Over the 10-year course of the four-team college football playoffs, there was always potential to be some controversy over which teams got the bid over others, but up until this year, that had been mostly avoided, with there usually being four obvious playoff teams. In the last year of the four-team playoff format, many more teams were good enough to win a championship, which means the criticism would finally come to light for the last time.
Starting on Friday night, third-ranked Washington and fifth-ranked Oregon were set to play in the last-ever Pac-12 game. The two teams played earlier in the season in Seattle as Washington edged out a 36-33 W in a back-and-forth game. Since that game, however, Washington had struggled and Oregon looked dominant, and with the ranking of each team, it was essentially the second game of the unofficial college football playoffs. The winner is in and the loser is out. Washington came out firing, scoring a field goal and a touchdown on their opening possessions to take a 10-0 lead and put Oregon on their back. The Ducks bounced back with a field goal after struggling to crack the Washington defense on their first few tries, but Washington responded with two more scores to make it a 20-3 game. Oregon didn’t want to go home just yet, so they scored a touchdown at the end of the first half and again when they got the ball first in the second half to cut the lead to 20-17. With the momentum on their side, they got a stop and scored again to take the lead at 24-20. Washington took the lead back with two touchdowns to try to put the game out of reach at 34-24, but Oregon struck back almost immediately with a quick touchdown to bring it to 34-31. The Ducks needed a stop, but the winners of the first matchup solidified themselves as the better team, running out the clock for a win and a bid in the college football playoffs.
On Saturday morning, the first game of the day was between Texas and Oklahoma State. This game was never close, as Texas ran away with the game almost instantly, dominating in every phase of the game, opening up a 21-7 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 35-14 lead by halftime. Quinn Ewers completely dominated the Cowboys’ defense, throwing for 452 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception. Running back Keilan Robinson also added two touchdowns of his own, completing the 49-21 win. However, Texas was ranked seventh at the time, meaning they would likely need a little chaos to find themselves in the playoffs and luckily for them, they got it.
In the afternoon slot, Georgia and Alabama played in a rematch of the 2021 SEC and National Championship. Georgia took a quick 7-0 lead, but Alabama responded quickly with 17 unanswered points and a missed Georgia field goal to make it a 17-7 game. The teams traded field goals in the third quarter. Down by 10, with a 29-game win streak on the line, Georgia got a touchdown to cut the lead to 20-17 and put themselves within striking distance. Alabama then proceeded to take a methodical drive using the run game to drain the clock, ending in a touchdown to put the lead back at 10 points at 27-17. Georgia got another touchdown, but it was too late as Alabama won 27-24 to create a ton of chaos and controversy with the four teams.
In the late game, Michigan coming off the best win of the season against Ohio State, shut out Iowa 26-0 to claim their third straight Big Ten Championship, and Florida State beat Louisville 16-6 to complete an undefeated season. However, with their starting quarterback out for the year, the Seminoles were going to need to put on an impressive performance to state their case for the playoffs, and that didn’t quite happen, with their third-string quarterback only putting up 55 passing yards.
With six or seven teams being good enough for four spots, the debate was on, but the committee would have the final say. Michigan and Washington were undefeated conference champions and looked the part. They were both locked into the one and two seeds. Oregon with their second loss was essentially eliminated. That left five teams for two spots. Texas, Florida State, Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State were all hoping they would be in. The committee had said they wanted the four best teams, not the four most deserving teams and with the eyes of the sport on them, they made their choice. At the three seed, playing Washington, they selected one-loss conference champion Texas, leaving four teams for one spot. Florida State was the undefeated conference champ, Alabama was the one-loss SEC champion, Georgia was the one-loss two-time defending National Champion and Ohio State was the one-loss non-conference champ. In the end, they gave the nod to Alabama, setting them up for a heavyweight clash with Michigan. When it’s all said and done, we’ll be glad the 12-team system is coming next year, but until then, all we can do is embrace the chaos for a final time.
