What I think, know and believe about the college football world. What happens if Florida wins the SEC Championship and Notre Dame wins the ACC title? All in the College Football Cavalcade.
Sorry if this column sucks, it’s not my fault …
But it does apologize for not using better judgement after being filmed eating sushi off a nude model – the cultured culinary art of Nyotaimori – and it further apologizes for the horrible incident with the wasabi.
.@unlvfootball quarterback Max Gilliam apologized Monday for “poor judgment.” #RJNow #UNLV
https://t.co/HYLCNYNjjo— Las Vegas Review-Journal (@reviewjournal) December 7, 2020
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– Check out all the past Cavalcades
– What Happens If Florida Wins?
– I Think, I Know, I Believe
– Picks of the Century
I promise, there’s a non-sucky payoff here …
The whole point of college football being played is to have fun, and we’ve had none of that – at least not guilt-free.
Now that we’re just over a month away from – shockingly – getting through this season and moving on to 2021, it’s okay to say it.
This season sucks.
The Big Ten sucks.
Most of the SEC teams suck.
The Pac-12 sucks – but the games don’t.
The Big 12 sucks. (two words: Sun Belt)
The only reason the ACC doesn’t suck – one word: Liberty – is because Notre Dame is in it and doesn’t suck.
Penn State sucks. Michigan sucks. LSU sucks. Oregon sucks. Florida State sucks. Wisconsin sucks – at least the offensive side.
And almost all of the big games have sucked, too.
Alabama at LSU should’ve stopped the sports world in its tracks.
Sucked.
Florida at Tennessee should’ve been a breakthrough moment for the Volunteer program.
Sucked.
Notre Dame vs. Clemson didn’t suck, and DJ Uiagalelei certainly didn’t suck, but it sort of sucked that Trevor Lawrence wasn’t playing.
Oklahoma vs. Texas didn’t suck. Florida vs. Georgia sucked.
Penn State at Michigan didn’t totally suck, but it was sad.
Indiana at Ohio State didn’t suck, but Michigan at Ohio State? Oh, that’s going to triple-suck, and it’ll suck even more if Michigan is unable to go.
It sucks that the Pac-12 has been the most entertaining conference this year by a mile, and no one seems to know the games were played – oh, wait, that has nothing to do with 2020.
The Bruins' defense seals it!@UCLAFootball holds off the late drive by the Sun Devils to pick up their 3rd win of the season 💪🐻 pic.twitter.com/jFccBhH1Un
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 6, 2020
It sucks that we have to go through the motions of pretending that Group of Five programs might actually be considered for the College Football Playoff, and it sucks that we all have to be jerkweeds by always pointing out that there’s a difference between playing a schedule full of almost all Power Five programs and a schedule with no games against the big boys.
That last paragraph sucked.
It sucks that we’ll have a Rose Bowl with no fans – if it’s even played in Pasadena – a bowl season with 11 games having to tap out, and a College Football Playoff with just close family members in attendance.
And it sucks that after all of the craziness, all the cancelations, all the disruptions and all the hoops everyone had to jump through to make this season happen, what do we have?
Clemson will win the ACC, Alabama will win the SEC, Ohio State will win the Big Ten, Oklahoma will win the Big 12, and USC will win the Pac-12.
It sucks that we went though all of this only to have a group of Power Five champions that your cousin – “from Bahhh-stin” – could’ve come up with back in March.
Wait … that actually doesn’t suck.
You know what sucks? Cinderella upsets in March Madness. Show me some Central Grand Valley State win in the first round and I’ll show you an 82-48 Duke win in the second round.
Show me a college football outlier in the College Football Playoff mix, and I’ll show you Alabama 38-0 over Michigan State and Alabama 24-7 over Washington.
But all this is about to change.
You, the college football fan, for all of your sins and for all of your infinite patience, have the potential to get the mother of all College Football Playoff debates.
Throw in that America is about to wake up to a whale of a Heisman race – I’ll dive into that next week – and get ready for what’s coming, starting with this one big question.
No, really. What happens if Florida wins the SEC Championship and Notre Dame takes down the ACC?
What happens if Florida beats Bama in a classic, Ohio State wins, and Clemson beats Notre Dame? Only four of these five kids can get on the ride.
I promise, the rest of your 2020 college football season isn’t going to suck.
Let’s go …
– What Happens If Florida Wins?
– I Think, I Know, I Believe
– Picks of the Century
NEXT: What really happens if Florida wins the SEC Championship?
First, it’ll mean that the SEC just made a lot more money
We’re all just floating through life right now secure in the knowledge that the College Football Playoff will just work itself out – because it always does.
But what if it doesn’t?
We’re six years into this grand experiment, and we have yet get a true conference championship curveball.
This week, let’s assume that Florida gets by LSU and Alabama takes care of Arkansas.
Notre Dame and Clemson are already in the ACC Championship without having to play anyone this week, and let’s hand Ohio State a win over Michigan, if the game even goes on.
And while I’d like to argue that a 6-0 Pac-12 champion USC would be every bit as deserving of a CFP spot as an unbeaten Big Ten champion Ohio State, that’s not realistically going to be on the table … maybe.
Also, let’s not bring up Cincinnati. It insults us both.
The Chalk Scenario
So if it’s all easy peasy …
Alabama beats Florida, Ohio State takes down Northwestern, and Clemson tastefully beats Notre Dame.
We’re done.
Alabama vs. Notre Dame in the Sugar, Ohio State vs. Clemson in the Rose.
What happens if Notre Dame beats Clemson?
Now we get super-funky, because it would depend a on how bad the win is.
If Florida beats Bama, then this is easy. Notre Dame vs. Bama in the Sugar, Florida vs. Ohio State in the Rose.
But let’s assume Alabama wins.
If Notre Dame wins in a blowout, it’s done – Clemson is out.
Maybe.
However, if it’s a repeat of the classic in South Bend a few weeks ago, then in a theoretical way, the argument could be made that Notre Dame is one of the top two teams in college football and Clemson is still one of the top four.
6-0 Pac-12 Champion USC would have something to say about that, and Texas A&M would have a massive beef, especially because no two-loss team has ever been in the College Football Playoff.
Absolutely no one is thinking Clemson will lose, so really – what happens if Notre Dame actually wins?
Throw me a number. How much does Notre Dame win by?
14. Is that enough? Does the committee cringe at the idea of Alabama vs. Texas A&M – a rematch of a Bama blowout earlier in the year – in the Sugar Bowl?
How good does USC look to close things out?
If Notre Dame wins by fewer than 14, I still think Clemson is in – and the howling is deafening.
More than 14, Bama wins, Ohio State wins, and it’s Game On for USC, Texas A&M, and maybe even … I can’t bring myself to think it, much less type, much less …
Cincin … I can’t.
In this scenario, yeah. I actually think it could possibly be USC getting that fourth spot, and it’s easier than you’d think.
Four Power Five champions – Notre Dame, Bama, OSU, USC – and all four unbeaten.
Okay, then …
Clemson, Ohio State, Florida all win
Clemson beats Notre Dame in a decent, tight game.
Ohio State rolls on through and wins the Big Ten.
Florida beats Alabama, and it’s close.
NOW what do you do, College Football Playoff committee?
Notre Dame types are just assuming the CFP is a done deal no matter what.
Nope.
If Florida and Clemson win, Clemson is absolutely in, Florida is absolutely in, Ohio State is absolutely in – I’m with you on a deserve/resumé rationale, but no way, no how is an unbeaten Big Ten champion Ohio State left out – and as long as it’s not a total wipeout, Alabama is absolutely in.
Notre Dame is out.
So let’s do this. Assuming nothing weird happens this week …
– Alabama is probably in no matter what, as long it doesn’t lose to Florida by more than 24.
– Florida is in if it beats Alabama. Even if it loses in overtime, the only way it’s in with a loss is if Northwestern beats Ohio State.
– Clemson is in if it beats Notre Dame, and could still get in with a really, really tight loss and a Florida or Ohio State loss.
– Notre Dame is in with a win, in with a loss and an Alabama win, and probably out with a loss and a Florida win,
– USC needs to get someone to notice what happened against Washington State in the first quarter of the 38-13 win, and then it has to do that again against UCLA when people are paying attention, and again in the Pac-12 Championship, and then needs Alabama to beat Florida, and needs Notre Dame to rock Clemson and/or Ohio State to lose.
– Texas A&M needs a miracle. USC has to be out of this, Ohio State has to lose, and Alabama has to beat Florida in a blowout.
No matter what, though, we’re going to get four heavyweights.
Yay.
NEXT: America’s newest family-friendly fun-time … Think, Know, Believe
America’s newest family-friendly fun-time … Think, Know, Believe
I think the Coastal Carolina win over BYU was a blast, with all the drama and excitement we could’ve asked for.
I know it’s the I-was-into-the-indie-band-before-it-was-cool thing to say that Coastal Carolina-BYU was the best game of the year.
I believe too many memory-dumped Clemson-Notre Dame Part 1 way too quickly.
I think the ACC really, really, really wants to get two teams into the College Football Playoff.
I know Notre Dame isn’t playing Wake Forest this weekend.
I believe Wake Forest would’ve had a quirky puncher’s chance to make that interesting.
I think Iowa State would be knee-deep in the College Football Playoff discussion if it didn’t get trucked by Louisiana.
I know Iowa State beat Oklahoma 37-30.
I believe the Coastal Carolina vs. Louisiana Sun Belt Championship – a rematch of an earlier season Chanticleer win – should technically be more meaningful in the rankings than whatever happens in the Big 12 title game.
I think BYU would’ve been in a New Year’s Six bowl if it hadn’t scheduled Coastal Carolina and then beat San Diego State this week.
I know BYU gets to keep its bowl money as an independent.
I believe that was one expensive loss to Coastal Carolina.
I think blitzing, pressing up the corner, and not assuming Henry Ruggs would go deep was insane.
I know Trevor Lawrence says he doesn’t really think about it or care.
I believe Trevor Lawrence was one disastrous defensive call away from possibly being a Jacksonville Jaguar.
NEXT: A College Football Cavalcade footballey opinion and, maybe, other stuff I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for
A College Football Cavalcade footballey opinion and, maybe, other stuff I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for
What is the 2020 college football season teaching us? Pretty much everything the college football powers-that-be tell us is bullspit.
Oh, you can’t change the schedules, because they’re the schedules. Yeah, if BYU can truck up and go a few thousand miles on a Tuesday to get a game in, any matchup can be put together at any time.
Oh, you can’t change the bowl tie-ins, because they’re the bowl tie-ins, and they’re contracted out years in advance and … (tongue out) ppfffhtwetehehwttth.
Your 2020 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl just blew off its reasonably charming girlfriend after realizing the killer at the end of the bar didn’t have a date. Big 12 and Group of Five out, Pac-12 vs. SEC in.
You can cancel games, you can change dates, you can change the criteria for who gets into a conference championship, and you can move around games to play them wherever you need to.
Oh, by the way, everything about the College Football Playoff system can be changed, too.
The sure-thing, 100%, rock-solid lock, sell the house, sell the kids, no doubt about it picks of the century for this week
PICK SO FAR: 36-25 SU, 30-36 ATS
5-5 ATS last week – for this year, I’ll take the round-the-bag single. I still need to get closer to .500 overall, and I’m running out of time, so I’m going large again.
Fortunately, all these picks are correct.
– Wake Forest +1.5 over Louisville
– West Virginia +13.5 over Oklahoma (but OU to win, AND, wait, because this is going to crank up to at least 14.5, probably 15)
– Missouri +13.5 over Georgia (but UGA to win)
– Minnesota +10.5 over Nebraska (straight up … you heard me)
– USC -3 over UCL
– UNDER 44.5 on Wisconsin at Iowa
Bet on any of all these games at BetMGM. Please.
C.O.W. shameless gimmick item …
The daily Overrated/Underrated aspect of the world
Overrated: Having to relocate games to get them in, especially if it’s to the most fun city on the planet.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in Santa Clara County, the Nevada-San José State game scheduled for Dec. 11 has been relocated to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas.
Kick off will remain at 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on @CBSSportsNet#MWFB | #SpartanUp | #BattleBorn pic.twitter.com/xGHwpD217e
— Mountain West (@MountainWest) December 7, 2020
Underrated: The concept of going to Las Vegas to avoid catching a communicable disease.
Sorry if this column sucked, it wasn’t my fault …
So the column could’ve punted and had roughly the same field position and a five-point lead, and the struggling long-snapper had to get it back there no matter what, and … (bleep) IT. A win is a win is a win is a …
Louisiana chose to take a safety while up by five in the final minutes.
And they still held on to win after App State missed the potential game-tying FG. pic.twitter.com/Qnh97asH7j
— ESPN (@espn) December 5, 2020
