The CFB Playoff Needs to Expand

Writer: Andrew Martin

In 2014, the last BCS National Championship was played, thus ending an era in college football. The new 4-team playoff system was an exciting and needed change for fans which eliminated controversial computer based rankings. Every year, the committee has had to make hard decisions on who to put in. Should they be politically correct and put in all conference champs? Should they put in the teams with the best resumes? Or do they reward teams like UCF who don’t play a strong schedule, but went undefeated? My problem with this system is why not incorporate all of that into who should make the playoff? To do so, the CFB playoffs would only need to change from four to eight teams.

Last Sunday morning, Dec. 3, we saw the unveiling of the final rankings on the season and who would make the playoffs. Heading into the reveal, we knew who the first three teams would be, but the fourth was a question mark. It came down to two conference champions in Ohio State, USC, and Alabama, who didn’t make it to their conference championship. When examining the criteria for who should get in, you want to look at three main things, resume, win/loss, and conference championship. USC was a little off the radar in this conversation due to having two losses, and not playing a very strong schedule, and that left them with their only argument piece as being conference champions. Ohio State was a two-loss team, played one of the hardest schedules this year, and managed to win their conference championship over #4 Wisconsin at that time. Alabama also only had one argument piece, they played a “cupcake” kind of schedule, and didn’t win their conference championship, but only had one loss.

With the real argument coming down to Ohio State vs. Alabama, or 3rd best in the SEC vs. best in the BIG 10, you have to take a more detailed look at their seasons. Alabama did play a very easy schedule this year, but they only had one loss, and that loss came to a very good Auburn team on the road. Ohio State on the other hand, played a tough schedule, and won their conference championship. However, the Buckeyes had two losses, and their biggest problem was one of those losses being a 31-point defeat to unranked Iowa. In the end the committee put Alabama over Ohio State, valuing win/loss over strength of schedule, and conference championships.

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The decision obviously upset some people, as two SEC teams were in. My proposal to improve the playoff is expand the number of teams that get in from four, to eight. That way you can include all power-5 conference champions in the playoff, and then there’s three at large bids available for teams in non-power-5 conferences, plus power-5 schools who didn’t win the conference championship. This year’s rankings are 1. Clemson, 2. OU, 3. Georgia, and 4. Alabama. With an eight-team playoff, Ohio state could be added as a 5 seed, and Wisconsin, a one-loss team could get in as the 6th. Followed by either Auburn, Penn State, or USC, and then you can include a team like #10 UCF who went 12-0 in a non-power-5 conference and won their conference championship.

Ultimately, the CFB playoff is about getting the best four teams in the playoff no matter their situation right now. However, if we have controversy every year about power-5 champs not getting in, and teams playing weak schedules, then why not expand to eight? Yes, I do understand that if it were expanded, there would still be plenty of controversy about the 9th and 10th best teams not getting in, but like I’ve been saying, the eight-team playoff would be able to contain all conference champions, plus three additional at large. We’ll always have controversy with this kind of stuff, but in today’s system where we have a playoff that allows teams to play for their chance to get to the title, why not let four more strong teams in to prove their worth?

The Power of the Mustache

Writer: Brandon Fuller

Source: Sports Illustrated

There are little things other than performance-enhancing drugs that can truly take an athlete to the next level. Well, that and a sick mustache. One man who has harnessed and truly displayed the raw might of a well-executed stache is none other than the walk on turned to a two-time Heisman candidate, Baker Mayfield.

The Sooners’ senior quarterback is now going on his third year as the primary slinger of the Oklahoma offense, and he isn’t looking to stop yet. At the end of the past two seasons, the de-facto Big XII Championship game has been played in the season finale against Oklahoma State, and in both of those games Mayfield pulled out a wild card… His Hulk Hogan-esque mustache. As you can guess, it was a decisive victory in both of those years.

Source: Sports Illustrated

The trend began in 2015 as the 10-1 Sooners trotted into Stillwater hoping to punch their ticket to the College Football Playoff with a Big XII Championship under their belt. All they had to do was beat Oklahoma State by any amount and it was theirs. The Bedlam game is always a wildcard though… Take a look back a 2014 for example as the heavily favored Sooners lost in overtime to the Cowboys. With that in mind, Mayfield took it upon himself to bring an edge to the game. In turn, him and his fellow QBs grew out some biker staches and blew the doors off the boys in orange and black.

Mayfield’s excellent mix of his pass and rush attack led him to scoring three touchdowns out of the team’s total of seven in this 58-23 bloodbath. Hell, he even pancaked a defensive back which led to Mixon walking in with the 66 yard TD.

Source: YouTube

If that doesn’t scream Heisman productivity, I don’t know what does, (but I digress). With such an efficient win, this had Mayfield thinking, “Hey, maybe this thing kinda worked.” A calendar year passes, and it has come time for a crucial Bedlam/Big XII Championship game once again. As you may have guessed, the stache made a huge comeback.

After an early season collapse, the Sooners had a chance to finish 10-2 with an undefeated Big XII record and a Sugar Bowl bid. This time, the showdown came back home to the “Palace on the Prairie” in Norman. The Crimson and Cream crusaders did not disappoint dropping the Cowboys 38-20. None of this was possible without the dramatic, drawn-out plays by Mayfield. His passing attacked pulled out a hat trick with 3 TDs including a 69 yard, impromptu BOMB to Dede “TD” Westbrook.

Mayfield had a pretty solid hunch that the Sooners were going to win because as soon as the game ended, he ripped off his pads displaying a homemade “Back to Back” Big XII Champions shirt he had been wearing the whole time.

Source: OU Daily

With the 2017 schedule looking as tough as ever with Ohio State and an additional, actual Big XII Championship Game at Jerry World, it will be fascinating to see how and when Mayfield brings out his glorious stache once again. Until then, we can only predict how the “new Sheriff in town” will perform in his next stache-ified showing.