Spartans In College Football Playoff

The Tide are big favorites, but surely the Spartans have had the more-impressive season, beating four top-15 teams, including two teams ranked in the top seven, while the Tide have no wins over any team ranked higher than No. 19. None were bigger than the Big 10 championship game last Saturday against Iowa.

Michigan State won the Big Ten championship 16-13 over Iowa on Saturday night, and Saban was pulling for his former team and assistant while watching the epic 22-play drive that ended with freshman L.J. Scott lunging forward for a 1-yard touchdown in the final minute.

“I just felt it was a little easier this year for me discerning between teams than it was last year in some respects, and I’m talking specifically about the top four”, said Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, the committee chairman. “Certainly we went over it but clearly Clemson is the No. 1 team in the nation”. “We had a great day that day a year ago”.

And that was it for drama, if you could even call it that. The matchup with the Tigers isn’t necessarily a bad one and the Clemson offense plays a similar style to what the Sooners have seen in the Big 12, but the 1,500-mile trip to South Florida won’t be a fun one for Oklahoma fans. With the desire to avenge last season’s playoff defeat, Alabama should be able to pull off this one and advance to play for a fourth championship in the Saban era. Clemson was the best team throughout the season but Oklahoma was the hot team at the end of the season. Led by Heisman Memorial Trophy candidate and ACC player of the year Deshaun Watson, the sophomore quarterback has thrown for 3,512 yards and 30 touchdowns while rushing for another 887 yards and 11 touchdowns. Head coach Bob Stoops will be fighting for the school’s first title since 2000.

Did the committee get it right for the national semifinals?

The Sooners have their own Heisman-caliber quarterback in Baker Mayfield, who has been the key behind the team’s overpowering offense. It was the Tigers’ third victory this season over a top-10 opponent. They turned the ball over five times and a backup quarterback burned the defense with 319 passing yards and four touchdowns. The Tigers are second in tackles for loss (108) and fifth in team sacks (38). Cook has the benefit of a few weeks of rest, though, which could mean that his injured shoulder may be completely operational come game time. For what it’s worth, there are multiple intangibles going into this game that could slightly ease the anxiety of Tiger fans.

Ultimately, the decision proved a wise one – the Buckeyes went on to claim the national championship. Watson has been intercepted 11 times this season. This factor does favor teams and conferences which play for the conference championship.

“The reason I have [this] opportunity is because of the people at Ohio State”, Ash said during his introductory news conference.

Those same New Year’s Six bowls, including the Sugar, would suffer in their nonsemifinal years because four highly ranked teams would be taken from their potential polls to be in quarterfinals.

ESPN analyst David Pollack immediately noted when the CFP pairings were announced – No. 1 Clemson (13-0) plays No. 4 Oklahoma (11-1) in the Orange Bowl semifinal – that the Spartans would be in position to play the underdog card. “Now that I’m not coaching, I can say that”. “We’ll have a good football team here – a lot of them – in the future”.

Oklahoma, which was just 12 in the College Football Playoff rankings after being upset by Texas earlier in the season, won, 44-34. I personally don’t believe either of them will win (Derrick Henry, hands down), but the magnitude of talent that will be on the field in the Orange Bowl is truly top tier.

The Michigan State Spartans, looking for their first national championship since 1966, rallied past Iowa in what was probably the most decisive game of the week.