Quote:
Originally Posted by MinivanDriver
That's not a very convincing argument. While mentioning OSU's loss to OU by several scores, you omitted their dry gulching at the hands of Iowa. Iowa.
Also, I'm pretty sure that the committee also remembered OSU's 31-0 pantswetting against Clemson in the previous year's Fiesta Bowl. I mean, you're critiquing Clemson's SOS, but Clemson utterly cleaned OSU's clock.
To be sure, the previous season shouldn't figure into the analysis of the current season. But three different routs in the course of a year doesn't exactly instill confidence in a committee that is supposed to pick quality matchups.
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I was quoting the expert who wrote the column, who said that Ohio State would have been in the play-offs if its schedule would have been like Alabama's, with a cake walk scheduled instead of Oklahoma.
The expert had an excellent point. Without the Oklahoma loss, the committee likely would have discounted Ohio State's loss to Iowa (which beat Iowa State on the road during the regular season, before Iowa State subsequently defeated Oklahoma on the road, and Iowa beat the ACC's Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl), as J.T. Barrett was playing on a bum knee that required surgery, and it was a road game following Ohio State's victory over a powerful Penn State team the week before.
Ohio State's wins over Wisconsin, Penn State and Michigan State, which Ohio State stomped, were better than ANY win on the Alabama regular season schedule. And, of course, Alabama had no championships on its record, not even a division championship let alone a league championship. Ohio State won the toughest division in NCAA football this past season, and the league championship of the toughest league.
The committee simply could NOT have picked two SEC teams if Ohio State had not lost to Oklahoma.
As for Clemson, it's ugly loss to Syracuse, and not stellar performance against Alabama, proves it was not a team of the same caliber as it was with Deshaun Watson, who, prior to his injury, had one of the best rookie QB performances in NFL history.
With a healthy Barrett, Ohio State might have very well defeated Clemson in a play-off game this past season. Ohio State beat USC, 24-7, in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State was a much better team this past season than Syracuse, and, in retrospect, its schedule was much tougher than that of Clemson, especially given the bowl losses of Auburn (to UCF, giving pause about the quality of the SEC and Clemson) and Miami (which lost to Wisconsin by 10 points on its home field). Wisconsin, Penn State, and Wisconsin all won their bowl games.
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