College Football Playoffs Set As Ohio State Gets Fourth Spot

Even though both Baylor and TCU had great seasons and, as the Inquisitr reported, made a strong case for being in the inaugural College Football Playoffs, neither team made the cut and were bypassed by Ohio State for the fourth spot in the playoffs. What once looked like a heavily Southeastern Conference playoff scene, the playoffs have four teams each from different conferences around the United States.

As Newsday reported, the four teams picked by the selection committee were:

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Florida State
4. Ohio State

College football experts thought that Ohio State would probably be picked over the Big 12 teams, TCU and Baylor, because many of them thought OSU had faced better non-conference teams during the season. Just as with the college basketball playoffs, one of the criteria for being selected was the strength of schedule.

The chairman of the selection committee, Jeff Long, said that OSU’s decisive win over Wisconsin, 59-0, on Saturday in the Big 10 Championship game solidified their spot in the playoffs.

“With the championship game, Ohio State demonstrated they’re a total team,” Long said. “With a conference championship in the Big Ten with a win over the western division champ Wisconsin, it was decisive for Ohio State to move into the four-spot.”

In addition, the lack of a Big 12 Conference championship game could have also been a factor in the committee bypassing TCU and Baylor.

“Ohio State’s performance in a 13th game gave them a quality win against a highly ranked team that allowed them to move into that four-spot.”

The Huffington Post reported the semifinal games will be played on New Year’s Day with top-seeded Alabama playing No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and No. 2 Oregon facing No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl. The winners will face-off on January 12 in the championship game, which will be played at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

The new playoff format is not without its critics, who wonder if the four-team playoffs need to be expanded to make them fairer. However, the initial College Football Playoffs games are set for this year and the heavily anticipated championship will be talked about thousands of times between now and the decisive game in Dallas.

Let us know your opinion on the selection process. Did the selection committee make the right pick by choosing Ohio State over TCU or Baylor? Should the playoffs be expanded to give more teams a chance at the championship?