Other Crap

Week 13 in the NFL:

The only Sunday surprise was the Bears’ OT loss to the lowly Giants. The Bears will get a chance to redeem themselves next week with a Sunday night home game against the mighty Rams.

The Pats, Rams, Chargers, Texans and Chiefs all won, continuing their march to good seeds in the post-season. In a match of probable playoff-bound teams, the Steelers lost to the Chargers, but held on to first place in their division.

You already know that the Cowboys handled the Saints on Thursday, but the Saints retained the presumptive #2 slot in the NFC. The Cowboys would be division winners and the #4 seed if the season were now over. (Washington can tie them for the division lead with a win on Monday.)

Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Oklahoma selected for College Football Playoff

OSU finished #6

Oklahoma will face Alabama in the semi-final round, with Alabama favored by 14. While Oklahoma was not undefeated, they did beat every team they played. The played Texas twice, winning one and losing one. On the other hand, they finished 96th in the nation points allowed and 108th in yards allowed. Their real weakness was passing defense, where they finished dead last in the country in passing yards allowed. (Actually tied for last)

Clemson is favored by 11 over Notre Dame.

The final week of the regular season. 

Georgia did not beat Alabama, but they came mighty close. They were leading 28-21 at the end of three.

Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma all won, so it is now clear which teams will be in the top six. Unfortunately, only four of them can make the playoff. Alabama and Clemson are undefeated and are the last two national champions, so they are obviously in. Notre Dame is undefeated, and almost certainly in. Who would leave them out, with their massive national following?

So which team will be #4? The Georgia squad, which just proved it is almost as good as Alabama? Or will it be Oklahoma? Or OSU?

If it were my choice, I would pick none of the above. Oklahoma has no defense. Georgia as a #4 seed would get an immediate rematch with Alabama, and that’s an anticlimax. Ohio State? Well, they are good, but they lost 49-20 to freakin’ Purdue. That’s Purdue, the team that earlier had lost to Eastern Michigan. If you lose 49-20 to Purdue, what is your expected result against Alabama?

Here is what I would do: I would give UCF the #4 seed.

First of all, that matches up four undefeated teams. When will we ever see that again?

Second of all, it gives UCF their chance to put up or shut up. They haven’t lost a game since the Grant administration. They even beat an SEC team last year in a major bowl game. People forget they defeated Auburn, a team which had defeated both Alabama and Georgia during the regular season. (Both Alabama and Georgia had been #1 in the country at the kickoff of those games.) UCF’s defense was dominant in that game. They held Auburn to 90 yards rushing on 44 carries, and sacked the Auburn QB six times! Yet the “experts” ignore UCF because of their weak conference. OK, perhaps the experts are right, but let’s find out. Maybe they will lose to Alabama by four touchdowns or more, but that will probably happen to any other team in the #4 hole anyway, so let’s “see what they got.”