1. Hate the system if you want. It is an improvement, but it isn't perfect. Anytime you have a committee picking teams there are going to be arguments. People want to go to eight and think it would solve anything. It wouldn't. You'd just have people bitching about how No. 9 should be in. Go to 16, No. 17 is gonna bitch. Anytime it's not just a simple game of math to figure out who's in, there are going to be arguments.
2. That said, let's at least make arguments that are accurate. If you think Penn State should have been in, I get it. But the whole "conference championships don't matter I guess" is just an incorrect statement. Of course they matter. If Washington doesn't win the PAC 12 they aren't in. If Penn State doesn't win the Big Ten, they aren't in consideration. The conference title allowed them to be in the discussion, but the body of work was deemed to be inferior. Again, if you think Penn State should have been in, I'm fine with that. But the people who are making the argument that the committee has claimed conference titles mean nothing are making an argument that is incongruous and they're ignoring the actual issue, which is that despite a conference title, the committee believed Ohio State's overall season was better. Take that title away from PSU and they're like No. 10-12.
3. I don't have an issue with the Final Four. I might have put PSU in over Washington. And I might not even have argued with Michigan. But I don't look at the four they picked and have any problem with the teams or the order.
4. That said, I think it's going to be a really boring playoff. Mostly because I just think Alabama is that much better than everyone else. For a second the Tide trailed Florida 7-0 and Twitter freaked out yesterday. And then the Tide scored on defense and went ahead 16-7 despite having, at the time, MINUS-7 YARDS OF TOTAL OFFENSE. Alabama scored 14 non offensive touchdowns this year. Mizzou scored 15 offensive touchdowns in 2015. For the record, my predictions are Bama over Washington, Clemson over tOSU and Bama over Clemson.
5. Rose Bowl will be the most exciting non-playoff New Year's Six bowl. Penn State is going to face USC. I'm really looking forward to that one. I've got no interest in seeing Western Michigan against Wisconsin. If it could have worked out that the Broncos got Michigan, I'd watch. That would be fun. Sugar Bowl is Auburn/Oklahoma and there's really nothing about that that makes me want to watch. Orange is Florida State/Michigan. Ehhh, whatever.
6. Best move of championship weekend came from Wyoming. They signed coach Craig Bohl to a seven-year extension. Good move. I think Bohl is a hell of a coach. Did a really nice job getting the Cowboys back this year within a field goal of the Mountain West title. I think a big program could do a lot worse than Bohl.
7. Speaking of coaching stuff, looks like PJ Fleck probably isn't slated for any of the major openings right now, which is a bit of a surprise. Oregon is interviewing Willie Taggart, Bryan Harsin and Greg Schiano. Harsin seems like a decent fit. The other two seem strange in Eugene to me. Purdue seemed set on Jeff Brohm from Western Kentucky...unless Baylor comes in and convinces him to go to Waco...but Mack Rhoades probably doesn't move fast enough for that. Houston seems to be looking at Les Miles or Lane Kiffin. No real major shakeups honestly. The coaching carousel was a little blah with LSU hiring an interim and Texas running a three-hour coaching search.
8. Rest of the bowl matchups aren't out. Some projections that I'd be interested to watch: Louisville/LSU in the Citrus Bowl. Lamar Jackson against the best defense he's ever played. Kansas State/Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. I know I'm supposed to say I'd want the SEC team to win, but I can't stand the Aggies and would like to see Bill Snyder clownsuit Kevin Sumlin. Oklahoma State/Colorado in the Alamo. Buffs got screwed, lost the PAC12 title game and got pushed out of NY6 in favor of USC (although I understand why). WIll be interested to see if they come with some fire and cap off one hell of a comeback season.
9. I submitted my Heisman ballot about an hour ago. I'm not allowed to say who I voted for but the guy I voted for might have a name that rhymes with Shamar Mackson. The guys that got my second third place votes might or not be running backs from opposite sides of the country who had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards this year.
10. Last one is just thanks for reading this every week. It's fun to talk about football across the country, not just the Mizzou games. Last edition this year, will probably do ten post-bowl thoughts in early January.
2. That said, let's at least make arguments that are accurate. If you think Penn State should have been in, I get it. But the whole "conference championships don't matter I guess" is just an incorrect statement. Of course they matter. If Washington doesn't win the PAC 12 they aren't in. If Penn State doesn't win the Big Ten, they aren't in consideration. The conference title allowed them to be in the discussion, but the body of work was deemed to be inferior. Again, if you think Penn State should have been in, I'm fine with that. But the people who are making the argument that the committee has claimed conference titles mean nothing are making an argument that is incongruous and they're ignoring the actual issue, which is that despite a conference title, the committee believed Ohio State's overall season was better. Take that title away from PSU and they're like No. 10-12.
3. I don't have an issue with the Final Four. I might have put PSU in over Washington. And I might not even have argued with Michigan. But I don't look at the four they picked and have any problem with the teams or the order.
4. That said, I think it's going to be a really boring playoff. Mostly because I just think Alabama is that much better than everyone else. For a second the Tide trailed Florida 7-0 and Twitter freaked out yesterday. And then the Tide scored on defense and went ahead 16-7 despite having, at the time, MINUS-7 YARDS OF TOTAL OFFENSE. Alabama scored 14 non offensive touchdowns this year. Mizzou scored 15 offensive touchdowns in 2015. For the record, my predictions are Bama over Washington, Clemson over tOSU and Bama over Clemson.
5. Rose Bowl will be the most exciting non-playoff New Year's Six bowl. Penn State is going to face USC. I'm really looking forward to that one. I've got no interest in seeing Western Michigan against Wisconsin. If it could have worked out that the Broncos got Michigan, I'd watch. That would be fun. Sugar Bowl is Auburn/Oklahoma and there's really nothing about that that makes me want to watch. Orange is Florida State/Michigan. Ehhh, whatever.
6. Best move of championship weekend came from Wyoming. They signed coach Craig Bohl to a seven-year extension. Good move. I think Bohl is a hell of a coach. Did a really nice job getting the Cowboys back this year within a field goal of the Mountain West title. I think a big program could do a lot worse than Bohl.
7. Speaking of coaching stuff, looks like PJ Fleck probably isn't slated for any of the major openings right now, which is a bit of a surprise. Oregon is interviewing Willie Taggart, Bryan Harsin and Greg Schiano. Harsin seems like a decent fit. The other two seem strange in Eugene to me. Purdue seemed set on Jeff Brohm from Western Kentucky...unless Baylor comes in and convinces him to go to Waco...but Mack Rhoades probably doesn't move fast enough for that. Houston seems to be looking at Les Miles or Lane Kiffin. No real major shakeups honestly. The coaching carousel was a little blah with LSU hiring an interim and Texas running a three-hour coaching search.
8. Rest of the bowl matchups aren't out. Some projections that I'd be interested to watch: Louisville/LSU in the Citrus Bowl. Lamar Jackson against the best defense he's ever played. Kansas State/Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. I know I'm supposed to say I'd want the SEC team to win, but I can't stand the Aggies and would like to see Bill Snyder clownsuit Kevin Sumlin. Oklahoma State/Colorado in the Alamo. Buffs got screwed, lost the PAC12 title game and got pushed out of NY6 in favor of USC (although I understand why). WIll be interested to see if they come with some fire and cap off one hell of a comeback season.
9. I submitted my Heisman ballot about an hour ago. I'm not allowed to say who I voted for but the guy I voted for might have a name that rhymes with Shamar Mackson. The guys that got my second third place votes might or not be running backs from opposite sides of the country who had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards this year.
10. Last one is just thanks for reading this every week. It's fun to talk about football across the country, not just the Mizzou games. Last edition this year, will probably do ten post-bowl thoughts in early January.
