protocol and the metrics being conference championships, strength of schedules, head-to-head and outcomes against common opponents”.

Back to the topic of the playoff, which Oklahoma State could hope to make a run at in 2017 if it is Mason Rudolph taking the snaps. The Gators are out no matter what. If the favorites win each of the four conference championship games the committee will be forced to decide between Ohio State and a Washington one-loss conference champion and a Penn State two-loss conference champion that beat Ohio State head to head.

How would you feel about Ohio State if they had gotten a right foot spot instead of a left foot spot on the key fourth-and-1 play in OT vs MI?

No. 1 Alabama (SEC auto bid) vs. Oh, and it nearly slipped my mind – Ohio State’s one loss came at the hand of the Nittany Lions. But if MI doesn’t play this weekend, and Washington does, beating Colorado, then how would it be even possible for the Wolverines to leapfrog the Huskies?

Reseed after each round to reward the top teams. The victor of this game secures its place in the Sugar Bowl.

It’s why Gundy said he thinks having a conference championship game is “somewhat overrated”.

“I’ve always said that, we take care of business – everywhere I’ve been – those people usually do the right thing”, said Petersen who coached at Boise State.