College football has five “power” conferences and only four teams in their playoff. That means one conference champion gets left out of the playoff. In some seasons, when there are several 2-loss teams, that is not a big issue. But this season is different. Things are shaping up for the College Football Playoff to potentially have to make an extremely difficult decision in leaving out a very deserving 1-loss conference champion.
Currently Ohio State, LSU, Clemson and Georgia are in the top four. Assuming the favorites all win, the committee would have a difficult choice for the fourth spot. Ohio State, LSU and Clemson would all be in the playoff, but who would get the fourth spot?
Utah faces Oregon in the Pac-12 championship. The Utes are 11-1 and ranked No. 5 by the College Football Playoff. Does their No. 5 ranking suggest that if they beat Oregon and Georgia loses, they get in? Maybe so.
The difficult decision would come with choosing between a one-loss Pac-12 champion over a one-loss Big 12 champion.
Oklahoma and Baylor are both 11-1 and they face each other in the Big 12 championship. Oklahoma has lost to Kansas State and already has beaten Baylor. The Bears would be looking for revenge and are ranked seventh in the CFP rankings, one spot behind Oklahoma.
Figuring out how to order the three teams was the College Football Playoff committee’s most difficult task this week, chairman Rob Mullens told ESPN’s Rece Davis Tuesday.
“I would describe it as the most vigorous debate this week. We spent more time on those teams than anyone else on the board,” Mullens said.
Even though this 1-loss Pac-12 champion vs. 1-loss Big 12 champion debate is the critical one for the week, the scenario might not even materialize.
It’s possible that Clemson loses and opens up a second spot, though that seems unlikely. Ohio State could also lose to 2-loss Wisconsin. In that case, the Big Ten might not have any representative in the CFP, as odd as that would seem, and two one-loss conference champions (Pac-12 and Big 12) might get in ahead of the 1-loss Buckeyes and SEC loser.
If Georgia beats LSU in the SEC Championship Game, the 1-loss Bulldogs would have wins over LSU, Florida, Auburn and Notre Dame and be very deserving of a playoff spot. LSU would still be a one-loss team with an extremely impressive resume, including wins at Texas and Alabama, and home wins over Auburn and Florida. Would LSU be left out?
The CFP committee is going to have a few tough decisions to make no matter what happens. But if the five favored teams all win (Ohio State, LSU, Clemson, Utah and Oklahoma), either the Pac-12 or Big 12 will be rightfully miffed over having their 1-loss conference champion left out.
