The College Football Playoff committee has drawn heavy criticism from fans, coaches, analysts and more after all four games first-round games produced lopsided outcomes.
Some, like former Heisman Trophy-winning running back Mark Ingram, couldn’t bring themselves to watch the full games because of how one-sided they were. Instead, he watched some NFL and the FCS playoffs over the CFP.
Urban Meyer, Ingram’s co-host on the Triple Option Podcast with fellow Big Noon Kickoff host Rob Stone, questioned what Indiana and SMU‘s record would be if they played in the SEC. “Not good,” Ingram responded.
Ingram, an Alabama alum and national champion with the Crimson Tide, didn’t let Tennessee get away with their loss to Ohio State, which was more of a blowout that any other matchup during the afternoon.
“The SEC — like, none of the conferences got justified,” Ingram said. “Like, the SEC got whooped Tennessee went there and got beat on, bad. No resistance.”
Meyer said he was on-hand in Columbus for the 42-17 Ohio State blowout victory. He said the score wasn’t as bad as it looked — it was worse.
“It looked like a lower-level Big Ten team playing the Ohio State,” Meyer, a former national championship-winning head coach for the Buckeyes, said. “I stood right there and watched them. I thought Tennessee could control line of scrimmage, but it wasn’t even close.”
Meyer gave props to the Tennessee faithful for travelling, but after it was 21-0 in the first quarter, the outcome was all but academic at that point.
Stone chimed in, noting that Friday night’s opening matchup featuring Notre Dame vs. Indiana “felt over kind of early,” which bled into a trio of Saturday blowouts.
He discussed the other matchups as well, criticizing SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings who had a myriad of turnovers against Penn State in the first half of their game that appeared to put the game to bed early.
“You never want to point out one player, but the quarterback play at SMU, obviously, is going to come under some well deserved heat for that one game, which is tough,” Stone said.
Meyer said he turned that game off early, stating it’s hard to find interest in a game that gets out of hand that early. The rest of Saturday followed suit, although Texas vs. Clemson produced the smallest end result, a 14-point win for the Longhorns.
“I think a lot of people, when the word ‘playoff’ started and 12 teams, and trying to have the imagination of March Madness,” Meyer said. “The one the reality is the chance of upsets in the game of college football happen, but not the extreme that happened in March Madness. I think we are now being presented with that.
“Time will tell if that will happen, but every year in March Madness, you get a couple upsets, and that’s the charm of it. That’s the beauty of March Madness. I’m just wondering, are college football fans ready for first round-blowouts every year?”
Meyer said he doesn’t want to “jump the gun,” on this model of the CFP in year one. However, leaving teams out that competed — and even beat — teams that are in the playoffs over teams that have little or no representation in that category will be a never-ended topic of debate in the ever-changing landscape of college football.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
