Fortuna Files: The four-team Playoff is going out with a bang
Plus, how would you feel if Michigan were to win the national title this year?
The last year of the four-team College Football Playoff sure is taking us for a ride, isn’t it?
Five Power 5 teams enter the final weekend of the regular season undefeated. Plus, at least three one-loss teams have a very real shot of making the Playoff if they win out.
Compare that to last year for a moment.
TCU, a non blueblood, lost the Big 12 title game and still got into the final four as a No. 3 seed.
Ohio State got blown out by Michigan, was home for conference championship weekend, and still snuck back into the CFP on account of USC getting blown out by Utah.
You basically had to make excuses for two teams to join undefeated Georgia and undefeated Michigan in last year’s field.
Now? Let’s play out a few realistic scenarios:
What if one-loss Oregon narrowly beats undefeated Washington for the Pac-12 title, avenging its only loss?
What if, on top of that, Georgia, Florida State, Texas and the Ohio State-Michigan winner all win out?
Who gets left out then? Texas — which has a double-digit road win at Alabama — or Oregon, whose hypothetical title-game win over Washington may end up being its only ranked win when it’s all said and done?
Do we completely eliminate the Huskies from discussion in this scenario, too? They would have essentially the same resume as the Ducks, minus the conference champion distinction?
And what about Florida State? Jordan Travis may be out, but you can’t eliminate an undefeated Power 5 team — with two SEC nonconference wins, at that — because of questions about the QB position moving forward, right?
Ohio State actually provided a bit of a blueprint for that one back in the first CFP, when third-stringer Cardale Jones debuted in the Big Ten title game and led the Buckeyes to a 59-0 win over Wisconsin that got them in the Playoff, where they ended up winning the whole thing.
That above scenario, by the way, is relatively tame.