Any Given Saturday: Expanded Playoff, Expanded Dreams
To Escape the Political ... There is College Football
NOTE: A sports column from Greg Maresca, who has a slight Pennsylvania bias.
By Greg Maresca
After nine games, Indiana is undefeated in the Big Ten, its best start ever. Indiana could be the story of the college football season like Shamokin is on the high school level. Those immersed in the context of the game are not surprised by Indiana’s success, or Shamokin’s, for that matter.
The same can be said for Penn State’s James Franklin’s 1-10 record against Ohio State.
Ohio State really needed to win on Saturday at State College, and like the great program that they are, they found a way after quickly falling behind early on the road, 10-0, to the largest crowd in Beaver Stadium’s history.
When an undefeated and number one-ranked Alabama squad took on a 2-2 and unranked Vanderbilt team last month in the first year of the post–Nick Saban era, the Crimson Tide were promptly defeated. Two weeks later, Alabama lost again to Tennessee.
This is the first year since 2007 that no Southeast Conference team has been undefeated at the start of November, with College Football Playoff (CFP) champion Georgia having one loss to date. The top 25 poll has a good assortment of programs that are rarely seen at this juncture of the season, including BYU, Indiana, Pitt, SMU, Boise State, and Army. Navy had a brief port call in the top 25, but six turnovers torpedoed the midshipmen in their first loss of the season to Notre Dame on a balmy afternoon in New Jersey two weeks ago.
Given this is the first year of the expanded 12-team college playoff, the seedings are far from settled. The consensus from the fans and the scribes who cover the game is that anything can happen on any given Saturday. One loss will no longer sink a season as the expanded playoff leaves the door wide open for the classic Cinderella story that has been the sole possession of college basketball’s March Madness.
If anything, the CFP era of college football has brought with it a healthy dose of parity.
Penn State’s wishful dream of an undefeated season has been dashed, but their longstanding quest for a national title remains. What has resumed in the wake of the Nittany Lion’s first defeat of the season last weekend against Ohio State are the calls for head coach James Franklin to be canned. The angst and frustration of many of the Penn State faithful is certainly justified as Franklin has gone 1-13 against teams ranked in the top five and 3-18 against opponents in the top 10.
Perhaps what these fans don’t realize is according to the Wall Street Journal, had the college football playoff featured 12 teams when it was conceived in 2014, Penn State would have reached the postseason six times, the most of any program.
There are 26 different teams who have never made the playoffs but would have in a world where 12 teams advanced. That world is now upon us, meaning hope is far from lost for the “We are …” crowd. In fact, the Nittany Lions will be favored to win their next four regular season games, taking on Washington (Saturday’s annual White Out Game with an 8 pm kickoff), Purdue, Minnesota, and Maryland (Senior Day), putting them in a very good position to host a first-round playoff game.
With the 12-team format that will surely grow, the surprise element is certainly in the mix, with Cinderella waiting to cast a spell of fortunate disbelief.
Despite their two defeats, even Alabama could very well still get in.
Stay tuned. This ride is far from over.
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