Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
An endless parade of made-for-television (and conference wallets) college football conference championship games have now been played.
After all was said and done, there really weren’t a lot of surprises.
Georgia (13-0) is still the best team, by far, in the SEC. Even Alabama (reluctantly) knows it this year.
Michigan (13-0) beat a rather mediocre 8-5 Purdue team to win the Big Ten. Yawn.
Kansas State kicked a field goal in overtime to even the score with formerly unbeaten, TCU (now 12-1).
A very good 10-3 Kansas State team was crowned the winner of the Big 12 Conference championship. But how does that make any sense after TCU went 9-0 during the regular season beating every Big 12 conference team (including Kansas State)?
Out west, Utah proved that they have USC’s number once again this year. The 10-3 Utes ruined the post-season dreams of the USC Trojans (11-2 –with both losses to Utah) and claimed the Pac-12 Championship. Utah is heading to the Rose Bowl to play Penn State. Meanwhile, USC is going to play…
Tulane! The 11-2 Green Wave is going to play in its first major bowl game since the year 1939 with its 45-28 American Athletic Conference championship win over UCF. The Greenies and USC will do battle in Dallas on January 2. Bring a calculator with you to keep score!
The Sunbelt Conference champion Troy Trojans are one of the best teams you probably never saw on television this season. They finished 11-2 with a convincing 45-26 victory over a solid 9-3 Coastal Carolina team.
For its bowl reward, Troy will play another Rodney Dangerfield-type of team in the Cure Bowl in Orlando on Friday, December 16. The UTSA Roadrunners quietly finished another quality season with a terrific 11-2 record and are champions of Conference USA.
The true reason why these relatively meaningless conference championship games were played this past weekend is the same reason why you will soon be watching an endless procession of fairly meaningless bowl games.
The television networks get to sell 3 ½ hours of holiday advertisements during each game in the weeks leading up to Christmas Day.
The television contract money being paid to the major football conferences must be recouped, so that’s why we now get to sit through endless three and four minute commercial breaks selling us cars, jewelry, beer, snack foods, and assorted gadgets.
It’s a reminder of how big of a business that college football has continued to become.
This weekend, a select group of people was paid handsomely to sit in a lovely hotel to watch the endless parade of conference championship football games on television. Much like February’s appearance of the groundhog, this special committee has watched the games, slept (that wasn’t hard to do after most of those games) and has now rendered the decision which America has awaited to hear today.
The 2022 College Football Playoffs will feature:
#1. Georgia (13-0)
#2. Michigan (13-0)
#3. TCU (12-1)
#4. Ohio State (11-1)
To the surprise of virtually no one except ESPN’s on-camera staff, the Playoff Committee opted not to pair Michigan against Ohio State in a semi-final rematch of a game played just a week ago. Instead, Ohio State will get to prove itself against the current Godzilla of college football, Georgia. This New Year’s Eve match-up will be played in Atlanta (just like yesterday’s SEC Championship game).
Good luck with that, Buckeyes!
Meanwhile, the two darlings of this year’s college football playoffs will square off in the opening semi-final game at the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona on Friday afternoon, December 31.
Both Michigan and TCU have fascinated fans in 2022. TCU’s quarterback, Max Duggan, was simply awesome in keying a fourth quarter rally which carried TCU into overtime against Kansas State. Michigan’s balanced running/passing game and solid defense will present another huge challenge.
However, TCU’s secret weapon (The HypnoToad) has proven to be a formidable obstacle for every TCU opponent this season.
Beware, Michigan!
As expected by most of us, Southern California (11-2) was left out of the playoffs. They will face surprising 11-2 Tulane in the Cotton Bowl on Monday, January 2. USC’s inability to tackle defenders was downright comical against Utah on Friday night. Fans who followed USC Coach Lincoln Riley when he was coaching at Oklahoma can attest that defense is generally considered optional on most of his football teams.
Though Alabama (10-2) coach Nick Saban tried to convince America that his Crimson Tide team would be the betting favorite against any of the playoff teams except Georgia, America also noticed that it was LSU (and not Alabama) who was playing Georgia in the SEC Championship on Saturday.
Bama was fortunate to beat Texas and Texas A&M earlier this year. On balance, the 10-2 mark for Alabama seemed on the high side of “just about right”. Please put down the crying towel this year, Bama fans, and go beat Kansas State in the Sugar Bowl on Saturday, December 31.
Tennessee (10-2) has been reminding everyone that they beat both Alabama and LSU this year. Unfortunately for Tennessee, they also lost to Georgia and South Carolina (both in the SEC East along with the Vols).
Like Alabama, the Volunteers enjoyed a great year but didn’t qualify for their own conference championship game. Now, they will travel to Miami to participate in the most orange-colored Orange Bowl game in history. Tennessee and Clemson will play each other in the Orange Bowl on Friday night, December 30th. Please do not adjust your television set!
Let’s reveal the updated SwampSwamiSports.com College Football Top 25 rankings for the week ending December 3, 2022:
