Wow. The overwhelming show that was the first college football playoff makes you wonder why no one thought of it before now.
Wait, scratch that. Everyone thought of it, but no one knew it would produce the kind of theater that was Ohio State’s late-night/early-morning 42-35 win over top-ranked Alabama.
But beyond the Buckeyes and the Oregon Ducks, who won the other semifinal, there have been a ton of winners beyond the team with the most points at the end of any of the 1,206 bowl games, give or take.
Let’s review some of the biggest.
* TCU. Credit to Gary Patterson and Co. for taking the high road during the entire College Football Committee debacle. Unlike Baylor coach Art Briles, who said the committee needed more Texans and more Southerns (that claim made sense for Davy Crockett; as a lament against the committee it seems somewhat folksy), Patterson talked little and prepared for what he could control. Patterson’s Horned Frogs were merciless and magnificent in an overwhelming destruction of Ole Miss. The Frogs all but cemented the No. 5 spot in the polls, and while that’s little consolation for a team that was in the playoff heading into the final poll and fell three spots after winning 55-3 in its final regular-season game, the Frogs likely will be no worse than preseason No. 2 and control their destiny next year. Allegedly.
* Georgia Tech. What a finish for the Yellow Jackets, who rallied to beat rival Georgia, had Florida State in their grasp before the Seminoles did some crazy FSU things and then smacked Mississippi State in the Orange Bowl. Want to know the ultimate way to handle hot-seat talk? Well, ask Paul Johnson, who started the season on a bubbling cauldron and triple-optioned his way to a win over Tech’s biggest rival, a division title, an Orange Bowl trophy and a contract extension. Happy New Year indeed.
* Non-SEC fans. The above beatdowns of the Magnolia State schools and LSU’s lacklusterness (we may have made that word up) give some credence to overrated calls. Yes, Georgia beat Louisville and South Carolina beat Miami, but that falls on deaf ears. Couple that with late-game collapses by Auburn, Alabama and LSU and you could swing a dead cat and not hit someone thumping his chest that the SEC was on the downslide. To that we say, enjoy the moment, SEC hater, because as bad as it was — and it was so bad for the West for the last couple of days that even Johnny Manziel looked at the SEC bowl results and said, “Man, that’s tough to handle” — here’s thinking it’s more fad than trend.
So step away from the ledge, SEC fan. It’s going to be OK. Your league will be fine.
The SEC entered the bowl season with a target on each of its participating teams’ backs and did not answer the challenge. And several schools — Alabama, Auburn and LSU — likely entered bowl games with more than a little bit of arrogance that proved costly.
The SEC also faced some very good teams. TCU is no joke and Georgia Tech is salty. Good for them.
But know this: The SEC still will have the most players drafted this year and still will have eight or more teams in the top 20 of the recruiting rankings come February.
Relax, and to the victors come the spoils of the social media masses. Yes, we all saw the Twitter barrage and even enjoyed a few of them. (Personal favorite was: “BREAKING NEWS: Since there is no SEC team in the championship, ESPN has announced the game will be on ESPN3.”)
This is not to discount the effort and execution of TCU or Ohio State or Tech or Wisconsin or any of the teams that beat SEC bowl foes. Good job and good on you.
But if you think a bad 36 hours changes the power structure in college football, well, good luck with that.
* Tennessee fans. First, the Johnny Vols Fans everywhere got to look forward to another game Friday — and a large percentage of the Vols Nation landed in Jacksonville for the occasion. Then the Volunteers handled their business and got a three-hour 2015 stump speech for what will be soaring expectations in a whipping of Iowa. Finally, UT fans everywhere got a fond reminder of what “Third-and-Chavis” looks like in Nashville, and LSU defensive coordinator and longtime Vols DC John Chavis worked his Mustang magic that allowed Notre Dame to stroll down the field for the game-winning field goal. Good times. It’s always good to see old friends around the holidays, right? Now the folks at Texas A&M can become familiar with the defensive schemes of The Chief that are simply disruptive on first and second down and self-destructive on third down. UT fans now embrace the altered rap theme “Third down for what.” When Chavis was running things it was “third down and what the heck.”
* Michigan fans. Yes, the Wolverines missed the postseason, but this will be the last time. Michigan landed its top target in Jim Harbaugh — heck, he would be the top target of every college program save maybe three and every NFL team save maybe a half dozen and will soar sooner rather than later. Know this: Harbaugh is the type of program-changing hire that Nick Saban was at Alabama, and we all know how that turned out.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.