The College Football Playoff Is Here!

 Welcome to the 12 team playoff!!

College football has been around since Rutgers beat Princeton 6-4 in 1869.  The Rose Bowl was the first bowl in 1902.  From that point until 1991, teams played a regular season schedule followed, maybe, by a bowl game.  The B1G had a rule for years that, even if conference champion, a team couldn't play in the Rose Bowl in back-to-back years.  The national champion was decided by the coaches poll and the AP poll after the season was completed. 

From 1992-1997 there was the "bowl coalition" and "bowl alliance" that strategically tried to pair teams in a bowl game that could help decide the national championship.  The issue with that was that the B1G and PAC-10 were contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl.  So in 1994, an undefeated Penn State team wasn't able to play Nebraska and in 1997, an undefeated Michigan team was not able to play Nebraska.  

The B1G and PAC-10, along with the Rose Bowl, agreed to be part of the process starting in 1998 with the Bowl Championship Series.  The BCS pitted the top two teams according to human polls and computer rankings.  This process win place for 16 seasons.  It wasn't without controversy as there were several seasons with multiple undefeated teams or several one loss teams vying for the two spots in the playoff.

The playoff was expanded to four teams in 2014, selected by a committee of college football minds.  The traditional bowls rotated hosting the semifinals with final moving throughout the country.  After ten years of the four team playoff, we've arrived at the 12 team playoff.  It only took 155 years, but we finally have a legitimate process to determine a national champion.

We start off this weekend with four teams hosting playoff games in their home stadiums.  The late December weather is going to be great in South Bend, State College, and Columbus.  

Indiana at Notre Dame - The playoff kicks off with the Battle of Indiana. They have played since 1991 and face off for only the second time since 1958.  Notre Dame has looked as good as any team in the country since their week two home loss to Northern Illinois.  Indiana rolled through a weak schedule, only falling to Ohio State late in the season.  It's going to be a great showdown tonight in South Bend.  I feel Notre Dame hangs on a great game thanks to a great run game and ability to get pressure on Kurtis Rourke.  

Southern Methodist at Penn State -  Penn State gets their Whiteout playoff game, at NOON on Saturday.  Big Game James Franklin managed to lose his two biggest games this season, to Ohio State and Oregon.  Can they beat SMU?  Penn State should be able to control the line of scrimmage.  The SMU offensive line is not very good and Abdul Carter and company should be able to apply pressure.  Penn State should roll to the quarterfinals and Boise State.

Clemson at Texas - Texas only played one good team all season, losing twice to Georgia.  Their best win is at 8-4 Texas A&M.  Clemson also lost to the best three teams they played before holding off SMU in the ACC title game.  Clemson is a big underdog, but there's no reason they can't go to DKR and beat the Longhorns.  The winner will be favored against Arizona State in the quarterfinals.  

Tennessee at Ohio State - The Buckeyes loss to Michigan three weeks ago still stings in Columbus, and it's going to show in the stadium.  There will be a lot of Tennessee fans making the short drive from Knoxville and they may have the largest visitor attendance ever in Ohio Stadium.  Thankfully with a "Scarlet Out", the orange may be hidden.  If Ohio State plays anything similar to three weeks ago they'll lose two home games in a row for the first time since 1990, when they lost to USC and Illinois.  Tennessee is 0-21 on the road vs ranked opponents since 2007.   Ohio State is 3-0 at home vs SEC schools.  The trends point to a Buckeye victory.... A Tennessee victory would be historic on many levels.  

The new season starts tomorrow night.  Home win, rematch win in the Rose Bowl, beat Texas in Dallas, revenge win over Georgia in Atlanta?  Awesome, cool, wow, have still lost four in a row.  November 29th, 2025 is all that matters at this point.