Winners and Losers of Selection Sunday
The four teams bound for the second ever College Football Playoff seemed like a foregone conclusion as we entered the sport's version of Selection Sunday.
But that didn't mean the day wasn't without the typical drama and controversy that fans have come to expect.
From the seeding of the four teams that will square off for the national championship later this month to the selections of the New Year's Six and standard bowl matchups, some fanbases will be pleased with their draws this weekend.
Others, though, will be frustrated with the way things turned out in the eyes of the committee, the conferences and the bowl reps.
Here are the biggest winners and losers of Selection Sunday in college football. Feel free to nominate your own selections in the comments below.
Loser: Oklahoma
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Oklahoma was able to relax during a tense conference-championship Saturday with its outright Big 12 title already intact. The Sooners held the No. 3 spot in the playoff committee's last set of rankings, so a berth in the final four seemed all but guaranteed.
On Sunday, Oklahoma found out it had been jumped by Michigan State, which won a dramatic Big Ten title game Saturday night against a previously undefeated Iowa.
Now, instead of playing close to home against Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, the Sooners are No. 4 and will face No. 1 Clemson in the Orange Bowl—all the way in Miami.
The matchup against unbeaten Clemson isn't necessarily a bad one for Oklahoma, considering the red-hot Sooners opened as 3.5-point favorites for the game, per Odds Shark. Bob Stoops' team will be quite familiar with the style of offense Clemson plays after its successful campaign in the Big 12.
"I could care less about No. 3 or No. 4," Stoops said, per Joshua Friemel of the Dallas Morning News. "If you're good enough to win you're going to have to play the next best team that won the next game. You're not avoiding anybody once you get in this situation."
However, Oklahoma's fans will undoubtedly be frustrated with having to travel some 1,500 miles to South Florida for the semifinal instead of making the 193-mile trip between campus and AT&T Stadium. The Sooners could've played a virtual home game if they had stayed at No. 3.
Winner: Alabama and Loser: Michigan State
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After Alabama claimed its second straight SEC championship on Saturday, there was some buzz for it to grab a No. 1 overall seed in the playoff.
But the Crimson Tide remained at No. 2, and they might be better for it from a matchup perspective by avoiding Oklahoma.
As Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports noted on Twitter, Nick Saban's team does well against the power, pro-style type of team that former Saban employer Michigan State will bring to the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Eve.
Mandel is absolutely correct. Dating back to the 2012 season, the last six teams that have beaten Alabama—Ole Miss twice, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Auburn and Texas A&M—have employed some sort of spread offense. This year, Alabama's elite defensive front suffocated talented pro-style offenses such as Georgia, Arkansas and LSU.
That's not to say Michigan State isn't a great team with plenty of big-time wins this season over highly ranked opponents. (The Spartans also have that "team of destiny" magic working in their favor, too.) But this Cotton Bowl is shaping up to be a physical matchup, and Alabama wins more than its fair share of those.
Winner: Iowa
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Iowa was a goal-line stand away from pulling off an undefeated regular season and clinching a spot in the College Football Playoff on Saturday night.
The Hawkeyes won't be in the final four, but they're getting a tremendous consolation prize—their first trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl in 25 years.
There were some fears that Ohio State, with its lone loss to Michigan State, would perhaps jump Iowa in the eyes of the Rose Bowl if the Hawkeyes lost the Big Ten Championship Game to the Spartans. But the Granddaddy of Them All is going with Kirk Ferentz's team after the committee kept Iowa ahead of Ohio State in Sunday's Top 25.
"The Rose Bowl rep in charge of that pick reiterated to me this week that the Rose will pick the highest-ranked Big Ten team in the selection committee rankings barring an extreme circumstance. Picking the highest-rated team takes the heat off the Rose Bowl, which is a partner with the Big Ten, and the Big Ten is a whole conference, not just Ohio State.
"
Ohio State is a bigger brand nationally than Iowa, and the defending national champion might have made for better TV ratings in a Rose Bowl matchup with Stanford. But the bowl stuck to its word, and now Iowa fans can celebrate a trip to one of the best postseason games outside the playoff.
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Winner: Oklahoma State
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The team that benefited the most from Baylor's bizarre loss to Texas on Saturday was none other than the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who lost back-to-back games to end the regular season.
By dropping to three losses on the season, Baylor took itself out of the running for a New Year's Six bowl.
That opened the door for the Big 12 to send Oklahoma State in its place, because the conference uses its own standings instead of the committee rankings to determine its representative in the Sugar Bowl, as Ralph D. Russo of the Associate Press alluded to.
Now, the Cowboys will face Ole Miss in New Orleans in what should be a fun matchup between two high-powered offenses.
Even though Oklahoma State had a rough finish to the season, it can still enjoy a spot in a major bowl game thanks to its performances in the first 10 games. All those close wins literally paid off in the end for Mike Gundy's squad.
Loser: Pittsburgh
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One of the newest members of the ACC has to feel like it was shafted somewhat by its conference on Selection Sunday, as Pittsburgh is headed to a "tier 2" matchup in the Military Bowl.
The problem with that, at least for Panthers fans, is that Pitt went 8-4 in its first season under Pat Narduzzi this year.
It was tied for the third-best conference record (6-2) with Florida State, which is New Year's Six-bound with a 10-2 overall record. Pittsburgh's only losses this season came against Iowa, Notre Dame—two New Year's Six teams—North Carolina and Miami.
However, Louisville, N.C. State and Duke—all teams with worse conference records—jumped Pittsburgh into the conference's "tier 1" bowls. N.C. State might be the most surprising leap, considering the Wolfpack went 7-5 (3-5 in ACC play) with a weak nonconference slate, as Chris Peak of Panther-Lair.com pointed out.
Pittsburgh fans won't have to travel too far for the Military Bowl in Maryland, but it'll be a virtual home game for Navy in star quarterback Keenan Reynolds' final matchup as a Midshipman. The Panthers weren't rewarded at all for their tougher schedule or their conference finish.
Winner: Fans of Big-Play Offenses
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When scouring the non-playoff or New Year's Six matchups for the best bowl game left on the table, turn your eyes to the Alamo Bowl—Oregon vs. TCU.
The Horned Frogs vs. the Ducks will be a must-see game for anyone who loves incredible offense, and fans in general should want to see the final games for quarterbacks Trevone Boykin and Vernon Adams Jr.
In standard bowl matchups, most fans are just looking for an entertaining game. They should get that in this one, especially given how the two programs got here.
TCU battled through a tremendous number of injuries and pulled off an overtime upset of Baylor to position itself as the Big 12's top team outside of the big bowls. Oregon overcame a rough start to the year to play some of the best offense in college football with a healthy Adams, who finished the regular season as the nation's No. 1 passer in efficiency.
The offensive fireworks and the defensive chess match between the two sides ought to make for a thrilling contest. TCU and Oregon both fell short of their title dreams this season, but they'll be ready to put on a show in the Lone Star State.
Justin Ferguson is a college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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