George Mason pulls away from Penn State 85-66

The Nittany Lions are riding a nine-game winning streak, which is the program’s longest since 2009. Cooper Batemen and David Cornwall have both announced they will leave the program. The NCAA will pay close to $1.5 million to help the families of the four teams in the semifinal and championship rounds.

“We talk about the metrics that are provided to us when there are two teams that are comparable to one another”, Hocutt said.

Judging by that, it sounds like Penn State would have had a very good chance to be in the final four with only one loss.

The committee assigned No. 2 to Clemson, who is 12-1 with their only loss coming from Pittsburg. The field needs to expand in order to ensure all worthy teams get a shot at the title.

The screaming starts with Washington at No. 4. In October, I wrote that the Pac-12 probably wouldn’t get a team in the playoff if Washington lost a game.

On Sept. 10, Penn State lost 42-39 to Pittsburgh in the first game between those two in-state rivals since 2000.

Penn State lost twice – a blowout to MI and to Pitt in Week 2.

Alabama may be undefeated, but they are beatable. Washington got the final spot at number four. If Alabama beats Washington, he’ll already be in Tampa and won’t have to be flown down to receive the award, but Franklin would be more than happy to take a brief intermission from what will be chilly, and likely snowy Happy Valley, to receive the Eddie Robinson Award in South Florida. It also gives us an idea of how much he lives to play the game and how much passion goes into getting prepared from week to week. Watkins (9.7 points, team-high 7.7 rebounds) is ranked fourth nationally and atop the Big Ten with 3.7 blocks per game.

Instead, the Nittany Lions are 11-1-1 in non-conference play with one game remaining (against Princeton in Philadelphia on January 28) and opened the Big Ten schedule last week by throttling MI. Washington’s season slate included Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State.

BUT. the Buckeyes beat three top-10 teams and had only one loss. More and more four-star recruits are picking Penn State and a victory in the Rose Bowl won’t change any recruit’s mind. I still feel strongly scheduling is important.

The six-team Big Ten has three schools in the top 12 of the RPI – Penn State (second), Ohio State (sixth) and Minnesota (12th) – and all of its teams in the top two-thirds of the country.

Clemson won at Auburn (an SEC school), defeated Sun Belt member Troy, 30-24 at Clemson, and walloped South Carolina State (a MEAC and FBS member).

And I’ll be clear on this: I hope I’m wrong.

Strength of schedule always comes up when discussing the decision to pick one team over another for the CFP.

Brodeur was actually relatively quiet in the first half, scoring six points as he dealt with Lafayette double-teams.

Any day, a team could win if the odds are in their favor. But the Huskies were a one-loss conference champ. The quiet from Penn State’s mirrored the whimper of the Nittany Lions in the second half as their run was snapped. That pushed the Buckeyes past TCU in the eyes of the CFP committee and somehow the Frogs slipped to sixth after a 52-point win which made them 11-1.

James Franklin was hired to return Penn State to glory, a job many thought could take up to five years. Washington is about as exciting as plain yogurt but they do only have one loss. He’s led Alabama to an unbeaten season. They’ve dominated and when D dominates, championships are won.

It has been 443 days since Alabama last lost a game – a 43-37 loss to Ole Miss on September 19, 2015 – and for 96 of those days, the Crimson Tide have been the top ranked team in the country.

The Crimson Tide feature the top defense in the country led by star defensive end Jonathan Allen, linebacker Reuben Foster and safety Micah Fitzpatrick.

Clemson won the Atlantic Coast Conference with a strong performance from Heisman Trophy candidate Deshaun Watson.