By no means necessary am I implying that their job is 'easy.' No matter what direction they go, they'll always face backlash.
Some group of five school will argue that they deserve more love and at least one power 5 conference champion will be left out.
When you have over 120 schools competing for four spots, quality teams will be left out and controversy is unavoidable.
Back in 2015, many were outraged with the committee for picking Ohio St ( who suffered an embarrassing home loss to Virginia Tech) over Baylor and TCU. But, they at least had an excuse that year, by punishing the Big 12 for not having a conference title game.
Today's results however, remain mind-boggling to me.
While Ohio St was playing Michigan and Michigan St in November, Alabama was playing MERCER, an FCS school! Alabama simply had an easier schedule, and the so-called " best conference" known was the SEC, was hardly competitive.
Ohio St had the more impressive wins. Their comeback win against, then #2 PSU, was far better than any of Alabama's wins; even the opening game against FSU, who was in the ballgame until their stating QB went down.
The Buckeyes were punished for their atrocious loss to Iowa. That was embarrassing, without a doubt. Their other loss was to #2 Oklahoma. A 15 point loss to one of the best offenses in the nation, and a team who blew basically everyone out.
Alabama suffered only one loss, to their rival Auburn. Alabama was in that game until the 2nd half where the Tigers pulled away and completely overmatched the Crimson Tide. That Auburn team ended up having 3 loses.
So yes, Ohio St had the more impressive wins and also the worse loss. But, the Buckeyes have one thing the Crimson Tide don't, and that's a conference championship. In the process of winning their conference title game, Ohio St knocked off an undefeated Wisconsin team ( another high quality win). Alabama didn't even make the SEC title game.
Apparently, conference titles don't carry the same weight anymore.
With that, it is the 2nd straight year that the Big Ten champion is left out of playoff. I acknowledge the fact picking Ohio St this year, would contradict the committee's decision last year, leaving PSU out. The difference however, is that last year Ohio St had impressive wins and didn't have a cupcake schedule. This year, Alabama had a cupcake schedule.
As Brent Musburger said, Big Ten teams played 9 conference games. SEC teams played 8. Instead of scheduling FCS schools in November, why can't you play another conference opponent?
The committee can punish a team for being blown out by an average opponent, but not for having an easy schedule?
The College Football playoff and it's current format brings a lot of debate and anticipation. It also is far from perfect.
We're just one step-closer to an expanded playoff, and you know what? I'm all for it.
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