BCS Rankings Week 14: How a Potential Playoff Would Unfold
As a recent Bleacher Report poll showed, fans would be extraordinarily thankful for a college football playoff system.
We're still nowhere close to adopting such a system, but we can still wish and imagine how things would unfold.
Just for fun, let's adopt a system where the top eight teams in the BCS Standings get to enter into a playoff tournament for the right to be named National Champions.
The No. 1 team would play the No. 8 team, No. 2 and No. 7, No. 3 and No. 6, and No. 4 and No. 5.
The playoff would then unfold like each individual region of March Madness does after the first round. For example, the winner of the No. 1-No. 8 game would play the winner of the No. 4-No. 5 game and so on.
Let's take a look at how this playoff would unfold based on the Week 14 BCS Standings.
First, The Teams
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No. 1: Auburn Tigers
No. 2: Oregon Ducks
No. 3: TCU Horned Frogs
No. 4: Stanford Cardinal
No. 5: Wisconsin Badgers
No. 6: Ohio State Buckeyes
No. 7: Arkansas Razorbacks
No. 8: Michigan State Spartans
First Round Matchups
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Game One: No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 8 Michigan State Spartans
Game Two: No. 2 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks
Game Three: No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs vs. No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes
Game Four: No. 4 Stanford Cardinal vs. No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers
No. 1 Auburn Tigers Vs. No. 8 Michigan State Spartans
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After watching the second half of the game against Alabama, I don't think there's any way that Michigan State could stand a chance against Auburn.
Michigan State is a pretty balanced team, and that's the kind of team that won't excel against the Tigers.
Auburn is an unstoppable machine on offense, and while they've been bashed for not playing defense, they proved last Friday that they can when push comes to shove.
To beat Auburn, you need either an equally unstoppable offense, or a defense capable of shutting down even the best offensive attacks. Michigan State has neither.
Plus, Auburn has shown that they know how to overcome adversity and come back in games, as they've done many times this season.
Prediction: Auburn wins, easily, and advances to the second round.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
No. 2 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 7 Arkansas Razorbacks
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This is the exact matchup that Arkansas would have wanted to avoid.
The Razorbacks have a great offense, led by Ryan Mallet and a trio of excellent receivers, but they don't have much of a defense. They're best matchup up against a balanced team, or a defensively-focused team.
That said, even their offense isn't as good as a couple of teams in this hypothetical playoff bracket. One of the better units belongs to Oregon.
There's a reason that the two Arkansas losses this season have come at the hands of Auburn, a better version of Arkansas, and Alabama, a very balanced football team.
Prediction: Oregon lights up the scoreboard and wins a blowout.
No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs vs. No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes
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Ohio State is one of the most underrated teams in the country. Even though they're ranked No. 6, they're left out of many conversations concerning the best teams in college football. That shouldn't be the case.
Terrelle Pryor has taken massive strides forward this year, the offense scores points in bunches, and the defense is superb.
That said, TCU is a better football team.
Led by Andy Dalton, the offense can't be stopped. The lowest point total they've had this year has been 21, and that came in a game where they held the opposing offense scoreless and didn't really need to increase the lead.
TCU ranks fourth in the country in points scored and first in points allowed.
The Horned Frogs are quite dangerous.
Prediction: TCU wins a close, hard-fought game that possibly goes to overtime.
No. 4 Stanford Cardinal vs. No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers
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And we have our first upset of the tournament!
Both of these offenses are on tears as of late. Stanford just won 38-0 against Oregon State while Wisconsin has scored 83 and 70 points in two of their last three games.
I'm giving a slight edge to Wisconsin though for two reasons.
One, the Big Ten is a much harder conference this year than the Pac-10, so Wisconsin is a little more used to playing tougher games.
Secondly, Wisconsin won their biggest game of the year, while Stanford lost theirs. Stanford had a shot at Oregon and got trounced, losing 31-52.
In Wisconsin's big game, they knocked off the then-No. 1 Buckeyes 34-24.
Prediction: Wisconsin wins the game on a drive late in the fourth quarter.
Second Round Matchups
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Game One: No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers
Game Two: No. 2 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs
No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers
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Wisconsin is in my opinion the fourth best team in the country, but that's still not good enough to beat the Tigers.
The offense of Auburn, between Cam Newton, Darvin Adams, Cam Newton, Michael Dyer, Cam Newton, Terrell Zachery, and Cam Newton, is just too unstoppable. I almost feel bad for opposing teams sometimes.
But what goes unmentioned, is that Auburn has been playing great defense lately. And by lately I mean in the second half of the Alabama game.
Also, Wisconsin is primarily a rushing team. When you're playing Auburn, you stand a good chance to be down at least a few scores at some point in the game. Running the football is usually not how teams work their way back into games.
Prediction: Auburn wins another fairly easy game after getting out to an early lead and never looking back.
No. 2 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs
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The Oregon Ducks offense is so good that after all the pushups their mascot has done this year, he may stand a chance to make the team next year.
Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, Kenjon Barner, and company are too good to stop on a consistent basis. Plus, their defense is excellent. It actually ranks 15th in the country in terms of points allowed.
So how is 15th in the country considered excellent? Well when you consider the pace at which their offense plays, the amount of time that the defense spends on the field, and the fact that teams are almost always in garbage time and playing for insignificant points, 15th is quite excellent.
That said, I believe that TCU is a better football team. They may not have played the same level of competition, but they lay claim to an incredible offense and defense at the same time.
Andy Dalton gives the team leadership, poise, and talent. He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country.
Also, remember that in their biggest game of the season, a showdown with the No. 5 ranked Utah Utes, TCU prevailed 47-7.
This is sure to be a controversial pick.
Prediction: TCU sneaks away with a close win.
Championship Round Matchup
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No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs
For those of you who would like nothing more than to see this matchup, it's now virtually impossible. Unless a playoff system is installed in, oh, the next week.
No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 3 TCU Horned Frogs
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In my mind, Oregon is a better team than Auburn on both offense and defense. They score more points, look better doing it, score more efficiently, and play significantly better defense.
There's no reason TCU can't beat Auburn if they've already beaten Oregon.
Well, there is one reason.
It's hard enough to stop Cam Newton on the first day of the season. It's even harder to stop him at the end of the season. And it's even harder still to stop him at the end of a playoff when you're exhausted from a long season and a few extra games.
He's a big boy. But still, TCU is made up of very in-shape collegiate athletes. They should still be up to the challenge.
Prediction: TCU comes away with the championship in yet another close game.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
