Did College Football Playoff committee get it right?

We now have our College Football Playoff participants but did the committee get the final four correct? We analyze it and break down the semifinals. 

After 15 weeks of college football games, a lot of debate, and a wild championship weekend, the College Football Playoff committee has spoken.

Georgia will take on Ohio State in the No. 1 vs No. 4 matchup in the Peach Bowl and in the Fiesta Bowl, we’ll see Michigan vs TCU in the No. 2 vs No. 3 matchup.

USC would have been the No. 4 team if the Trojans didn’t drop the Pac-12 championship game on Friday in a dominating fashion to Utah.

That loss and the loss by TCU opened the door for Alabama a little bit. Nick Saban even made the rounds on TV Saturday night making the case for the Crimson Tide.

Essentially, he argued that Alabama was the better team despite not having a better record. He said on Fox, ‘Would any of those teams be favored over us?” He’s right that Alabama would be favored over Ohio State, but that’s not how the committee works.

But we ask the question anyway, did the College Football Playoff committee get it right?

Yes, the College Football Playoff committee made the right call

I know Alabama fans don’t like it, but the Crimson Tide didn’t deserve to be the first two-loss team to ever make the College Football Playoff. Alabama didn’t even beat a team ranked in the top 10 when it was all said and done, while Ohio State won at Penn State.

Those kinds of things matter. Saban did make a good point that Ohio State lost its last home game by 22 points. That was a bad look but the loss was to No. 2 Michigan.

Also, the Buckeyes won 11 games compared to 10 for Alabama, although the Tide are two plays away from being undefeated and a missed field goal at Tennessee from being in the playoff.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

TCU didn’t win the Big 12 title game, but the Horned Frogs shouldn’t have been punished for losing that game in overtime and it wasn’t. And if we want to be technical, TCU beat Kansas State and still had a better league record with the loss so why are the Wildcats Big-12 champs?

Oh yes, because college football is addicted to playing meaningless games for money. At any rate, the Horned Frogs join Michigan and Georgia as the only three teams to have beaten every team they played this season since TCU beat K-State earlier in 2022.

No one else can say that. So the committee did get it right. At the same time, if Ohio State can beat Georgia, it deserves a rematch against Michigan for the national title. TCU might have something to say about it though.

One thing that is interesting is that Georgia, the No. 1 seed and defending champion, probably has the more difficult semifinal opponent in C.J. Stroud and the Buckeyes.

Georgia is the favorite to go back-to-back but if Stroud and Ryan Day are going to make up for losing to Michigan, beating UGA and winning the national title is the only way to do it.

We’ll have plenty more on this topic but for now, we agree with the committee, and kudos to those guys for actually getting it right.