Michigan State just went into Alabama and got it handed to them, losing by two touchdowns and not gaining 200 yards in the process. It was the Spartans’ first loss this season after trucking teams on the ground through the previous two months.
Alabama isn’t “teams,” though. The Crimson Tide rolled up 434 yards in the process, over 250 more than MSU.
The Spartans probably are done as far as the playoff race goes, or at least nearly fatally wounded. They have fallen out of the top 10. What will happen to them in the playoff committee’s eyes this week?
There’s only one problem here: LSU is Michigan State, and I think we tepidly await what fallout happens from a game where the Tigers were not overwhelmingly prepared to deal with anyone slowing down Leonard Fournette and their all-world offensive line.
When we looked at year one of this issue with the CFB Playoff Committee, too often it looked like an SEC tree-house party, which, in some years, is fair because situations and strengths change annually with this sport.
Some years, the SEC is all that and a bag of chips. Some years, however, it is not. This is a fine opportunity to find out what this year’s version of the committee is thinking.
It’s clear the committee thought very highly of the SEC last year, at one point presenting a week with three SEC teams in their top four. To be fair, the South has better food, prettier girls, decent golf courses, and much better weather than anyone else. To be fair, none of those appear to be in the criteria for choosing good college football teams.
Alabama, right now, looks like this year’s version of Ohio State, taking an early loss to an inferior team at home and improving drastically as the season goes on. That bodes well for the Tide in what is the most “loose and fast” comparison one can think of.
The reality, though, is that LSU and any teams that lose need to be held accountable for losing. Earlier in the day, when flipping radio channels, there was an individual from some show saying that a one-loss Notre Dame would unquestionably get in over an unbeaten Big 12 champ.
Um … no … and surely the committee doesn’t think that way. An important point was brought up, however, and it was that the Irish looked “good” in a loss to Clemson and that helps them.
Though teams should be encouraged and applauded for playing tough games, especially ones that are optional, those losses need to mean something when it comes to weeding out the teams that don’t make the cut. It’s important to honor that principle when only four teams can get in.
Whether folks like it or not, the SEC has not produced the champion the last two college football seasons, and while that’s not an indictment of an entire conference, at some point the “look at the string of BCS titles” logic has to be thrown out with the bath water and bacon grease.
What we saw from LSU is that it has a ton of talent, most notably on the offensive line and through the running game, but that it is one dimensional if you have the rare ability to stop that running game. How hard is it to do that? Florida couldn’t. Alabama did. The line is a fine one.
Losing in any form needs to be the defining factor which makes teams unfit for the playoff or not. Yes, trying to convince media people that the SEC doesn’t always have the best conference in college football, and should therefore have its losses held to the same standards as everyone else, is a fool’s errand.
Personally? I think if you have to pick a conference so far this year that’s been the best, you can’t go wrong with the SEC based on the very limited evidence we have.
Often in college football, the mistake is made of looking at the team name rather than the work done. That’s unfair to all involved, and while life isn’t supposed to be fair, it’s also best navigated with common sense.
If you think a given conference is the best, it’s not the best by a wide margin if at all. Teams which lose in that conference should be held just as accountable as others.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, this fool has errands to run.
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