GRAPEVINE, Texas -- So much for the 13th data point.
So much for "every game matters."
So much for any form of bogus selection criteria offered up by the College Football Playoff.
There are five power conferences. Three will send their champions into the playoff -- Alabama of the SEC, Clemson of the ACC and Washington of the Pac 12. Two were left out, Oklahoma of the Big 12 and Penn State of the Big Ten.
The Oklahoma omission was expected. The Sooners finished 10-2. All four of the teams invited to the playoff suffered one loss or less. So there are no arguments here nor, I doubt, in Norman, Okla.
But the snub of Penn State smacks of politics. The Big Ten will instead be represented in the playoff by Ohio State. Maybe it's time to drain this swamp.
On the College Football Playoff website, under the heading "How to select the four best teams," it reads "the following criteria must be considered" -- listed in this order:
• Championships won
• Strength of schedule
• Head-to-head competition
• Comparative outcomes of common opponents
Penn State won the Big Ten championship. Ohio State did not. Penn State played in the conference title game -- that elusive 13th data point -- and won. Ohio State did not. The Buckeyes didn't place anything in jeopardy last weekend, sitting back and watching on television as all power five conferences crowned their champions.
Penn State also defeated Ohio State in their head-to-head confrontation, 24-21. So much for "every game matters." That victory clearly meant nothing to the committee in bypassing the Big Ten champion -- and both East (Penn State) and West (Wisconsin) Division champs -- in favor of the Buckeyes.
Penn State finished 11-2 and wound up the highest ranked two-loss team by the committee at No. 5. The Nittany Lions fell to Pitt, which also beat Clemson this season, and to Michigan, which the committee ranked No. 6. Both Penn State losses came on the road.
"Momentum" is not listed in the committee's selection criteria but, outside of Alabama, Penn State was the nation's hottest team heading into December. Ohio State's only loss came in October. Clemson and Washington suffered their lone losses in November. Michigan lost two of its final three games on its way to a 10-2 finish. But Penn State hasn't lost since September -- and the Nittany Lions stormed back from that setback at Michigan to close their regular season with nine consecutive victories.
I'm still scratching my head over the TCU snub in 2014. The Horned Frogs were ranked No. 3 by the committee through Week 15, then won their regular-season finale over Iowa State 55-3 but slid all the way to No. 6 in the rankings the following week. The Big 12 did not play a conference championship game, so the 11-1 Frogs could not benefit from a 13th data point, and remained at No. 6 and out of the playoff in the committee's final rankings after 17 weeks.
The Big 12 will play a conference championship game, starting in 2017. And that decision was applauded by College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock last summer.
"The Big 12 will benefit from its champion having played another game against a quality opponent," said Hancock at the Big 12 media day. "That's what the Big 12 has been missing. That's one other game against a good team and now they will have that with the championship game."
Tell the importance of a championship game -- and playing that extra game against a quality opponent -- to Penn State.
Do I have a problem with the four teams the committee selected? Not at all. I do believe the four best teams will now be competing for a championship. And the committee certainly exited the selection room patting itself on the back.
The problem I have with those four selections is the process itself. The criteria tells us that conference championships matter. And that's the primary goal of every school, every August -- be it Alabama, Florida State, Michigan, TCU or Colorado -- win your conference title. That's your ticket to January. You do that and you earn your way into the playoff.
Penn State succeeded in that quest. Ohio State did not. Yet the Buckeyes get to compete for a national championship and the Nittany Lions do not.
If conference championships don't matter, why have conferences?
Forget about having the committee meet every weekend in the fall and issuing a weekly ranking of the teams. Just get together that first weekend of December and pick the four teams you want in the playoff. With no official criteria, that should be easy.
Sports on 12/05/2016