College Football Playoff Rankings 2014: Final Standings, Semifinal Predictions
Regardless of how the system to decide a champion works, college football just seems to generate controversy. The BCS wasn't good enough, so a selection committee was instituted to decide the Top Four teams for a playoff. Not surprisingly, there were too many deserving teams for so few slots.
Whether you agree or not with what the committee did Sunday, it's impossible to deny how much fun championship weekend turned out to be. All six of the top contenders took care of business, each making a real case as championship material.
The time for talking about what did happen is over, and it's now time to focus on what will happen. The Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are where all eyes need to be—those are the two semifinal games that will set up the title game on January 12.
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Sugar Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Ohio State
The one thing no one can dispute is Alabama's credentials as the No. 1 team in the nation. Nick Saban's crew answered every question coming into the season in resounding fashion, highlighted by the development of quarterback Blake Sims.
An unknown commodity out of spring camp, Sims turned in the most prolific season of any quarterback in Alabama history, per Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports:
On top of that, 'Bama has the nation's top receiver in Amari Cooper and a rushing attack that you can't game-plan for. T.J. Yeldon was held in check against Missouri with 47 yards on 14 carries, but Derrick Henry powered his way to 141 yards on 20 carries.
The defense has shown holes in the last two games. Specifically, Nick Marshall and Maty Mauk have been able to find big plays down the field. Missouri didn't have enough of those plays to make the game interesting, but Auburn dropped 44 on Saban's defense.
The Buckeyes are the perfect opponent for Saban in the semifinals, as they aren't a fast-paced offense and need the running game to have success. Despite what you might think after the Big Ten Championship Game, Ohio State is not going to keep playing at a high level with Cardale Jones at quarterback.
One reason for Jones' success against the Badgers is because Ohio State was able to run the ball so well. The Buckeyes had 301 rushing yards, four rushing touchdowns and averaged 7.9 yards per carry. As a result of that success, Wisconsin had to sell out in order to stop the run, and everything down the field was one-on-one.
Alabama has allowed three rushing touchdowns all year and the second-fewest yards per game and per carry, via Yahoo Sports. Those matchups that Jones exploited against Wisconsin aren't going to be there against a superior team.
Alabama 34, Ohio State 13
Rose Bowl: No. 2 Oregon vs. No. 3 Florida State
If you listen to former players talk, they almost unanimously say there is a process teams must go through before winning a championship. The first thing they say is you must learn how to win games, even if you're not playing your best, and go from there.
While Oregon has been one of the best programs in the country for years, it seems to have followed that process to completion in 2014. The Ducks have already conquered their biggest stumbling blocks over the last three years, defeating Stanford and Arizona this season.
On top of avenging its only defeat this season in dominating fashion against Arizona in the Pac-12 Championship Game, Oregon has the most dynamic player in the country playing quarterback. ESPN Stats & Info tweeted out how dominant Marcus Mariota has been this season before destroying Arizona on Friday:
You can add five more touchdowns to that total, putting Mariota at 53 on the season. This high-powered Oregon offense has been impossible to contain since the loss against Arizona on October 2, scoring at least 42 points in the last eight games.
Even though the offense gets all the accolades, Mark Helfrich's defense has been terrific in holding four of its last five opponents to under 20 points. While the schedule has helped that, Arizona was held 21 points below its season average Friday.
That will be what Florida State has to overcome, as the offense has been erratic this season. Jameis Winston goes from throwing four interceptions against a mediocre Florida team to throwing for 309 yards and three touchdowns against Georgia Tech.
In many ways, the disparity between those Winston performances perfectly sums up the Seminoles' season. It's not always pretty to watch, but you can't argue with the final results. However, they are dealing with a different animal in Oregon.
The highest-scoring offense Florida State has seen so far this year was Georgia Tech, which averages 37 points per game. However, the Yellow Jackets are one-dimensional because they don't throw the ball. They aren't necessarily easy to stop, but there's not a lot of surprise in what they do.
Oregon averages 46.3 points per game, ranks 11th in passing yards per game (308.9) and 22nd in rushing yards (237.3). The only team to slow down the Ducks this year was Arizona, which was eight weeks ago.
You can only flirt with disaster for so long before getting burned. Florida State's light will be extinguished at the Rose Bowl.
Oregon 37, Florida State 23
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