Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential Michigan Alabama 5:00 PM, ESPN, Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA, CFP Semifinal
Allstate Sugar Bowl Washington Texas 8:45 PM, ESPN, Caesars Superdome, New Orleans, LA, CFP Semifinal
Go Gators. With Georgia and FSU left out of the playoff, this season is now like going to a restaurant and having your entree fucked up beyond all edibility, but at the end of the meal they roll out the most exquisite dessert imaginable. Does it make up for the entire evening? No; far from it. It sure as hell helps, though.
I have no love for them, but they're just sort of this annoying thing that exists, taking up too much space. Y'all and Auburn can send all the bad vibes their way.
And now that my initial schadenfreude giggling has subsided, yes, the "right" thing to have done would be to leave out Bama too, but we always suspected that the committee leans Resume versus Eye-Test largely based on which brings more eyeballs to the CFP; they just never had to bring down the axe on an undefeated P5.
Funny how this will work completely fine for the narrative of justifying the 12-team playoff 🤔. For the record, I support that anyway. Most bowls have been silly exhibitions a lot longer than fans like to admit.
Fwiw I still think that a poll is the best way to crown a nc in this sport. It's silly to pretend that florida and San Diego State have the ability to compete on an even level head to head in a tournament format. But if SDSU were to have an immaculate season, why shouldn't they be considered the best performing team in the country? Imo, the nc doesn't need to be the "best" team so much as the team that accomplished the most.
Structurally, the idea of a NC in this sport is very stupid. No one can even agree on what we're rewarding, whether it's with a poll of hundreds to crown a champ or a poll of 13 to decide who gets invited to a tournament. There's too much structural inequality to silence the "eye test" people, too few data points to silence the "win who you play" people. I was a kid before the BCS came around, but I was paying enough attention to know how unsatisfying people found THAT system, and while the debates will continue, I think a larger playoff becomes its own reward in a way, and something in the 8-16 range should gather up every reasonable candidate from all schools of thought without completely gutting the regular season.
Also, it's time to compensate the players in return for their giving up some mobility. It's the worst of all worlds right now.