In one form or another, College Football Playoff controversy touched the SEC, Big 12, ACC and Mountain West — all the relevant conferences except one.
The Big Ten was essentially unscathed during the selection process for the inaugural 12-team event.
Oregon, the undefeated conference champion, landed the No. 1 overall seed.
Penn State, the runner up, received the No. 6 seed, followed by No. 8 Ohio State and No. 10 Indiana.
The Hoosiers were closest to the fire but never seemed in danger of losing their spot — even after Clemson won the ACC championship and stole a bid.
It was always Alabama vs. SMU for the seventh and final at-large berth.
Why did Indiana stay above the fray?
For that matter, why did Penn State, which had one victory over a ranked team (Illinois), receive the No. 6 seed?
And why did Ohio State warrant the No. 8 spot ahead of Tennessee, giving the Buckeyes home-field advantage in their opening-round date with the Volunteers.
“Ultimately as a committee and as we voted these teams, Ohio State was one ahead of Tennessee,” said Warde Manuel, the committee chair and Michigan’s athletic director.
“But we didn’t look at it — as well, if we put Ohio State 6 and Tennessee 7, one is going to host and one is not. We never, I can assure you and everybody … never even talked about it until after the Top 25 was ranked.”
In each instance (Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana), there’s a case to be made for the placement of the Big Ten team.
What strikes us is the conference seemed to get the benefit of the doubt in every case despite underlying data that reflect weakness:
— The Big Ten is No. 3 in the Sagarin computer ratings, far behind the SEC and even behind the Big 12.
— The Big Ten was 1-3 head-to-head against the SEC. Add two losses to Notre Dame, and the conference was 1-5 against its true peer group.
— The Big Ten’s overall non-conference performance was largely forgettable, with only two wins over teams that finished in the CFP rankings released Sunday: Oregon over No. 9 Boise State and Nebraska over No. 23 Colorado.
— Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana all played substantially weaker schedules than two of the SEC teams, Alabama and South Carolina, that were left out of the CFP field, according to the Sagarin ratings.
For all the focus on Alabama and SMU for the final at-large berth, we’d argue the Crimson Tide has a substantially stronger resume than Indiana (more quality wins, tougher schedule) except for the number of losses, which mattered dearly to the committee.
(The Hoosiers played one game against a team in the final CFP rankings, Ohio State, and lost.)
Exactly why the Big Ten received the benefit of the doubt time and time again — in our view, at least — we might never know.
But the conference was, indisputably, one of the biggest winners Sunday.
Our breakdown of the sport’s decisive day …
Winner: Texas. As a reward for losing the SEC title game, the Longhorns received what is arguably the most coveted seed in the event: No. 5. They will open at home against three-loss Clemson, then advance to Atlanta to face Arizona State. Meanwhile, top-seeded Oregon doesn’t play a home game and will face the Ohio State-Tennessee winner. The format needs to change to provide greater rewards for the conference champions.
Loser: Notre Dame. The Irish should have been seeded higher than No. 7. But in that position, they are bracketed with No. 2 Georgia in the quarterfinals. The committee was clearly reluctant to drop the losers of conference title games (Penn State and Texas) below a team that doesn’t have a conference.
Winner: Boise State. Never before has one loss provided as much rocket fuel as Boise State’s 37-34 defeat at Oregon in Week 2. That performance, along with a perfect run through the rest of their schedule, propelled the Broncos all the way to the No. 3 seed and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl. What a victory for the Group of Five, the Mountain West and the rebuilt Pac-12, which will be Boise State’s home in 2026.
Loser: The SEC. Alabama lost the resume showdown with SMU for the final at-large berth and South Carolina watched the team it defeated last week, Clemson, roll into the playoff thanks to the ACC’s automatic bid. It could not have gone much worse for the kingpin, which is bad news for everyone else.
Winner: SMU. The Mustangs agreed to join the ACC without any media revenue distributions, filled the hole in their budget (thanks to deep-pocketed donors) and reached the CFP in their first season in a power conference.
Loser: The Big 12. The conference was poorly ranked for five weeks and stood zero chance of receiving an at-large berth, then watched as its champion, Arizona State, was seeded behind Boise State. All in all, the committee showed the Big 12 little respect. It’s an issue the conference must address.
Winner: Cold-weather games. The CFP’s opening round will feature December 20-21 kickoffs in Columbus, South Bend and State College. The Hotline is rooting for a snowstorm that weekend at the 40th parallel.
Loser: Brigham Young. The Hotline has hammered on this point in recent weeks and will reiterate for anyone who missed it: The Cougars should have been smack in the middle of the at-large conversation. They had a better strength-of-schedule than SMU and won the head-to-head matchup in Dallas. Somehow, the Cougars were seven spots below the Mustangs.
Winner: Arizona State. There isn’t much left to say about the Sun Devils’ rise from nowhere to the CFP in three remarkable months. And even better for ASU fans: Arizona imploded.
Loser: The CFP selection committee. Some years aren’t as bad as others. This one was terrible — not the end result so much as the month-long process, the flip-flops and contradictions, the missteps and poor communication of intent and priorities. Give the committee a C- for its performance.
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Winner: ABC. The network should generate blockbuster ratings with the marquee matchup of the opening round, Tennessee at Ohio State, which is slotted for 5 p.m. (Pacific) on Saturday, Dec. 21. The other two games that day face competition from the NFL. But the Buckeyes and Vols will be unopposed.
Loser: Washington. We aren’t knocking UW’s qualifications for the postseason or commenting on the Huskies performance over the past three month. This is more about the assignment itself: The Sun Bowl against Louisville is just, well, blah.
Winner: The Rose Bowl. The Granddaddy is one victory away from an Oregon-Ohio State collision in the quarterfinals — the most Pac-12 vs. Big Ten matchup it could have reasonably asked for. The more things change …
Loser: Time to breathe. The extra week in the NCAA’s competition calendar pushed CFP selection day back to Dec. 8 and left us with less than one week until the first bowl games (Dec. 14). To be clear: We aren’t complaining, not for one second.
Winner: Oregon. We think the Ducks would have been better off as the No. 5 seed, with a home game and matchups against the No. 4 and No. 12 seeds. But the extra rest will be helpful — as long as it doesn’t bring rust — and the undefeated regular season and Big Ten title should be cherished.
Loser: USC. The season ends where it began, in Las Vegas against an SEC opponent. It’s just that when the Trojans left Sin City on Sept. 1, after beating LSU, they never expected to be back in December with a .500 record to face Texas A&M.
Winner: Alamo Bowl. With the first pick of the Pac-12 legacy schools, the Alamo matched Colorado against Brigham Young. Two ranked teams plus one Deion Sanders should equate to loads of interest and first-rate TV ratings.
Loser: Cal. Any postseason berth is a victory for the Bears, but they drew a daunting opponent in the LA Bowl. We have watched both teams play numerous times, and the Rebels are better. That said, their coach, Barry Odom, just accepted the Purdue job, which could tip the balance to Cal. So let’s view the Bears as both winner and loser.
Winner: Washington State. Sure, the three-game losing streak was a massive disappointment given the state of play in early November. But had you told the Cougars prior to the season that their journey would end in the Holiday Bowl (against Syracuse), they assuredly would have jumped at the offer.
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