Not since Geraldo Rivera hosted an expedition to open Al Capone’s vault in 1986 has a made-for-TV spectacle delivered a dud fairly as disappointing as the primary spherical of the 12-team School Playoff.
As soon as the novelty of postseason video games performed on campuses wore off, the 4 opening-round matchups devolved into the identical kind of lopsided snooze-fests that always plagued the semifinals of the four-team Playoff.
In nearly each case, the on-campus novelty lasted barely greater than 1 / 4 at most. Solely the 38-24 Texas win over Clemson had a halftime margin within the single digits.
This new format had evident flaws properly earlier than this weekend’s quartet of forgettable video games. Assured bids for convention champions aren’t inherently a foul thought and assist preserve the significance of league titles in a sport that has lengthy prioritized convention supremacy over the nationwide panorama.
Guaranteeing convention champions precedence in seeding, nevertheless, could have contributed to the primary spherical’s slate of stinkers. Shifting third-ranked Texas and fourth-ranked Penn State into the 2 byes that Boise State and, extra dubiously, Arizona State occupy would have made for a gap spherical docket of:
- Clemson at Notre Dame
- Arizona State at Ohio State
- SMU at Tennessee
- Boise State at Indiana
Would this have made for higher video games? Maybe so, maybe not—however it could have been awfully troublesome to provide worse video games.
In the meantime, popping out of a sequence of blowouts, the game is confronted with a shift in narrative. The dialog has gone from debating whether or not the third- or fourth-ranked groups had been extra deserving of a nationwide championship shot within the Bowl Championship Sequence period, or the fifth- or sixth-ranked groups within the four-team Playoff days, to now squabbling between groups with plenty of wins however none of consequence (Indiana, SMU) vs. groups that misplaced 1 / 4 of their regular-season contests (Alabama, Ole Miss).
The quarterfinals ought to presumably produce extra compelling matchups, and in at the very least one occasion, that’s based mostly on greater than conjecture. Oregon outlasted Ohio State in October in the most effective video games of a roller-coaster common season. Bookending an unsightly efficiency in opposition to Michigan with dominant performances in opposition to Playoff groups Indiana and Tennessee, the Buckeyes look the a part of a preseason decide to win the nationwide championship.
Bonus factors for the rematch enjoying out on the Rose Bowl, providing a standard Pac-12 vs. Large Ten pairing. However seen from Oregon’s perspective, it’s troublesome to not see this as a devaluation of the Geese’ excellent common season—together with that unbelievable, 32-31 win over the Buckeyes.
With two weeks between the primary spherical and the quarterfinals, there’s loads of time for the bracket to reshuffle based mostly on the remaining seeds. Doing so this yr based mostly on the remaining eight’s rankings would produce the next 4 matchups:
- Oregon vs. 8. Arizona State
- Georgia vs. 7. Boise State
- Texas vs. 6. Ohio State
- Penn State vs. 5. Notre Dame
Together with the quizzical, if not downright defective, nature of how the bracket’s constructed, one other intriguing storyline of the quarterfinals shall be relaxation vs. rust.
The Soccer Championship Subdivision rewards the highest eight groups with opening-round byes within the 24-team bracket. Nonetheless, as a result of the FCS Playoffs start instantly after the common season concludes and every spherical is staged weekly till the championship, routinely advancing to the subsequent spherical capabilities as a bye week.
The 4 convention champions—Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, and Arizona State—could have gone nearly a month between video games. How this impacts their efficiency in opposition to an opponent with newer competitors offers one other key plot level for the quarterfinals.
Both approach, the subsequent spherical gives higher matchups—at the very least on paper. The bar to clear after this disappointing introduction couldn’t be a lot decrease.