The College Football Playoff Rankings are here and the 12-team field is set. With no re-seeding set to happen within the 12-team bracket, some teams may have liked their placement while other teams may have found themselves wishing they were ranked a bit differently.
Fox’s Joel Klatt didn’t hold back with his take on who he thought got a raw deal.
“Horrendous” Joel Klatt Vehemently Calls Out Playoff Selection Committee
When the rankings were revealed, one team seemingly got the lower end of the stick than the others. And one team got the proverbial easier road.
Of course, it depends on where you stand in terms of receiving a first-round bye or not, but the fans were decidedly lenient upon Penn State’s placement and incredibly frustrated with Oregon’s ranking.
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Klatt himself took to the internet to let his frustrations out for the Ducks.
“What a horrendous job this committee did,” Klatt tweeted. “The team that was penalized the most was @oregonfootball and the team that was rewarded the most was @PennStateFball… I guess the Ducks should have laid down in the 4th… Just atrocious.”
Klatt’s reference to Oregon and Penn State is simply to understand. On Saturday night, Oregon defeated Penn State to win the Big Ten Championship, securing their 13-0 record and preserving their spot as the No. 1 seed in the bracket.
However, with the way the first-round matchups fell, it appears that Penn State got an ‘easier road’ to the semifinals than Oregon.
Penn State will open up with a home game against SMU, a team that lost to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game, and then (with a win) would play Boise State, the Group of Five representative in the playoffs.
For Oregon, they have to wait until January 1 to play the winner of Tennessee vs. Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. The Vols and Buckeyes are largely seen as the two ‘potential scariest’ opponents to play coming out of the first-round games.
The opposing argument is just this: Oregon got a first-round bye and is already in the quarterfinals, whereas Penn State still has to win four games to win the national title, compared to Oregon’s three.
The committee was always going to come out on the losing end when the rankings were revealed, but I doubt they thought it was going to be Oregon fans upset about a No. 1 ranking.
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