Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith admitted there was a bit more to his departure from the College Football Playoff committee than his initial explanation offered.
Smith stated at the time of his February departure that he wanted to focus on helping Ryan Day transition to a full-time head coaching role. In an interview with Ohio State’s student newspaper The Lantern, however, he admitted that the committee’s decision to rank two-loss Georgia ahead of one-loss Ohio State in its final 2018 rankings was a factor in his exit.
“I stepped down to be here for more of Ryan Day, to support him, but I was also concerned about how the committee was applying the criteria,” Smith said, via Griffin Strom of The Lantern. “And so I felt uncomfortable when I came back into the room after I had been recused, and Georgia was ranked ahead of us. They were a two-loss team, not a champion.”
Neither team made the playoff, but Georgia came in fifth after losing the SEC title game to Alabama. Previously, they had lost to LSU in regular season action. Ohio State’s lone regular season loss came at Purdue before they beat ranked foes Michigan and Northwestern in their final two games.
There’s nothing anyone can do about these arbitrary decisions. In fact, Ohio State was the beneficiary of such a decision in the most recent playoff rankings. Smith may just be using the opportunity to try to make a point about his school and his conference.
