Well, now that we know who won the conferences, it’s time to debate who belongs in the College Football Playoffs. I’ll start by saying I think this is the dumbest system possible, and too many teams get in. Yes, you read me right. I do not think putting more and more teams in to have more and more games is fun. The point of a playoff is to crown the best champion. Generally if I had my way, we wouldn’t be having arguments about the eleventh and twelfth teams. Teams that far from first really shouldn’t get a shot. In fact, if I really had my way, it would be more simple than that. Conference champions and teams that lost zero or one games would be in. Everybody else enjoy the Pop-Tart Bowl.

So, by my standard, Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Duke (LOL), Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss are in the conversation. With all due respect to JMU and Tulane, and Group of 5 team really should have went undefeated to get in. My system is not the system though. The top 5 conference champions get bids. So Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Tulane, and JMU get bids. Ok, fine, whatever. Other than winning a ridiculous conference title (more on that later), there is no human logic that can make an argument for Duke being in the playoffs. So after those five, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M, and Ole Miss are locks to me. That leaves three spots that frankly will go to teams I don’t believe deserve a shot.

Everyone seems ready to give Oklahoma a bid, and given that they beat Alabama in like the last month, they should get one over the Crimson Tide. I’m sorry that your conference has a ridiculous tie breaking system (still beats the ACC and Mountain West), Alabama is not better than maybe the fifth best team in the SEC. That leaves us with two spots for Miami, Notre Dame, Alabama, Texas, BYU, and Vanderbilt to argue over. For me, first things first, all the three loss teams are no’s. These teams are very good, but the season as a whole should mean something. That takes us from 4 to 2. BYU is out because the Big 12 is basically just the island of misfit toys right now, lacking a signature brand name team, let alone a group of them. Do we really think the conference is good? I don’t. Texas Tech might be, and they murdered BYU. Vanderbilt is a nice story and had a nice season. They’re wildly overrated. They’re probably the 7th best team in their conference, and 7th best teams don’t belong in. Yes, they beat everyone they should. That’s nice. Maybe the Gator Bowl this year? This leaves us with Notre Dame and Miami. I would put both of them in.

There’s going to be a lot of whining by SEC fans and media to give them like seven slots. Let’s talk about the SEC for a moment, and what they really did this year. Since getting sent home without their lunch money by Notre Dame last year, Georgia went 8-1 vs. the SEC, and 4-0 vs. Marshall, Austin Peay, Charlotte, and Georgia Tech. Since losing last year’s Las Vegas Bowl to USC, Texas A&M went 7-1 vs. the SEC, and 4-0 against UTSA, Utah State, Notre Dame (probably the conference’s best non-conference win), and Samford. Ole Miss lost their coach to a dysfunctional conference rival, but went 7-1 in the SEC, and 4-0 against Georgia State, Tulane (not bad, but G5), Washington State, and Citadel. Since losing last year’s Armed Forces Bowl to Navy, Oklahoma went 6-2 in the SEC, and 4-0 against Illinois State, Michigan (good win), Kent State, and Temple. Alabama came up a little short in last year’s Reliaquest Bowl to Michigan, but since they’ve gone 7-2 in the SEC, and 3-1 against Florida State (awful loss), Louisiana-Monroe, Wisconsin, and Eastern Illinois. Texas wants you to credit their brutal schedule, but they went 6-2 in the SEC including a disgusting loss to Florida and a blowout to Georgia, and 3-1 against Ohio State (spoiler, they lost), San Jose State, UTEP, and Sam Houston. Then there’s Vanderbilt, who went 6-2 in the SEC, and then piled up 4 wins against powerhouses Charleston Southern, Virginia Tech, Georgia State, and Utah State. Among the seven “powerhouses” in the SEC three won remotely relevant non-conference games. This conference is good because the bottom half of the conference stinks and these seven teams beat the hell out of teams no better than the bottom half of any other conference. The only reason you think the SEC is good is because you always think the SEC is good. It’s not. At most, it should get four bids. Nothing this conference did this year suggests that it was really that much stronger than any other conference.

So no, I wouldn’t even consider Alabama, Texas, or Vanderbilt for the playoffs. The committee will probably put Alabama in though, because of ESPN and cash. My guess is they will put Notre Dame in over Miami, for basically similar reasons. Notre Dame should get in first out of the three, because they’re the best team. Their wins over USC (who beat Oklahoma’s best win, Michigan), Pitt (Miami’s best win after opening night), Boise State (Mountain West Champions), and Navy (the team right behind Tulane and North Texas in the AAC) are basically better than the entire “good” group of SEC teams non-conference wins, other than A&M’s win over themselves (And A&M is in, period). Alabama had two really bad losses in their three, and while you can try to excuse one of them as an extra game with Georgia, it’s a game the conference plays for no reason (they don’t have divisions anymore, and they should) just to make cash. Sorry, that’s the truth. Miami is only in this conversation because of an opening night win over Notre Dame, which to me is more of a negative for Notre Dame than a positive for Miami. We watched Miami all season, we can see what they are. They lost a mid-October game to a very mediocre Louisville team and an early November game to a similarly mediocre SMU team. It was a bit late in the season to be losing to mid teams like them. They couldn’t even make their conference’s hilarious title game, won by an 8-5 Duke team. They did win ten games though, like Alabama, and they beat Notre Dame (Like A&M) and Florida (who Texas somehow lost to). Miami got worse as the season went on, but I would still put them in as the tenth best team in the country, with the two group of five teams getting to play a game as the 11 and 12 teams.

If I actually could pick the full 12 team field, it would be Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Miami, BYU, and Alabama. Since we have to put the G5 teams in, I’d make it Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Miami, Tulane, and JMU. Since I’m being realistic and this is probably already bought and paid for, I’ll say Indiana, Georgia, Texas Tech, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Oregon, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Alabama, Notre Dame, Tulane, and JMU. This is no way to pick a champion, but I don’t think that’s what’s driving this conversation anyway.