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Final takeaways from College Football Playoff and bowl games

By Chris Peterson

Dec 31, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes celebrates their 51-45 over the Michigan Wolverines during the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Rondone-Arizona RepublicMich Tcu 28
Dec 31, 2022; Glendale, Arizona, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Sonny Dykes celebrates their 51-45 over the Michigan Wolverines during the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Rondone-Arizona RepublicMich Tcu 28 /
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It was a fantastic college football bowl season and as we look back, here’s what we learned from the College Football Playoff and bowl games. 

I’m never a fan of having the final major college football bowl games on Jan. 2. It just felt weird having the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl being played but feeling like afterthoughts.

That’s just how the games played after the College Football Playoff tend to feel. If people didn’t watch the Cotton Bowl, they missed out on a truly great game.

The Rose Bowl was a defining moment for Sean Clifford and to a lesser extent, James Franklin. I know lot of people have criticized him but the head coach just posted another 11-win season and another major bowl victory, as well as the first Rose Bowl win since 1994.

Bowl games (outside of the College Football Playoff) don’t mean what they used to, but that win was significant for Penn State.

Tulane’s comeback win over USC, which capped a 10-win turnaround (going from 2 wins to 12) completed the greatest statistical turnaround in college football history and left even hungrier for a 12-team playoff.

Here’s a look at some key takeaways from bowl games and the College Football Playoff, and I started with why playoff expansion can’t come soon enough.

Bowl games show why a 12-team playoff is needed

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports /

How fun would it be to see Tulane play another game? That’s one thing I was thinking after the Green Wave rallied to beat Caleb Williams and the Trojans. It was a fantastic game and would have been a great matchup for the 12-team playoff.

I know those two teams probably wouldn’t have played in a 12-team bracket this season, but either way, it would be fun to see the Green Wave advance and face Georiga in a quarterfinal game.

That’s coming in a couple of years but it’s too long to wait. The Alabama Crimson Tide was another reminder of why it’s needed. Is anyone telling me the Tide couldn’t beat Georgia?

I think Alabama would be favored against any team in college football, except the Bulldogs and that’s even more true after the beating they put on Kansas State, a team that beat TCU.

There are a lot of kinks to work out with the future College Football Playoff schedule, yet it’s clear to me that going to 12 teams is going to be an incredible move for college football.

And after this 2022-23 bowl season, it can’t get here soon enough. We won’t need these ridiculous standards and comparisons and eye tests to determine who deserves a shot at a national title, it will be decided on the field and I for one think it’s going to be amazing.

There will be blowouts. There will also be lots of games like we saw in the Cotton Bowl and the College Football Playoff.

It’s clear more meaningful postseason games are needed in college football and expanding the playoff to 12 teams is a good way to start.

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