A few hours ago at the time of this writing, Penn State defeated Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game to become undisputed champions of what many considered to be the toughest conference in college football this year.
About an hour ago at the time of this writing, the College Football Playoff Committee also left the Nittany Lions out of the top four teams who will be competing in this year's edition of the playoff.
A week ago, there wasn't much debate over the top four, but the way things shook out, Penn State winning the Big Ten Championship would create quite a boogeyman for the CFP Committee, and that's exactly what happened. Their victory forced the committee's hand at throwing aside their transparency and declaring to the public just how much weight each factor holds in determining the four teams who will compete in the playoff. In today's selection show, we got our answers, and there's plenty of arguing to be done about it.
First of all, the committee let Ohio State into the playoff as the #3 seed. Ohio State is one of the most talented teams in the country, but the committee is supposed to be evaluating the "resume" of each team, not just looking at them and deciding which teams are best (known as the "eye test"). And when you look at resumes, Penn State has a head-to-head victory over Ohio State. Moreover, Penn State won their division, which includes Ohio State, and their conference, which, by extension, also includes Ohio State, and yet they were left out. What does that say about the value of a conference championship, especially when the winner defeated the #6 team in the country? The committee has said all along that conference championships carry a lot of weight, but they've completely ignored that principle with Penn State. And how much does head to head matter?
Next, Washington got the last spot in the playoff despite playing the 127th (!) best non-conference schedule in FBS. There are 128 teams in FBS. Washington did become champions of the Pac-12 on Friday, coasting to a 12-1 record, but it's relatively easy to rack up wins when you're scheduling Portland State, an FCS school, in your non-conference (non-con) slate. The committee laid a nice smokescreen about the importance of non-con schedule strength the past few years, and Washington getting into the playoff is essentially doubling down on all that. Instead of going out in your non-con and challenging yourself, why not just schedule FCS teams so you can keep your record intact?
This isn't intended to be an argument for Penn State making the playoff despite the fact that they're my favorite team, but just some thoughts about the selection committee's hidden motives. They've been wildly inconsistent with their values this year as it applies to Penn State, and it will be interesting to see what kind of precedent, if any, this year's selection process will set for next year.
