By Sean McQuilkin
Nick Saban, Alabama’s coach, summoning the devil himself to get Bama to the playoff committee.
Surprise! The College Football Playoff Committee chose Alabama, who did not win their conference championship and was ranked outside the top four going into the final weekend, over 1 loss Wisconsin, 2 loss conference champion Ohio State, and undefeated conference champion Central Florida. As it appears at this point in time that committee is concerned with one thing: money. Bigger schools: more ratings. This is how it has always been. The playoff was established to give teams a fair chance at the championship if they were close. However, like most things, this is false. Central Florida finished 12-0, and did not even finish in the top 10. Last year, Western Michigan went 13-0 and barely cracked the top 15. But non conference champions get a wave in. Two years in a row, this has happened. Last year, Ohio State did not win their conference. They lost 31-0 in the playoff. They showed why winning the conference is important. The committee has selected 3 teams west of the Mississippi in 4 years. In contrast, Alabama has made the playoff 4 years in a row. There is a regional bias, and an obvious Alabama bias. The playoff was supposed to be an improvement over the BCS. It hasn’t solved any problems, year in and year out, there is multiple controversies. Last year, a four loss Auburn team, which had no Quarterback, got to play in a higher paying bowl than multiple teams. Where does Auburn play? West of the Mississippi. Where did 3 loss, top 10 Colorado play last year? The Alamo Bowl. It’s still broken, and has no sign of changing.
