North Dakota State was playing its 14th game of the 2016 season Friday when it lost to James Madison in the FCS semifinals. The Bison also were playing their third playoff game of the year. More
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin is being pursued by Florida Atlantic to become the Owls’ next head coach, two people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Friday night. More
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Throughout the course of the past three weeks College Football Playoff committee chair Kirby Hocutt maintained that Ohio State had a significant lead over Penn State in the rankings.
That’s the reason it became impossible to imagine Penn State could hop Ohio State in the final playoff rankings that actually determine the four teams who play in it.
And ultimately, Penn State, who finished No. 5, didn’t make the jump.
But how close did Penn State actually get to pushing Ohio State? Were they ever directly compared?
“We talked about it,” Hocutt said on Sunday after the reveal. “I would tell you that Penn State significantly elevated themselves in our conversation after their performance last night. Having a chance to watch, with the other members of the Selection Committee, that second half performance, incredibly impressed and significantly elevated them into our conversations.
“Again, a lot of discussion and detail on who was deserving of that No. 4 spot. I had said I think a number of weeks earlier that in the eyes of this Selection Committee, Ohio State was a better football…
Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Grapevine, Texas, right about now.
Chalk held during championship weekend, Clemson providing the final piece More
Between Tuesday night and Friday afternoon, the prediction of a scenario involving the results that actually played out Friday and Saturday would have drawn a yawn. More
INDIANAPOLIS — When the top four teams won this weekend, the College Football Playoff Selection Committee won a reprieve. The 12 representatives who will bask in the glow of their computer screens on Selection Day don’t have to choose among equals.
One can argue that No. 4 Washington’s 41-10 rout of No. 8 Colorado, coupled with No. 3 Clemson’s 42-35 defeat of No. 23 Virginia Tech, means that the Huskies and Tigers should switch. But it’s hard to argue against rewarding the only four Power 5 teams that finished the season with one loss or fewer.
No. 7 Penn State can make a compelling case, given that it won the Big Ten by a score of 38-31 over No. 6 Wisconsin on Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium and defeated No. 2 Ohio State during the regular season. But the Buckeyes won’t be the first team to lose and advance beyond a team that beat them.
Florida State won the 1993 wire-service national championship over Notre Dame, a result that will send former Irish head coach Lou Holtz’s blood pressure off the chart to this day. Seven years later, the Seminoles lost to Miami yet finished ahead of the Hurricanes in the BCS standings. It didn’t help the young BCS’ credibility when Oklahoma pounded Florida State in the national championship game.
Now, in Year 3, the credibility of the College Football Playoff will be tested on Selection Day. Those of us who like sports because there are clear-cut winners and losers hoped for no upsets and hoped the committee wouldn’t have to make an impossible decision. After Penn State won Saturday night, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany refused the opportunity to pick among his constituents.
“I don’t know what it means,” Delany said. “Is the Clemson game over?”
The Tigers had won.
“All the votes are in,” Delany said. “I’ll be watching like everybody else.”
If No. 5 Michigan is mad about playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl, then the Wolverines should have done better than 2-2 on the road.
Penn State could, like No. 10 USC, make a case that it is one of the four best teams in the country on Dec. 3. Picture a world, if you will, in which the roles this weekend were reversed. Penn State would be No. 2 and Wisconsin No. 5, and No. 6…
ORLANDO, Fla. — Clemson entered Saturday’s ACC Championship Game against Virginia Tech in the enviable position of having its College Football Playoff fate in its hands.
Unlike Penn State and Wisconsin, the Tigers didn’t need to convince the committee to have a last-second change of heart at the expense of another deserving team. Clemson also had no fear whatsoever that its rightful place in the top four could be usurped in the event of an especially persuasive performance the Badgers or the Nittany Lions — something that couldn’t be said, definitively, for Ohio State, or Washington. And unlike Michigan, the third-ranked Tigers didn’t have to pray for a miracle.
The only thing Dabo Swinney’s team had to do to assure it would play on New Year’s Eve was beat the Hokies — and beat the Hokies it did. But while the Tigers’ 42-35 victory at Camping World Stadium was everything it needed to be with respect to getting into the playoff field, it also revealed a host of flaws that could prove disastrous regardless of who they face in the national semifinal.
“There’s no question this team right here is incredibly deserving of where they are,” Swinney said of his players after the game. “They’ve earned everything they’ve gotten. It’s never been easy.”
In front of a Clemson-leaning crowd of 50,628, the Tigers (12-1) were unquestionably the superior team from the start, and there were several times throughout the game, which they led by as many as 21, when they appeared poised to blow it wide open — and in those moments, they looked every bit the part of a national champion.
But Clemson, for all its trying, could never pull away, and repeatedly allowed Virginia Tech (9-4) back in the contest long after the Hokies should have been put out of their misery. And it wasn’t until Cordrea Tankersley intercepted a Jerod Evans pass at the Clemson 11 with 1:11 to play that the Tigers faithful could finally breathe a sigh of relief, their team’s future finally secure.
“We needed a turnover,” Tankersley said. “The only way we knew we could win the game was if we won the turnover margin. Credit to our defensive line for getting pressure, (forcing) the quarterback to get the ball out quick.”
Overall, Clemson’s top-10 defense “held” Virginia Tech to 386 yards — 67 under the Hokies’ season average — and did win the…
And when the dust settled, the favorites took care of business on Championship Weekend and left us with a much clearer playoff picture than we had a few days ago.
No. 1 Alabama certainly locked up its spot, routing Florida 54-16 to complete a 13-0 regular season and win another SEC title for Nick Saban.
No. 3 Clemson likely sewed up its berth, as well, though with a much less convincing 42-35 win over Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game.
No. 4 Washington blasted No. 8 Colorado 41-10 on Friday in the Pac-12 championship game, making just about the strongest case it could’ve hoped to make to stay in the top four.
Those three wins surely doused the hopes of Michigan, sitting at No. 5 behind all those teams and No. 2 Ohio State, who was idle and beat the Wolverines in their head-to-head showdown.
The only remaining intrigue lies with No. 7 Penn State, which added a quality win over No. 6 Wisconsin in Saturday’s Big Ten championship game. The Nittany Lions are now 11-2 conference champs and boast…
It sounds like the perfect weekend, everyone gathered around the television to watch football.
But, in this case, the 12 men and women of the College Football Playoff selection committee have convened in Grapevine, Texas, for some potentially headache-inducing work.
With conference title games continuing across the nation through Saturday night, they will take one more look at the top teams and maybe debate into the early hours before voting on who gets to vie for the national championship.
“You know, there are number of legitimate contenders who could stake a claim to being in those top four spots,” committee Chairman Kirby Hocutt said. “The committee takes its work very seriously.”
At least one piece of the puzzle is in place.
No. 4 Washington took care of No. 8 Colorado for the Pac-12 title Friday night, the Huskies making their argument for a slot in the semifinals. But the overall picture remains fuzzy, particularly in the Big Ten.
No. 2 Ohio State and No. 5 Michigan, despite their lofty rankings, did not even qualify for the conference championship game. Instead, sixth-ranked Wisconsin will face No. 7 Penn State in Indianapolis. Ohio State is 11-1; Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan are 10-2.
If the Badgers win, you could make an argument for keeping them out of the playoff in favor of Ohio State, which prevailed in Madison during the regular season.
If Penn State wins, the whole thing becomes a lot messier because the Buckeyes’ only loss was to the…
The College Football Playoff is the only thing that really matters this weekend.
Championship weekend is all about putting the playoff puzzle together. What if this team loses? What if this team wins? Two Big Ten teams? Three? Who is in?
The selection committee makes its big reveal Sunday.
Assuming Alabama and Ohio State are safely in the field, five scenarios to know going into the final weekend of college football’s regular season:
WHAT IF WASHINGTON AND CLEMSON WIN?
The selection committee uncorks a few bottles of wine and gets to sleep an extra hour Sunday.
Clemson was No. 3 in the last committee rankings and Washington was No. 4. The committee said Michigan was a really close fifth, but the Wolverines do not play while the Huskies can add a victory against Colorado and a Pac-12 title. The Huskies should be just fine.
The only intrigue on Sunday would be if the lack of a conference title drops Ohio State from No. 2 to three or four.
WHAT IF WASHINGTON LOSES?
Colorado, which is eighth going into the…