A lot of conversations and debates have happened since Sunday’s selection show for the College Football Playoff.
The CFP Committee announced the top four seeds — Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama — leaving Florida State and Georgia on the outside looking in. FSU was very upset as its undefeated season and Atlantic Coast Conference Championship did not grant it a spot in the playoff. The Seminoles had coaches, its athletics director, and the senator of Florida demanding answers from the committee on why it did not get in. Some in the national media felt the CFP Committee did Florida State wrong.
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Ultimately, Boo Corrigan and his staff did not want another TCU situation.
TCU made the playoff last season, but it did not dominate any team on its schedule. The Horned Frogs won several close games and then lost to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. Corrigan and his staff honored TCU by putting it in the playoff — regardless of its loss — and it hurt college football as television ratings dropped. The playoff failed to achieve the financial status needed because no one watched Georgia demolish TCU, 65-7. It should have pulled FSU out of the top four sooner; however, the committee eventually did the right thing. Three of the four teams in the playoff are marquee traditional powers in the sport.
Alabama, Texas, and Michigan are brands that compel people to watch.
Fan bases for these programs travel well and the opposition loves to hate these teams. Three kinds of people exist in college football: the fans, the haters, and those who love to watch recognizable brands. Alabama, Texas, and Michigan meet all three areas. They will bring huge revenue for the playoff, television ratings will skyrocket, and none of these teams will give you a horrible matchup. Washington, a Pac-12 Champion, gives the West Coast its team in the playoff. The Huskies are in the CFP for the second time since its origin in 2014. Washington got into the playoff in 2016, but it got handled by Alabama in the semifinal.
Alabama versus Michigan is an electric matchup. Texas versus Washington is an electric matchup. If Alabama and Texas are in a rematch for the CFP National Championship Game, college football fans and Las Vegas will go through the roof.
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Nick Saban’s run of national championships at Alabama started with a victory over Texas in the 2010 Rose Bowl Game to finish the 2009 season. He would have an opportunity to show he still runs the sport should the Tide face the Longhorns in the national championship game in Houston (Texas) and win it. Georgia has more of an argument than FSU to be in the playoff, but the committee has the four teams in. They have it right this time, and we are about to see two incredible semifinal matchups.
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Stephen M. Smith is the managing editor and senior writer for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can “like” him on Facebook or “follow” him on Twitter, via @CoachingMSmith.
