Ad Disclosure
College football is unique among sports. While the regular season matters in other college and professional sports, as teams jockey for postseason positioning, the regular season is college football. With the old bowl setup, the 12 or 13 games played from September through early December were the most important regular season in all of sports.
That’s still mostly true under the new format, but now the best teams in the country can afford a regular season loss and still have a chance to contend for the national title in the four-team playoff field. The first year of the College Football Playoff gave us a bit of everything: a massive blowout, a shootout and a dominating championship game rout.
How did the first year of the CFP stack up to the NFL’s final four?
Semifinals
NFL: New England over Indianapolis, 45- 7; Seattle over Green Bay, 28-22 (OT)
CFB: Oregon over Florida State, 59-20; Ohio State over Alabama, 42-35
There are certainly some parallels between the NFL’s conference title games and college football’s first playoff semifinals. One game in each featured a blowout of epic proportions, while the other game came down to the wire.
College football’s blowout, Oregon over Florida State, provided schadenfreude for fans around the nation. Florida State had become perhaps the most hated team we’ve seen in years. Watching Jameis Winston and the Seminoles get clobbered by Marcus Mariota and the Ducks brought out a slew of Internet comedians.
In the case of the Patriots, it was the villains who did the clobbering. Led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the NFL’s evil empire took it to the young Colts for the second straight year in the playoffs. Of course, the game will be more remembered for the ball-deflation controversy that followed, when it was revealed that the footballs New England used on offense were below the NFL’s minimum for air pressure, stirring up questions of a competitive advantage.
The other semifinals were a different story. Ohio State was a heavy underdog against Alabama, but surprisingly hung with and then took it to the Crimson Tide, wearing it down with the run as the game went on. Somehow, despite looking muddled on offense, Alabama stayed within range for a potential game-tying Hail Mary at the end of the game, which ended up being picked off in the end zone.
Seattle, meanwhile, came roaring back from an incredibly ugly start in their NFC championship win over Green Bay. After trailing 16-0 at halftime, with Russell Wilson playing miserably at quarterback, the Seahawks started clicking on offense and stormed back to take the lead on a late Marshawn Lynch touchdown run, only to have Green Bay send it to OT. Once there, Seattle swiftly scored to head to its second straight Super Bowl.
Edge: The first year of the College Football Playoff was certainly exciting and historic, but it lacked the drama of the NFL playoffs. Both levels featured some of the most decorated teams in their respective sports, but the NFL’s blowout led to two weeks’ worth of story lines, while the closer game was one for the history books.
Championship
NFL: New England over Seattle, 28-24
CFB: Ohio State over Oregon, 42-20
Ohio State’s win over Oregon was as impressive as any victory in college football this season. Playing with their third-string quarterback, Cardal Jones, the Buckeyes pounded a third straight Hesiman finalist. After the game looked like it would be close early on, Oregon kept missing out on opportunities and eventually succumbed to Ohio State’s brutally physical running game.
As impressive as the Buckeyes’ performance was, it doesn’t hold a candle to the incredible Super Bowl we just had last weekend. History was on the line in Glendale, Ariz. On one side, the Seahawks were vying for back-to-back titles, a rare feat in the NFL. On the other, Brady and Belichick were going for their fourth title together.
The game lived up to its billing. The Patriots rallied from down 10 points in the fourth quarter, led by a legendary performance from Brady. Seattle had a final chance to win the game, and nearly did. After a crazy catch on a tipped ball, the Seahawks had the ball down near the Patriots’ goal line. On one of the more controversial coaching decisions in recent memory, Wilson dropped back to throw on second down and was picked off by Patriots rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler to seal New England’s win.
Edge: Without a doubt, Superbowl XLIX was one of the most exciting of all time. While the inaugural College Football Playoff championship was historic in its own right, it doesn’t match the Patriots’ championship performance.
A former freelance journalist from Philadelphia, Brett has made the trek down to SEC country to cover the greatest conference in college football.
