UNSCRIPTED: COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Were the Selections Fair?

Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer

Being a sports fan encompasses a lot of drama, emotional highs, lows, and everything in between. With that being said, one thing that I left out in those encompassing words was the word opinion. Now you may ask “what does opinion have to do with sports”? Well, it has... A LOT TO DO WITH SPORTS! Fans, coaches, schools, students, and most anyone else that you can name, have an opinion on what occurred this past weekend as the ”powers to be” named the 12 collegiate teams that will be in this year’s CFP (College Football Playoff) tournament. Opinions abound, as the committee went about selecting the best teams to be in this year’s playoff and opinions as to how they selected the teams are running rampant! Cries of : Unfair, biases, money, brand, and many other words (I can’t mention here) have been thrown out! With the selections of 12 teams for this year’s tournament, many feel that the committee got it right for the most part (Except Alabama’s entitled folks) who feel that they should be included in anything postseason that represents the BEST of college football! Sorry Bama’ your 3-loss season didn’t quite cut it for when talking about the BEST teams in the country! (I’m going to catch some heat about this one...!) lol.

Okay so let’s take a look at the 12 teams that were selected: Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Arizona State, Texas, Penn State, Clemson, SMU, and Tennessee. You’ll see some traditional powerhouses (Ohio State, Georgia, Texas) , some long-time powers (Oregon, Penn St, Notre Dame, Clemson, Tennessee) and some surprises in (Boise State, SMU, Indiana, Arizona St). So, you have someone to cheer for in every category and that’s all that you or I could ask for as a fan! Many questions have been asked about why, who, and which college teams deserved to be in this play-off, and I’ll just say this when asked the question as to whether they got it right in the choices: YES, at least for this year! So be mad at me if you’d like, I can handle it! So, let’s take a look at the matchups in the 1st and 2nd Rounds and start salivating at the possibilities!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 20

8:00 PM #7 NOTRE DAME VS

#10 INDIANA (SOUTH BEND, IN)

SATURDAY DECEMBER 21

NOON #6 PENN STATE VS # 11 SMU (HAPPY VALLEY PENNSYLVANIA)

4:00 PM #5 TEXAS VS. #12

CLEMSON (AUSTIN, TEXAS)

8:00 PM #8 OHIO STATE VS. #9 TENNESSEE (COLUMBUS, OHIO)

TUESDAY DECEMBER 31st

#3 BOISE STATE VS 6/11 WINNER

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 1ST

1:00 PM #4 ARIZONA STATE VS 5/12 WINNER

5:00 PM #1 OREGON VS 8/9 WINNER

8:45 # 2 GEORGIA VS 7/10 WINNER

As you can see there are some great matchups, and it should be a lot of fun! Unfortunately, by the time this story goes to print, we will be starting our First-Round games and onto our Semi-Finals so many of you will have watched, argued, and said “See, I told you they shouldn’t have been invited” which always makes me laugh and is a valid argument! Enjoy the game folks and GO IRISH!