Well, now that the regular season is over and conference champions have been decided we now know exactly who will be for sure playing in the four-team College Football Playoff. No. 1 seed Alabama (13-0) will be giving the No. 4 seed Washington Huskies (12-1) their wish when they pair up in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on December 31.
Huskie fans have been begging for this opportunity since they started the season 9-0 before losing to the Southern Cal Trojans 26-13 back in November. The Crimson Tide completely dismantled the Trojans 52-6 way back in September on the opening weekend for college football. The Huskies definitely got what they wished for and for that I congratulate them, but they need to quit poking the hornet’s nest. 
Alabama is an institution that has made college football not very enjoyable if you are a fan of any other team in the SEC, heck, even the nation. When schools that have smaller trophy cases, and better college towns in general, start blacking the Tide’s eye a little bit, the NCAA is quick to admonish them while the SEC just stands there looking the other way; it at least appears that way from where I sit anyway. So, if you are a true fan or just a bandwagon fan, here’s a “Roll Tide!!!” for you.
No. 3 seed Ohio State (11-1) will take on No. 2 seed Clemson (12-1) on December 31 as well when the play in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, AZ. This game is a good example of why I believe they need to scrap the four-team playoff for an eight-team playoff. The top five seeds need to be Power 5 Conference Champions, period. The next three can be at-large schools and would make the playoff scenario much more enjoyable.
I know that saying Penn State kind of gives most people the creeps, but it did defeat Ohio State and win the Big Ten Championship outright and were left out in the cold. Well, not very cold…it will play in a Big 6 Bowl, the Rose to be exact, when they take on Southern Cal on January 2. Oklahoma would be the other automatic bid with its Big 12 Championship as well. The Buckeyes would still get in, but they would have been an at-large bid in my imaginary eight-team playoff.
My top four bids would have gone out to Alabama, Clemson, Washington and Oklahoma due to their being the better of the conference champions in my opinion. The next four would have been Penn State, Ohio State, Colorado and, yes, Western Michigan…giving the little guys a chance here. They went 13-0 against inferior competition for the most part, but they won every one of them and did beat a couple of Power 5 teams. You may argue that Wisconsin should be in that last spot, but I will not hear it. It is my College Football 8-Team Playoff…Go WMU Broncos!!!
Out of the Big 3 in Mississippi, I would assume at least two of the institutions are happy about the post season. The Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-7), who were left for dead before their resounding Egg Bowl win, accepted a bowl invitation due to the high APR and will take on Miami of Ohio (6-6) in the St. Petersburg Bowl in Tampa on December 26 at 10 a.m. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles (6-6) will play Louisiana-Lafayette (6-6) in the New Orleans Bowl on December 17 at 8 p.m.
Whether you jumped on that elephant’s back and are going to ride it until “y’all” win that championship or you are truly joyed by your team getting to play an extra game, this is your time of the year. I love it, too, because there is nothing like having a football game on nearly every day of December at all times of the day. This is a lot of fun to me and I cannot wait to watch UTSA take on New Mexico…not really, but you get my point and maybe you are just geeked about Old Dominion taking on Eastern Michigan, because directional schools rule.
Happy Bowl Season!
