The Appetizing Road Ahead
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What is more appetizing than what’s ahead in football both college and the NFL?
The tournament is set for the collegians while the final four weeks of the NFL regular season are coming up. Those are, finally, the crucial weeks. See, no one really remembers or considers the early games when experts were making judgments and declarations.
They meant nothing. Now it does.
It’s not even that simple at this stage.
The College Football Playoff is all set with the 12 teams who will battle it out to determine the national champion. No one is ever happy with the arrangement. As long as a committee decides on rankings, there is always complaints that a team is rated too high, too low, or should, or should not be seeded as one of the four who get a first round bye. Who’s in, who’s out. It’s exhausting.
The CFB began with eight teams completing, now it’s up to 12, and believe it or not, there have been cries that the field should include 64 schools. The NCAA basketball tournament, known as March Madness, has a field of 68 teams and that is expected to increase. What all that does is say that earning the right to play in postseason is no longer special. If you have a decent season, you’ll make it. You probably won’t last very long but you made it. If football ever goes to 64 it’ll make the playoff a joke. I do feel that a 16-team format would work the best to eliminate four teams who avoid a first-round matchup.
Actually, I think this year’s playoff is maybe, the best it’s ever been. Fair and sensible.
The two major issues involved Notre Dame.
Both ND and Miami lost two games, but the Hurricanes beat the Irish in their head-to-head showdown. Miami got the nod which made total sense. But then the question became how did Alabama, with three losses after their thrashing against Georgia in the SEC title game, deserve a bid over Notre Dame. Good question. But the Crimson Tide got in, and Notre Dame was left out.
Tough call, but Alabama’s third loss came in that extra conference championship battle that all teams didn’t have to play.
‘Bama was 1-1 with the Bulldogs, the SEC champ, so I don’t think they should have been penalized for that extra setback.
What is disturbing is that Notre Dame then refused to play in a Bowl game. They obviously sulked about their omission. Why wouldn’t the players want to finish in victorious fashion in a good Bowl matchup, the way it used to be?
And why would the University pass up a handsome payday? It’s bad form.
So the committee did the right thing, and after Indiana shocked Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game to earn the top seed, there was no question that the Hoosiers, one of the great stories in recent years in college football, deserved to sit at the top.
We all knew the Buckeyes were the best. Frankly I expected their experience playing these kind of games, and immense tradition as a Big Ten power would carry them through in the battle of unbeatens. But Indiana prevailed to complete a 13-0 dream regular season.
Folks are always curious about Alabama, a perennial power under Nick Saban. The Tide got off on the wrong foot against Florida State, turned it around on the heels of a huge win at Georgia, dropped only one game (vs. Oklahoma), before getting smashed in the rematch with the Bulldogs in the SEC title game. Three losses usually translate into a no-show in the playoffs, but the Tide managed to land a spot.
To those who declare postseason a tournament consisting of the same big-time powers each year, Tulane and James Madison landed the final two spots.
Of course, there will be Bowl games galore in the coming weeks. All you have to do is win 6 games to be eligible. So it’ll be a few weeks before the championship tournament gets underway.
Then we can say, let the games begin.
In the NFL there are no committees to decide the fate of a team.
It’s all in the record, complete with tiebreakers.
A week ago, fans in Pittsburgh were calling for the head of head coach Mike Tomlin. The Steelers, with aging Aaron Rodgers at quarterback and an unproductive defense were slipping and slipping badly. But lo and behold, one week later, the Steelers beat the Ravens in Baltimore and regained the AFC North lead by a game.
Things change and they change dramatically fast in the NFL, and one week has no relation to another. Those two will clash again in Pittsburgh in the final game so no one has won a thing as of yet.
Look around the league and you’ll see the same story, for the most part. With four games remaining there is still time for all the contenders. Yes, some of them may have to run the table and win them all, but it’s been done before and could happen again.
Take Kansas City. The Chiefs have had a mediocre season at best, and after losing to Houston last Sunday night, it would be natural to bury them. But consider, the Chiefs, like the Ravens and yes, the suddenly revived Miami Dolphins are all 6-7 on the outside looking in. The last team that would earn a postseason berth if the season ended today, would be the Houston Texans, who are 8-5 and only a game behind Jacksonville in the AFC South. So, the Chiefs, along with Baltimore and Miami are only two losses back of the seventh and final team in the AFC playoff derby. With four games remaining you can see how things could change. I’m not saying they will, but they could, and maybe the outsiders have to win them all, but it’s a possibility and you just mathematically can’t count them out as much as it appears their chances are dim.
The fact is, all teams have their ups and downs during the year, games they lose they should have won, games they win they should have lost, and games that are unexpectedly close.
I was going to list the significant matchups for each week the rest of the way. But I had to stop because there were too many to list. Head-to-head battles of division contenders, games between leaders of different divisions, and pairings of teams from each conference that could be Super Bowl-worthy.
All of those as well as games between haves and have nots that look like a walk in the park but turn out to be shockers. There are teams that are out of contention that would like nothing more than to ruin the season of those in good shape. Winning those kinds of games can make a season for those who are down and out.
Let’s remember, key injuries will always be a factor.
We’ll follow the trail as it gets to its finish. But keep in mind that the final solution to the grand puzzle of the NFL playoffs likely won’t be decided until the last week of the regular season.
Appetizing, indeed.
