This Year's College Football Playoff is Made for TV

Next week will be my best of lists. I am still working on some things, and I need a little more time. It is a bit tougher for certain things because I have been busy watching old shows or movies with my kids. With that, this week is going to be some sports, a movie review and some random pop culture things.

To start this week, I want to talk about the College Football Playoff. The four teams that made it, Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and the university of Ohio State, were totally expected by me, and some others I knew. And I am not here to shit on two teams I despise, or how it really feels like it will be Clemson-Alabama for the title for the third or fourth time playing for the title. That is not my point at all. And while I feel bad for Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Florida, they each had reasons why they didn't get put in. The only team of these three that has a real argument is Texas A&M. But they didn't get picked, and they will just have to get over that. I actually feel worse for Cincinnati and Coastal Carolina. Both those teams finished their seasons undefeated, playing double digit games. But they both play in lower level conferences, and the playoff is constructed to keep these teams out. It is just like the BCS, and how they treated Boise State. The lower level teams do not get a fair shake, and that has to change. They need to add more teams. Now is the time to make it an eight or twelve team playoff. They could've easily expanded this season, used COVID as to why, and no one would be griping like they have for two days now. It would have been cut and dry, and everyone would've been happy.

My real point today, the four teams that made it are in there strictly for TV purposes. Alabama and Clemson deserve their spots. Alabama is undefeated, won every game, and won them mostly by wide margins and no one put a real scare into them. Clemson is 10-1, but the 1 was with a backup QB on the road, and it took overtime for Notre Dame to beat them. We just saw in the rematch what a fully healthy Clemson can do against the very same team. Now we have Notre Dame and the university of Ohio State. The university of Ohio State is undefeated. They beat four teams by well over 30 points. They have a Heisman candidate at QB. They were picked to run away with the Big Ten. They did win the Big Ten title game, but it was too close. They also only played six games. One cancellation was their fault, the other two were their opponents. The Big Ten also changed their rules to allow them to play in the conference title game. Do I think they will play well against Clemson in their matchup, yes. Do I think they will win, no. They still have COVID issues, Justin Fields does not look as good as he did last year and they barely beat Northwestern and Indiana. Those are two ranked teams, but the university of Ohio State didn't do to them what Clemson just did to Notre Dame, or what Alabama did to the whole SEC. The reason the university of Ohio State is in is because they will draw so many more people to TV than Coastal Carolina, Cincinnati or even Florida and Texas A&M. They have one of the biggest fanbases in the world. And hey, they did win every game they played. Notre Dame did beat Clemson early in the year, albeit shorthanded. They won every game they played until this past week. They did struggle with some inferior opponents, but found ways to win. This Notre Dame team reminds me of the team that played Alabama in the BCS title game when they had Manti Teo. Or even better, the one that made the playoff a few years back and got crushed by a freshman led Trevor Lawrence Clemson team. Notre Dame is a solid team, with a good run game. But, I don't trust their QB to win a game, and their defense should get shredded by Alabama. This may be Alabama's best offensive team, and that is saying something. I think they will fight and play hard, but, just like this past weekend, Alabama is just a better team. I wouldn't be stunned if Alabama wins by four touchdowns. But again, Notre Dame has fans all over the world. They will draw so many eyeballs because we are all home and watching games from our living rooms. And that matchup, Notre Dame and Alabama is much more enticing than Alabama and Cincinnati.

So when my friends that I chat sports with ask me if the committee got it right, I say no to the teams, but unequivocally yes to the TV market. These four teams, this playoff, during this pandemic, was all about getting people to watch so the NCAA could try and recoup some kind of money they lost from all the cancellations and postponements and lack of fans at the games. The teams they pick actually makes so much sense to me, even if I disagree with their top four. College football is a business, and the people at the top know that. That much is clear with the CFP this season.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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