Hail to the victors?
Are we sure about that?
College football’s final four is set, with Michigan getting the nod Sunday as the No. 1 seed in the final rendition of the current playoff model before the field expands to 12 next season. After the Wolverines smacked Iowa around in the Big Ten championship game to get to 13-0, there was no doubt they’d be slotted in first.
Everyone likewise knew Pac-12 champion Washington (13-0) would be in the No. 2 slot. But at Nos. 3 and 4? The arguments about that exploded before Saturday’s games were even over and will rage on for weeks — years? — to come.
The selection committee went with Big 12 champion Texas at 3 and SEC champion Alabama at 4 — each team is 12-1 — and that means it left the ACC’s Florida State, 13-0, on the cutting-room floor. It’s the first time the playoff, which started in 2014, will go on without an unbeaten Power 5 champ.
Think the Seminoles got shafted? Think of the poor Wolverines. For all their fine work this season, and despite all they overcame to rise to No. 1 even as coach Jim Harbaugh missed six games serving two suspensions, their reward is a Rose Bowl date on New Year’s Day with the scariest four words in college sports: Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide.
Good luck with that, fellas. …
Why Alabama instead of Florida State at No. 4? Here’s the short answer, and it’s all you need to tell Skip from accounting when he brings it up in the break room.
The 13-person selection committee has a few ex-coaches on it. Those coaches were asked: Would you rather have to play FSU or Alabama? The coaches may or may not have laughed so hard, they fell out of their chairs. Suffice it to say, they made it clear to the rest of the committee that having to tangle with the Crimson Tide is a completely different animal. That carried a ton of weight. …
Still, you have to feel for FSU. It is grossly unfair to go 13-0 and be kicked to the curb.
“I am disgusted and infuriated,” coach Mike Norvell said in a statement.
“The committee failed college football,” athletic director Michael Alford chimed in.
Rough business. As if it weren’t rough enough, FSU will head to the Orange Bowl and face — yikes — Georgia, which opened as a 12-point favorite. …
The four-team model never made sense. It wasn’t about winning, or else FSU couldn’t have been left out. It wasn’t truly about “best four teams,” or else Georgia would be in this year’s four.
“We are 100% one of the best four teams,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.
He ain’t lyin’. …
When you’re Northwestern in 2023 and news comes in that you’re headed to Las Vegas for a bowl game, group texts among players and coaches instantly blow up with enthusiasm.
“You can tell that our guys are excited and the staff’s excited,” coach David Braun said.
The Wildcats (7-5) will line up against Utah (8-4) in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 23. The Utes are coached by Kyle Whittingham, who is in his 19th season — the longest current run for anyone outside of Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz — and has the reputation of being the best coach in the country who doesn’t work at one of the blue-blood superpowers.
A couple of years ago, when he was an assistant at North Dakota State, Braun took a professional-development trip to Utah to learn from Whittingham and his defensive coaches. As for his own staff, Braun said he anticipates no changes before the bowl game. Some changes likely will come after that.
“We’ll finish this thing off the right way,” he said. …
Anybody remember the 2018 Holiday Bowl? Northwestern stormed back from a 20-3 halftime deficit to beat Utah 31-20. There were Pat Fitzgerald-to-the-Packers rumors at the time. How things have changed. …
I filled out my Heisman Trophy ballot on Sunday. Strict rules prohibit me from revealing my top three before the award has been presented, but the smart cookies among you might be able to suss out my No. 1 guy from the info below. Don’t tell anybody!
My votes for the Davey O’Brien quarterback award went like this: 1. LSU’s Jayden Daniels, 2. Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., 3. Oregon’s Bo Nix.
For the Doak Walker running back award: 1. Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II, 2. Missouri’s Cody Schrader, 3. North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton.
For the Biletnikoff receiver award: 1. Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr., 2. Washington’s Rome Odunze, 3. LSU’s Malik Nabers.
And for the Jim Thorpe defensive back award: 1. Georgia’s Malaki Starks, 2. Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, 3. Air Force’s Trey Taylor.
