So thank god for the playoff. Thank god it arrived when it did, sparing America from a truly idiotic melodrama over whether 12-1 Alabama or 12-1 Oregon should have gotten the shaft while the other advanced to face undefeated Florida State. Regardless of what you think of the outcome, thank god that Baylor, TCU, and Ohio State got the full accounting they deserved in the room where an actual decision was made, instead of being exiled to a purgatorial on-deck circle by a Rube Goldberg machine with no fail-safe. The annual imbroglios that defined the BCS era were always frustrating; now, they seem like barely comprehensible artifacts from a simpler, stupider time.
The playoff has already given us so much more. In place of a narrowly defined debate that relied on random upsets to generate intrigue, the final month of this season delivered consequential games on a weekly basis in every major conference even absent a single earthshaking surprise. Eight teams made it to the final weekend with at least quasi-realistic playoff hopes intact, and they took the field in six games with direct playoff ramifications knowing they couldn’t survive a loss. By late Saturday night, the Crimson Tide, Ducks, and Seminoles had all effectively clinched their places in the bracket, and the suspense was only beginning to reach a fever pitch. The debate over the final spot consumed Twitter, talking heads, and coaches alike, right up until the formal unveiling of the bracket on Sunday. Nothing about Ohio State’s ascension into the final four felt like a foregone conclusion.
