There were 133 College Football D-1 schools that had the chance to make it to the College Football Playoffs, but only 4 of those 133 teams had the chance this year to compete for the College Football national championship that gets more than 20 million viewers per year.
This year picking those four teams was a hard decision. Before the Conference Championship games were held there were eight possible teams that could have made the playoffs. The committee could only pick four of those eight teams. Even though in the past it has been an easier decision for the College Football Playoff Selection Committee to decide who makes it, this year was like no other.
Going into December 3, the College Football committee had to decide who would make it, there were seven possible teams left that could still technically have a chance to make the playoffs. Since Michigan finished the year 13-0, including three ranked wins against Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa they were basically automatically in. Washington also finished the year 13-0 and had wins over Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon. Many people assumed that Michigan would end up 1 and Washington would end up being 2 the question was just who was next.
The five teams the College Football committee had to look at were Ohio State, Georgia, Florida State, Texas and Alabama. Even though Ohio State won their first eleven games of the year, their third straight loss to Michigan showed they probably wouldn’t make it. Same with Georgia who won 29 straight College Football games and lost a three point heartbreaker to Alabama. Even though Georgia was probably a top four team, their loss to Alabama made the committee take them out even after they started the year 12-0 and were the number one team every week in the rankings. Georgia was the first team in College Football history to be the number one team going into the final week of the regular season and still miss the College Football playoffs. It was definitely a tough way to end the regular season for the Bulldogs who were trying to win their third straight College Football Championship.
The other options the committee had were Alabama, Texas and Florida State who were all excellent teams. The first option was Alabama who beat Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU and Georgia—who was the number one team going into the final week of the regular season. Alabama’s only loss was to Texas who beat them back in September 34-24. The Texas Longhorns also had a great year. Texas’s only loss came in to a top 15 ranked Oklahoma team, and they also had wins against Alabama and Oklahoma State. The only question was even with the win over Alabama, Texas had only beaten one other ranked opponent and they also had close games against Houston, Kansas State and TCU who went a combined 11-16 in conference play games this year. The last team who the committee had to decide on was Florida State who finished the year 13-0 and had ranked wins over LSU and Louisville. The only question was how the Seminoles could play without their star quarterback Jordan Travis who had a leg injury on Nov. 18 against North Alabama.
In the end the committee decided they couldn’t keep out Texas because of their win against Alabama and they couldn’t keep out Alabama after beating the previous number one team Georgia. They also decided to put Texas over Alabama because Texas beat them head to head back in September. The real question everyone was wondering was how you could take out a 13-0 Florida State team that did everything asked of them. Even though Florida State became the first College Football power five team to finish undefeated and not make the playoffs. I think the College Football committee got it right.
As a bonus here is also all the Big Ten Bowl games from this year
Utah vs Northwestern in the Las Vegas Bowl – If you like defense then you would have probably liked to watch this game. There were only three touchdowns the whole game but Northwestern was able to score two of them and ended up winning 14-7.
Bowling Green vs Minnesota in the Quick Lane Bowl – Minnesota was the only team in College Football to enter a bowl game with a losing record. Coming into the game Minnesota was 5-7. Luckily Minnesota was still able to beat Bowling Green 30-24 to win the Quick Lane Bowl.
Rutgers vs Miami FL in the Pinstripe Bowl – The Pinstripe bowl which is played at Yankee Stadium is one of the most popular bowl games in College football after all the New Year Six Bowls. Rutgers would end up beating Miami 31-24 thanks to Rutgers running back Kyle Montaigi who had 25 carries and 163 yards.
Missouri vs Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl – Even though Ohio State is known to have one of the best offenses in the country they were only able to score three points against a very underrated Missouri team. It probably didn’t help that Ohio State was playing their backup quarterback but they did have their top running back and wide receiver and were only able to score 3. That’s probably concerning if you are an Ohio State fan.
Ole Miss vs Penn State in the Peach Bowl – Maybe this was revenge for Ole Miss after losing to Michigan State in the Peach Bowl back in 2021. This game Ole Miss didn’t make the same mistake as they were able to outscore Penn State 17-7 in the second half and win the game 38-25 to finish their year 11-2 in one of the hardest conferences in College football.
Auburn vs Maryland in the Music City Bowl – Maryland was able to beat Auburn 31-13 to win their third straight bowl game.
Wisconsin vs LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl – Wisconsin gave it all they got to number 13 LSU but fell just short as LSU was able to score a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to win the ReliaQuest Bowl 35-31.
Iowa vs Tennessee in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl – Iowa might have one of the best defenses in the country but they also have one of the worst offenses as they lost 35-0 against Tennessee. Iowa has scored 3 points in their last 10 quarters they have played and have gotten shut out against Penn State, Michigan, and now Tennessee. Not good for a team that was supposed to be much better on offense this year.
Alabama vs Michigan in the Rose Bowl – Alabama came out of the game quick to take a 7-0 lead but Michigan came right back to score the next two touchdowns of the game. After a blocked extra point and field goal by Alabama Michigan was only up by 3 at the half. In a game that went back and forth Michigan was able to tie the game up at 20 with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter. Alabama had a chance to win the game on the final drive of the game but Michigan held them and made them punt as the game was forced to overtime just to watch Michigan score a touchdown and Alabama get stopped on fourth and goal from Michigan’s three yard line as Michigan would end up winning the game 27-20.
Texas vs Washington in the Sugar Bowl – People keep doubting Washington but they keep proving doubters wrong. One of the best passing offenses in the country, Washington showed how good they really are as they beat Texas 37-31 and finished the game with 430 passing yards.
