Playoff Expansion Won't Take Away These Snubbed Conversations

Honestly, there has only been a few times where there was a huge outcry about a team being snubbed in the College Football Playoff. Typically they get it right even if there are a few disagreements from those who feel left out. That will likely not be the case when the Playoff expands to 12 teams soon. 

Usually the top four teams are fairly easy to identify because the criteria is so strict that you are debating a small amount of flaws between a small amount of schools. But when you are starting to split hairs between teams with multiple losses across a variety of conferences then it could get really dicey.

Going into this week's championship weekend, Georgia, Michigan, TCU and USC are pretty much universally agreed to be the schools most deserving of receiving the four berths. If they all win their conference titles this weekend, there will be no drama from the Selection Committee. Of course, if any of them lose then there will be a lot of debate about who deserves to get in, but that pool of prospects will revolve around a couple of candidates. 

Now let's look at how chaotic the 12-team format will make this process. For starters, the top ranked six conference champions are guaranteed a Playoff spot. Typically that would be the champs from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC plus the top ranked Group of 5 champ. Typically. The other six berths go to wildcard teams. Forget that we have the championship games on Saturday for a moment and just look at those six wildcard teams according to the current rankings. It would have Ohio State (ranked 5th), Alabama (6th), Tennessee (7th), Penn State (8th), Kansas State (10th) and Utah (11th) in the Playoff. The "first four out" would be Washington, Florida State, LSU and Oregon State.

LSU could state that they have beaten Alabama. Florida State then says, "yeah, but we beat LSU". Washington really hasn't beaten anybody except Oregon and Oregon State. Factor in the fact that the "next four our" consists of Oregon, UCLA, South Carolina and Texas and you realize the Pac-12 just has a cycle of who beat who. Meanwhile, South Carolina beat Tennessee and Clemson (who would be Playoff teams in this scenario) in back to back games.  

Now let's add those championship games back in and assume those games' favorites (Clemson, Michigan, TCU, USC and Georgia ... along with Tulane) win those conference titles. That adds losses to Kansas State and Utah (who are holding onto Playoff spots) as well as LSU (in that "first four out" scenario). Now how do you cut that? Kansas State, Utah and LSU would have four losses. Could Washington or Florida State work their way back in? Or could Utah (who currently is the only school to beat one of the current Playoff placeholders) cry foul that they had to beat USC twice to get a playoff spot. Would losing a conference championship be held against you as a normal loss?

Now, think about an upset. 

Imagine Purdue, who isn't ranked anywhere in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, beats Michigan. First off, would they then become one of the six highest ranked conference champs? Probably, though it would make for an interesting conversation if we had two really stout Group of 5 champs ... like last year with Cincinnati, Louisiana and Utah State. Second, that would then vault Clemson into a first round bye. Yeah ... 8th-ranked Clemson. What if Kansas State upsets TCU? Then Kansas State would also likely receive a bye. How far would Michigan and TCU fall? Michigan couldn't possibly fall below Ohio State who they spanked in Columbus just last week, right? That's also a huge deal because four schools get to host first round games so how they rank will be extremely vital.

Right now, Clemson is ranked 9th and Penn State 8th which means Clemson would have to travel north to play a cold weather game instead of in the warmth of South Carolina. Hey, that's part of the deal and something I am looking forward to ... but let's break down why Penn State would be ranked ahead of Clemson for a moment.

Both Clemson and Penn State have two losses. Clemson's were to South Carolina (18th) and Notre Dame (21st) while Penn State's were to No. 2 Michigan and No. 5 Ohio State. Clemson has beaten Florida State (13th) and NC State (25th) while Penn State has beaten zero ranked teams. Sure, Penn State lost to better teams than Clemson but they haven't beaten anybody either. Clemson also in this scenario would be ACC champions. That must be a huge tiebreaker when considering who gets to host this game. Penn State finished 3rd in their division.

The NCAA tournament has 68 teams and has similar debates about who gets No. 1 seeds, who got left out of the dance and where teams were seeded. Even a 12 team format in football will have those exact same debates except there will be the added drama of byes and home field games. Of course, the debates mean that we care and that their event and sport are being discussed. That's always a good thing.   

What Would the 12-Team Playoff Look Like With the Committee's Second Ranking?

 The College Football Playoff has announced their second ranking, so let's see how that would shake out with the future 12-team format.

BYES
1-Georgia
2-Ohio State
3-TCU
4-Oregon

FIRST ROUND
12-Tulane at 5-Michigan
11-Ole Miss at 6-Tennessee
10-Clemson at 7-LSU
9-Alabama at 8-USC

SECOND ROUND
USC/Alabama at 1-Georgia
LSU/Clemson at 2-Ohio State
Tennessee/Ole Miss at 3-TCU
Michigan/Tulane at 4-Oregon

So, what makes this interesting? For one, there's Alabama and Clemson right in the mix despite everyone declaring them dead. History doesn't mean anything when dealing with today's college teams, but know Georgia would have to play Alabama in a quarterfinal game is both exciting and feeling unfair. We'd also get Tennessee ... who was the top team last week ... playing the team the committee didn't respect in TCU. And due to the championship mandate of the byes, Michigan (No. 3) would play Oregon (No. 4) in the quarterfinal. 

So What Would the 12-Team Playoff Look Like With These Initial Rankings

 For over a decade, I've called for a 12-team playoff. We will get it soon, but not this year. With the College Football Playoff committee releasing their first rankings for the 2022 season, what would that 12-team playoff look like right now?

Here we go:

FIRST ROUND BYES
1-Tennessee
2-Ohio State
3-Clemson
4-TCU

Remember that the four highest ranked conference champions get the byes. Of course, there are no actual conference champions named, so we'll assume the top ranked team of each conference is the defacto champion.

FIRST ROUND GAMES
12-Tulane at 5-Georgia
11-Ole Miss at 6-Michigan
10-LSU at 7-Alabama
9-USC at 8-Oregon

There's quite the rub here. For one, we get two conference matchups of the four games. LSU-Alabama happens this week while we may be treated to a USC-Oregon game in December. Also, Tulane is the sixth highest ranked conference champion, so we get to see them take on ... AP #1 Georgia. 

What will be cool is to see playoff games between the hedges, at the Big House, in loud Eugene and at Bama. Even if it is in games we may have already watched.

SECOND ROUND GAMES

Oregon/USC vs 1-Tennessee
Alabama/LSU vs 2-Ohio State
Michigan/Ole Miss vs 3-Clemson
Georgia/Tulane vs 4-TCU

Is Daniel Snyder Really Selling?????

As a Washington Commanders fan, the news that Daniel and Tanya Snyder may be on the verge of selling some or all of the franchise gave the me most feeling of promise of my football team in a long, long time. I did have the feeling back in 2012 when RGIII was taking the NFL by storm and it turned out to be a false feeling of hope.

This could be, too.

If it isn't, we will soon be embarking on a great moment in the history of this franchise. Ever since Snyder bought the franchise and took control in 1999, a once proud franchise has been run like a cheap, rinky-dink organization filled with yes men and ego. On the field, the team has barely won -- just six playoff berths and two playoff wins in 23 seasons. Off the field, the organization has been the subject of Congressional inquiries, investigations into the workplace culture, constant battles over the team's former name, financial irregularities, letting the stadium turn into a dump, threatening to dish dirt about fellow owners and all kinds of missteps of the general running of the franchise. 

Fans ... and I'm one of them ... are done with him. I used to think that having an owner who was willing to spend would trump his off-putting nature, but that changed when his money wasn't helping to win and his actions were too disgusting to defend. Under his watch, he turned the team into not just a laughingstock but one fans weren't embarrassed to embrace.

So what happens if he actually sells the team? What should we, the fans, hope for?

A NORMAL FRONT OFFICE

First and foremost, this needs to become a workplace that people want to be a part of. It should go without saying but ... employees need to feel safe. Cheerleaders don't need to be asked to hang out with friends of Dan. No one needs explicit photos of themselves emailed all over the place. It isn't too much to ask to have an exemplary workplace where great minds and talents want to work together to make this franchise great. 

A NEW STADIUM

This is a big one for me. Obviously, FedEx Field is falling apart and was already an albatross of a stadium well before then. A new stadium is needed. What worried me is that the Commanders were going to end up with a second or third rate stadium because ... well ... that's the kind of guy Snyder is plus none of the local lawmakers wanted to really deal with the devil that is Snyder. What should be a race between locales in Maryland, Virginia and DC to lure the Commanders to their state/district turned into a hoarder trying to rent someone's B&B. My fear is that a stadium deal would be done under Snyder's watch and no matter who owned the team would be stuck with a newer, crappy stadium. A least a new owner could have better relationships with local politicians and architects (and fans) to give us the best stadium possible to compete for decades to come. There is already rumors swirling that the new owner may be able to built on the old RFK site, something Washington wasn't willing to do for Snyder.

HOPE WITH THE ROSTER

One of Snyder's worst points as a fan is how he meddled in football decisions. His wants usually went against what the football people felt was best and it hindered the organization's progress. The RGIII draft pick is a perfect example. Head coach Mike Shanahan didn't want Griffin III as his quarterback but Snyder pushed for it to be done. Despite the then-Redskins selecting RGIII with the No. 2 overall pick, Shanahan still drafted the guy he wanted, Kurt Cousins, in the 4th round of the same draft. Cousins, while now with the Vikings, is still in the league. RGIII has been out of the league for a couple of years and hasn't been a starter for quite some time. That isn't the only instance of Snyder falling in love with a player that the football people didn't want (the late Dwayne Haskins is another example). Every team misses on draft picks, but not all do so at the behest of an owner that runs his franchise where no one can push back. A new owner doesn't promise this will happen, but the hope is that it will. 

THE NAME

There will be a sizable section of the fanbase that will whine to the new owner to change the name back to the Redskins. Those people need to get it into their heads that this not only won't ever happen but it shouldn't ever happen. That's done. 

Having said that, is anyone really married to "Commanders"? Sure, the NFL and Nike and a lot of other folks have had to align with the current name because, well, it was Snyder's pick and we all had to deal with it. I will admit that I hated the name when it was revealed as a possibility and was a little pissed when it was chosen. Even as the team is halfway through the season, I still cringe when I say the Commanders name (and it feels even weirder typing it). If the name stays, it stays, and I will eventually just be all in on it because I have to. But if the new owner wants to, ya know, revisit some of the more popular suggestions (like RedWolves or Football Team) then I'd be all for that. 

CARE ABOUT US

One of Snyder's biggest problems is he cared about being the owner of the Redskins/Football Team/Commanders than about what he was before he owned them -- a fan. Not only did he routinely put an inferior product on the field, he gouged fans, let the stadium literally fall apart, sued fans, fought against anyone he felt went against him and then wasn't willing to really listen to the fans during the name change. The Commanders are the only team that suddenly has a large crowd for their opponents during home games, but it is heartbreaking for a franchise that once proudly proclaimed how long their season ticket waiting list was. For fans that watched Joe Gibbs and Jack Kent Cooke deliver three Super Bowl championships from 1982 to 1991 and was alongside the 49ers as one of the premiere franchises of that decade, the fans that have stuck around during the last 23 years deserve much better and should be applauded to stick with a franchise that has all but abandoned them. 

It is a fractured fanbase. Some are very angry that the Redskins name was retired and will never really root for the franchise again. Others have moved on to a more healthier NFL relationship. Some like the Commanders name and others hate it. But we all hate Daniel Snyder.