Mark WiedmerNow that it's official, now that there's no doubt which four schools will compete in this year's College Football Playoff, a single question begs asking: Do we want the four best teams, or do we want the four most deserving teams?
They aren't necessarily the same. Ohio State was picked over Penn State, which not only won the Big Ten title with a dramatic 38-31 comeback victory over Wisconsin late Saturday night, but also beat the Buckeyes 24-21 during the regular season.
Given the Nittany Lions have also won nine straight games, are they not at least somewhat arguably more deserving of a bid than Ohio State? The Buckeyes won neither their division nor their conference crown, and they edged Michigan in double overtime - on a controversial official's ball spot for a first down after a fourth-down play that would have handed the game to the visiting Wolverines.
Don't misunderstand me - with a gun to my head, I would always rank Ohio State above Penn State in terms of which team was best. But asked the most deserving team to make a playoff this season, I would also always answer Penn State because of that head-to-head win over Ohio State and also because it appeared the more sound football team throughout that game. That's especially true because the Buckeyes lost to the Nittany Lions because of two blocked kicks, which doesn't exactly scream flawless fundamentals.
And perhaps that's where deserving trumps best. Ohio State may be the second-strongest program in big-time college football behind Alabama. It has talent, speed, depth, experience, and a head coach in Urban Meyer who has won three national titles at two schools.
But the Buckeyes threw away the Penn State game - they led 21-7 in the third period - and were probably lucky to beat Michigan. Meanwhile the Nittany Lions, shackled with questionable NCAA sanctions in recent years over the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, have overcome serious scholarship reductions and a mountain of negative media coverage to go 11-2 and win what many believe is the toughest conference in the country.
This isn't to say there was much wrong with the selection committee's work. Three of the four teams - top seed Alabama, No. 2 seed Clemson and No. 4 seed Washington - won their league championships. Outside of the undefeated Crimson Tide, the semifinalists have one loss apiece.
And Penn State did get blown out by Michigan and lost narrowly to Pittsburgh, though Clemson also fell to the confounding Panthers.
Selection committee chair Kirby Holcutt, who's also the Texas Tech athletic director, seemed genuinely torn about Ohio State and Penn State, noting to ESPN that it was, "a detailed, difficult conversation," that went on past 1:30 Sunday morning, then resumed when the sun came up.
There was also Washington's nonconference schedule to consider, which was judged the second-weakest among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. But the Huskies buried Colorado in Friday night's Pac-12 title game, and their nine conference wins (including the title game) came by an average of 27.8 points. Alabama, by comparison, won its nine total Southeastern Conference games by an average of 25 points.
Still, the committee's earlier arguments about the comparative weight of league championships and strength of schedule took a bit of a hit with this one given Ohio State's lack of so much as a division title and Washington's incredibly weak worksheet outside its conference.
Or as Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby - whose conference was shut out of the playoff for the second time in its three years - noted Sunday: "We've told our schools you shouldn't be surprised if you don't get in if you play a weak nonconference schedule, and then somebody with a weak nonconference schedule does get in. It's just another case in which we need to seek clarification. (The committee has) a difficult job to do. We just need to know what the rules are."
Indeed, love or hate the old Bowl Championship Series formula based on polls and computer programs, at least you knew what the criteria were before the season started. (For what it's worth, though, the BCS matrix would have reportedly produced the same four teams as the committee this year.)
Yet if Alabama is really as good as most of us think the Crimson Tide is, none of it may matter. Bama gets Washington in the Tide's Georgia Dome home away from home on New Year's Eve. Then it gets to travel to Tampa, Fla., for the title game, where Houndstooth Nation should again own the venue.
Washington coach Chris Petersen was asked by ESPN about people holding up signs all season that proclaimed, "We want Alabama!"
"Sometimes you've got to be careful what you wish for," he said. "I didn't hold that sign up."
No, but his underrated Huskies could hold up the Tide's coronation as the best team of the 21st century.
Don't count on it, though. Instead, expect a repeat of last year's title game between Alabama and Clemson with a slightly less exciting result, the defending champs winning by 21 or more points. Because however deserving Penn State may have been to receive a playoff berth, no one at the moment looks more deserving of winning it all than the undefeated Tide.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.