We have a few draft threads over in the NFL Chatters board, but this one I wanted to go over what happened this year more from a collegiate point of view, as a college football fan, rather than as an NFL football fan.

- First things first...I think it's a bit of an understatement to say that the University of Alabama had themselves a pretty good draft class, with 6 players drafted in the 1st round, and 10 players drafted overall. For the past 5 years, Alabama has averaged about 10 players taken per year (51 total). That is incredible, and is tied with the 1973-77 USC Trojans for the most draft picks ever over a 5 year period. Is it any wonder that Nick Saban pretty much gets just about any recruit he wants? All he has to do is point to his record...His pitch is simple: Come to Alabama, we win National Championships, and put more players in the NFL than any other program out there.

- The SEC in general had a great draft, with 65 total players selected. Next comes the ACC with 51, the Big Ten with 44, the Pac-12 with 28, and at the bottom of the Power Five, is the Big XII, with 22 total players drafted.

- I think it was a smart move by Miami, Cincinnati and Jacksonville to give their young QBs a player they already know...Tua Tagovailoa gets one of his favorite collegiate targets in Jaylen Waddle, Joe Burrow gets Ja'Marr Chase, and Trevor Lawrence gets his partner in the backfield, Travis Etienne.

- Duke had four players drafted, Michigan State had zero. The University of Michigan and the University of Florida are the only two schools have had at least one player taken in every draft of the modern draft era.

- For the first time since it became the Big XII, no Big XII player was selected in the first round. The SEC dominated that, just like it did the draft overall, with 12 1st round picks. The B1G was 2nd with 7, then the ACC with 6, Pac-12 with 3, AAC with 2, Indies with 1, and the FCS with 1.

- At some point, more Michigan Wolverines fans will start to wonder why Jim Harbaugh doesn't win more with teams that have multiple NFL draft picks on them...Michigan went 2-4 in a COVID shortened season, and still saw 8 players get drafted into the NFL this year. At some point, we have to start asking why if his rosters have that much talent on them, the team doesn't win consistently...

Thanks to the changes in laws regarding player compensation for their images, names and likenesses, EA Sports has announced via Twitter, that they are working on rebooting the NCAA Football franchise as College Football. I am curious as to the absence of the word NCAA in the title, and what that means, but for the time being, it means there will be new college football video games on the horizon...That's a good thing, as long as EA doesn't totally cock it up like they do with Madden...Ideally, the new College Football game will focus on things like Race for the Heisman, Dynasty mode, stuff like that. If it just ends up being NUT instead of MUT (Ultimate Team) multiplayer bullshit, EA will be facing the wrath of lots of fans of this franchise. NCAA 2014 is the model they should try to emulate, just update the graphics, rosters, playbooks, etc. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...and NCAA 14's formula ain't broke...What we all really just want is NCAA Football 2014 to be updated to 2021 standards, and let us play it in 4K, if possible...

Now, for those of us who still have our copy of NCAA Football 2014 for our PS3, XBox 360, or have a PC powerful enough to be able to emulate a PS3 at a playable level (ie, not me), we have something fun too...IF, and I repeat, IF, you have either a custom firmware or hybrid firmware on your console (I can only speak to the PS3, but I assume the Xbox 360 has similar options), you can "upgrade" your copy of NCAA Football 2014. It's a little complicated to do, but if you do it successfully, you get:

This is NCAA Football REVAMPED. It's a complete conversion of NCAA Football 2014 that updates not just the rosters, but uniforms, logos, menus, and updates the ESPN presentation graphics to match 2020. While the gameplay is untouched from 2014, visually, it feels like a completely different game. I went through the process of installing hybrid firmware (almost identical to the official firmware, but altered slightly to allow exploits) just to get this...And it's gorgeous. I've played this on my PS3 more since installing this mod, than I have in probably the last six months combined.

This is NOT for the timid though. Modding your video game console is not something someone who is completely inexperienced should attempt, you can brick your console if you screw it up. However, there are LOTS of tutorials out there, lots of YouTube videos that can help you out...as long as you follow the steps, in the order they tell you, you should be fine.

From the beginning of the game, it wasn't much of a game. Even when the score was close it didn't seem like much of a game. Undefeated at 13-0 and unchallenged through much of the season, the Crimson Tide put themselves in a special light even among the program's six national championship-winning teams to play for Nick Saban.

The 52 points are the most ever scored by Alabama in a national title game and the most in a Crimson Tide bowl game since 1953. 

Smith was nearly unstoppable, pulling in 12 catches on his first 13 targets for 215 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game with a hand injury. Jones got banged up a little bit as well but still finished with 464 yards and five touchdowns on 36-of-45 passing.

Harris, who like Smith was one of the few current Alabama players to be on the team during its last national title run, was an all-purpose machine with 178 yards from scrimmage (79 rushing, 79 receiving) and three total touchdowns.

Ohio State entered the game with a chip on its shoulder fermented through weeks of doubt regarding its status as one of the best teams in the country. Playing less games than those in the ACC and SEC brought out plenty of criticism and nitpicking from the Buckeyes' body of work, but most of those questions were silenced in a dominant win against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl semifinal to book a spot in Monday night's title game. There were notable setbacks, like starting running back Trey Sermon leaving the game after one drive with an injury and having numerous players unavailable (some a result of COVID-19 protocol), but the lopsided result was more a reflection of Alabama's distance from the rest of the teams this year. 

1. Ohio State's absences were notable, not game-changingEven prior to Sermon's injury, the Buckeyes had starting nose tackle Tommy Togiai, starting defensive end Tyreke Smith and starting kicker Blake Haubeil among the 13 players listed as out on their availability report. Having two starting defensive linemen wouldn't have helped the mismatches Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian drew up for Smith in the first half, but those are key pieces to what has been an elite run defense and important bodies in a rotation that was needed as Alabama's play count continued to tick up in the second half. 
Sermon, who had set a school record with more than 500 rushing yards across two outings in the Big Ten Championship Game and the Sugar Bowl, suffering an injury in the first quarter and was unable to reenter the game. His replacement, Master Teague, was strong enough though, scoring two touchdowns.

The final total may not reflect it, but this was a two-score game midway through the third quarter and could have been a terrific comeback if the Buckeyes could get some stops. A couple Tide touchdowns later, the rout was back on and the result was not in doubt. 

2. The 2020 Tide join the debate for best team ever. One year after Joe Burrow and LSU made all of college football wonder where the Tigers ranked among the best offenses and best teams in college football history, Alabama has immediately added an entry into that debate. The season totals won't match the Tigers with three less games, but the averages and accolades are comparable.

Smith has been unique in ways that may exceed a team-wide comparison, but so was Burrow during his similarly transcendent season. The two teams will be debated and compared for years to come, but what follows will be a tiebreaker for fans in the SEC West. Alabama may see an NFL Draft exodus on par with LSU's a year ago -- it is similarly losing a top offensive coach with Sarkisian off to Texas -- but it would be out of character to see a significant step back following this return to the top of the sport. Saban has embraced modern offense and winning by overwhelming your opponent with skill position talent. When the greatest coach in college football history has gone all in on innovation, that's a wrap for pretty much everyone else in the sport for a few years. 

3. Ohio State leaving points on the board may have cost itOf the many "what-ifs" for Ohio State fans will be a few situational decisions by the Buckeyes during the Alabama onslaught that was the first half. Ohio State punted from the Alabama 44-yard line down 14-7 early in the second quarter, but it was bailed out by Jones' subsequent fumble, giving the Buckeyes an opportunity to score anyway. Later, they settled for a field goal from the 6-yard line at the end of a nine-play drive instead of going for a game-tying touchdown. Following that, Ohio State had back-to-back three-and-outs before finishing the half by running out the clock.
The lack of stops by the Buckeyes defense combined with Smith's incredible first-half stat line dominated the conversation, but there were points where it seemed like Ohio State could have taken a few more risks offensively and been in a better position when it mounted a comeback effort in the third quarter. 

4. A record-setting evening for an Alabama team finished out the season averaging 48.5 points per game, the most in SEC history, and Smith rounded out SEC records for the most receiving yards and receiving touchdowns in a single season along with the SEC career receiving yards record. Jones not only holds several Alabama records already but after the game he solidified a new FBS record for completion percentage (77.4%) and his 464 passing yards are the most in a championship game in the BCS/CFP era. Adding to the ridiculous records to either be extended or fall tonight was Najee Harris tying the SEC record for most career touchdowns (57) and setting the new single-season touchdowns mark (30).
 
Perhaps even more impressive is that Nick Saban now holds the solo record for most national championships in the poll era, and the fact that of those seven title-winning teams only two were undefeated at the end of the year. The first was 2009, his first title with the Tide, and the other is the 2020 team that re-claimed the crown Monday night. This was a special team and its mark will be left on Alabama, and college football, forever. 

In other college football news, Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer and former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops are among the 13 former players and coaches who make up the latest College Football Hall of Fame class.

The National Football Foundation announced the newly elected hall of famers Monday. This class will be inducted in December.

Joining Southern Cal’s Palmer and Stoops will be versatile running backs Darren Sproles of Kansas State and C.J. Spiller of Clemson; offensive tackles Harris Barton of North Carolina and Aaron Taylor of Notre Dame; defensive stars David Fulcher of Arizona State, Dan Morgan of Miami; Kenneth Sims of Texas; Andre Tippett of Iowa and Al Wilson of Tennessee. Former Eastern Illinois quarterback and current CBS NFL analyst Tony Romo was also selected for induction along with former Florida A&M coach Rudy Hubbard.

​Now comes the every boring NCAA off season at which the highlight is predicting who will go pro and who will stay for another year.

Other key topics of interest:
- Who takes over as Alabama's offensive coordinator? Is it a big name like a certain former coach who screwed the Texans like a prom date? Do they go with an unknown?
- Where do the tranfers end up? With a covid exception we are going to see more transfers than ever since every transfer has been approved this year. 

Happy New Year! After the strangest season ever, it comes down Alabama against Ohio State for the Championship. We knew all along it was going to be Alabama, Ohio State or Clemson but now it is settled. Probably could have saved everyone time and just had the three teams play each in a best of three. 
 
Top 25:

• No. 1 Alabama 31, No. 4 Notre Dame 14 (Rose Bowl, CFP Semifinal)
• No. 3 Ohio State 49, No. 2 Clemson 28 (Sugar Bowl, CFP Semifinal)
• No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 13 North Carolina (Orange Bowl) | 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN
• No. 6 Oklahoma 55, No. 7 Florida 20 (Cotton Bowl)
• No. 9 Georgia 24, No. 8 Cincinnati 21 (Peach Bowl)
• No. 10 Iowa State vs. No. 25 Oregon (Fiesta Bowl) | 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN
• No. 11 Indiana vs. Ole Miss (Outback Bowl) | 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ABC
• Liberty 37, No. 12 Coastal Carolina 34 (Cure Bowl) 
• No. 14 Northwestern 35, Auburn 19 (Citrus Bowl)
• No. 15 Iowa vs. Missouri (Music City Bowl) | CANCELED
• No. 16 BYU 49, UCF 23 (Boca Raton Bowl)
• No. 21 Oklahoma State 37, No. 18 Miami 34 (Cheez-It Bowl) 
• No. 19 Louisiana 31, UTSA 24 (First Responder Bowl)
• No. 20 Texas 55, Colorado 23 (Alamo Bowl) 
• Ball State 34, No. 22 San Jose State 13 (Arizona Bowl) 
• No. 23 NC State vs. Kentucky (Gator Bowl) | 12 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN
• Mississippi State 28, No. 24 Tulsa 26 (Armed Forces Bowl) 

Thoughts:
- Ohio State played pissed for the three and half hours. Absolutely amazing job against what is normally a fantastic Clemson team.
- Clemson seemed to just coast. They seemed to think they would win just by showing up like they do against most of the ACC and didn’t seem ready for an OSU team that could match their talent. Clemson’s lack of discipline on defense really hurt them between the targeting call in the second half of their ND game and the one during this game.
- Justin Fields just made the scouts ignore his entire mediocre season and established him as the 2nd pick in the NFL draft. Which will look something like:
- With the 1st  pick, Jacksonville Jaguars select: Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson
- With the 2nd pick, New Jersey Jets select: Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
- With the 3rd pick, the Miami Dolphins select Penei Sewell, OT, Oregon (who plays tonight)
- While the score looked close, the game wasn’t really that close for Alabama and ND. ND is fantastic at chewing up clock but was never a threat to win the game as Alabama had too much firepower.
- Brian Kelly doesn’t like answering questions about how far ND is from beating the best teams. Maybe he should actually win a bowl game against the best teams when they aren’t missing their best players before complaining.
- Nick Saban got a penalty for yelling at his linebacker between plays. His half time talk is already a meme as the interview had technical difficulties.
- Oklahoma looked fantastic in crushing Florida. Oklahoma will be a team to watch next year. One thing of note is that two of the Sooners backup QBs are transferring so if Rattler (great name) gets hurt they are going with a true freshman.
- Florida is cleaning house already after their defensive disaster. Florida fired secondary coaches Torrian Gray and Ron English, because you hold hold the head coach or the defensive coordinator responsible.  
- Massive brawl breaks out at end of Armed Forces Bowl between Mississippi State and Tulsa. If you haven’t seen the video, you need to. That Mike Leach was tone deaf in response isn’t a good look for the programs. Leach was also taking selfies with fans while his players were fighting so great job their Mike.
- The Armed Forces Bowl should be the winner of the Commander’s Cup Trophy (Army, Air Force or Navy) against the 2nd ranked team from the Group of 5.
- Speaking of Army, two dozen of their players are part of their cheating scandal but the Commandant of West Point changed the rules so they could play against West Virginia in a bowl game because integrity is a crutch.
- Cincinnati may have lost but won some converts to their cause. A last second long field goal by Georgia won the day but it was a pretty good game even if Georgia was depleted at some key positions.
- Coastal Carolina also fell to Liberty so the committee got right after all.
- The Group of 5 deserves to have a top 6 New Years bowl for its highest ranked team. Putting Cincinnati against Alabama would have been a 40 point slaughter that would have put the Bearcats program back two years.
 - Northwestern ended one of the best years ever on a strong note. We’ll see what happens next year.
- Wisconsin destroyed Duke's Mayo Bowl trophy during their celebration.
- Zach Wilson for BYU and Florida’s Kyle Trask declared for the draft while Miami’s D’Eriq King will stick around for another year. Which is good because he tore his ACL and wouldn’t have been drafted (he declared he was staying before he got hurt.)
- Indiana is pissed at the Big10 for the bowl they got so they took the Big10 patches off. They offered up a lame excuse but I love the pettiness of it.
- Expect Texas A&M to try to beat the brakes off of North Carolina. NC is missing a couple of players as well so it could get sport as the Aggies try to make two statements, one that they should have been in instead of ND, but more importantly, they are the prime team in Texas so the recruits should be heading there.
 
The Award That Most Not Be Named:  I think we have this right. The media thinks we have this right.
1. DeVonta Smith: By far the best player in college football this year.
2. Mac Jones: Played like a 3rd year starter are year.
3. Trevor Lawrence: Missed too many games.
4. Kyle Trask: Looked awful against Oklahoma. Like amazingly terrible. 

While we are still days from New Years, there is some college football news to go with some games as well. 
 
Top 25:

• No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Notre Dame (CFP Semifinal) | 4 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1, 2021 | ESPN
• No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Ohio State (CFP Semifinal) | 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1, 2021 | ESPN
• No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 13 North Carolina (Orange Bowl) | 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN
• No. 6 Oklahoma vs. No. 7 Florida (Cotton Bowl) | 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30 | ESPN
• No. 8 Cincinnati vs. No. 9 Georgia (Peach Bowl) | 12 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1 | ESPN
• No. 10 Iowa State vs. No. 25 Oregon (Fiesta Bowl) | 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN
• No. 11 Indiana vs. Ole Miss (Outback Bowl) | 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ABC
• Liberty 37, No. 12 Coastal Carolina 34 (Cure Bowl) 
• No. 14 Northwestern vs. Auburn (Citrus Bowl) | 1 p.m. Friday, Jan. 1 | ABC
• No. 15 Iowa vs. Missouri (Music City Bowl) | 4 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 30 | ESPN
• No. 16 BYU 49, UCF 23 (Boca Raton Bowl)
• No. 18 Miami vs. No. 21 Oklahoma State (Cheez-It Bowl) | 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29 | ESPN
• No. 19 Louisiana 31, UTSA 24 (First Responder Bowl)
• No. 20 Texas vs. Colorado (Alamo Bowl) | 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 29 | ESPN
• No. 22 San Jose State vs. Ball State (Arizona Bowl) | 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 31 | CBSSN
• No. 23 NC State vs. Kentucky (Gator Bowl) | 12 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2 | ESPN

 
Thoughts:
- This bowl season has me convinced that it’s time to expand the college football playoff. Watching 4-5 against 5-6 teams duke it out is awful. 2025 can’t come fast enough (2025 is when ESPNs current contract is up, expansion won’t happen before then). There are plenty of issues to resolve (player opt outs, expanded schedules, etc…) but no one is watching the garbage bowls (except probably me) anyway.
- Coastal Carolina’s dream season ends on a wacky note. Liberty fumbled in the last minute on the Coastal goal line and the game ended in OT on a blocked kick. I’m pretty impressed by Liberty’s offense, if they could find WRs who could catch they can be pretty special next year. Coastal had been tied with Alabama for the longest current winning streak in the FBS. Coastal just doesn’t have the talent to play against top teams, this puts BYU’s loss in additional context as a full strength A&M or Florida would put 60 up on either team easily. Group of 5 teams most of the time lack the talent to compete against Power 5.
- That being said, I think Cincinnati has a fantastic chance of knocking off Georgia. Georgia has already had 5 or 6 starters opt out of the game and they are getting crushed by covid right now. This is a fantastic opportunity for Cincinnati to get a marquee win in the national spotlight.
- Louisiana-Lafayette’s almost chocked away a 17-point lead over UTSA in the First Responder Bowl. The Ragin’ Cajuns responded with a time-consuming winning touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and a critical defensive stop.
- Utah Utes RB Ty Jordan, the Pac-12 Offensive Freshman of the Year killed himself in an accidental discharge. He was back home in Texas when he did it.
- Miami quarterback D'Eriq King announced that he will return to the team for the 2021 season. King is talented QB who could make a lot of noise next year in a Trevor Lawrence less ACC, which is huge news for the Hurricanes.
- New England Patriots quarterbacks coach Jedd Fisch has been named the new head coach at the University of Arizona, replacing recently fired head coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin’s Wildcats were obliterated 70-7 against Arizona State in his final game.
- Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney is still going off on Ohio State making the playoffs: "Obviously, they're a great team. They're plenty good enough and talented enough to beat us and good enough to win the national championship. But in my opinion, I don't think that it's right that three teams have to play 13 games to win it all and one team has to play eight. What universe am I living in? And it has nothing to with them. It was about qualifying. And I didn't think they were qualified, based on the number of games, versus all these other teams. ... In my opinion—Texas A&M, Florida, Oklahoma, Cincinnati—they got punished for playing more games."
- I’ve also discovered that Ohio States local reporters should be drug tested for trying to make the case that Justin Fields as played better than Trevor Lawrence this year and that they would rather have
 
The Award That Most Not Be Named: Our top four are the finalists. I see no reason to change the list other than strikeout a deserving Najee who finished 5th.
1. DeVonta Smith: Deserves the award. The dude balled out.
2. Mac Jones: Stepped into Tua’s shoes and made Tua an afterthought.
3. Trevor Lawrence: Missed too many games
4. Kyle Trask: Looked pretty darn good against Alabama. But two losses in a row doesn’t help the cause.

Playoff Prediction for This Week.  Our prediction here was also correct. ND is the most marketable team not named Alabama. Yes, they get more viewers than Clemson on a weekly basis. That being said.
1. Alabama over Notre Dame. The point spread is about 20. ND needs to be able to run the ball tied in with short passing to chew up clock if they want to keep it close. It’s close for three quarters, then the doors come off.  
2. Clemson over OSU. Justin Fields hasn’t looked great this year. He probably won’t look great against a talented Clemson defense and a Clemson offense that will score on just about every drive. I think Clemson wants to make a statement about OSU not being deserving and does their best to publicly embarrass OSU on the national stage. 

Just a note. Another big factor often forgotten is these are also the top recruiting teams in college football as well. Destroying a foe in front of prospects goes a long way in getting them signed to letters of intent. 

Top 25:
1 Alabama 52 - 7 Florida 46
3 Clemson 34 - 2 Notre Dame 10
4 Ohio State 22 - 14 Northwestern 10
5 Texas A&M 34 - Tennessee 13
10 Oklahoma 27 - 6 Iowa State 21
9 Cincinnati 27 - 23 Tulsa 24
Oregon 31 - 13 USC 24
24 San Jose State 34 - Boise State 220
 
Six other Top 25 teams had their games canceled (Indiana, Miami, Georgia, Louisiana, Coastal Carolina and Iowa)

Thoughts:
- Florida played better than anyone thought they would. Kudos to theme for taking a massive swing at Bama. Bama’s offense is unbelievable while their defense continues to be up and down. I think Clemson can put up 35 on them, not sure about Notre Dame. That being said, the Tide will still be the favorites to win it all.
- Clemson was clearly pissed at ND trying to steal an ACC crown and beat ND like they owed them money. I think getting players back on defense was more important for Clemson than Trevor Lawrence as the defense looked great. Clemson at full strength can play with Bama like no one else can.  
- Ohio State underwhelmed me. Northwestern played them well but Ohio State gets by on pure talent because the Big 10 doesn’t have it on the same level that will face against Alabama or Clemson in the semi’s. If they aren’t ready they’ll be down 30 by half with no let up.
- Oklahoma won the Big 12 for the 5th straight time. Congrats on beating up a weak conference.
- Speaking of dominance, Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon have won 25 of the 35 conference titles over the last 6 years.
- Texas A&M beat a sorry Tennessee team.
- Speaking of Tennessee, rumors are starting to fly about illegal activity within the football program. Judging by their recent performances, if they paid for players they should get their money back.
- Cincinnati won but didn’t look dominate against Tulsa. IF you are going to play weaker teams then you need to show up and show off. This wasn’t enough to spread the Bearcat Gospel.
- LSU won a shootout against Ole Miss. Freshman reciever Kayshon Boutte hauled in 14 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns. Not a bad day.
- San Jose State had an under-appreciated great in winning the Mountain West. Big money was won by anyone who bet on them to win.
- Biggest shock of the week was that I enjoyed the Oregon/USC game. Despite the miscues it shows that Oregon has the talent to compete against anyone. The issue with them is coaching as they play up or down to their opponent each week. That they needed Washington to fall out due to Covid just made it that much more special.
- Illinois is going with Bret Bielema as their next head coach.
- The Rose Bowl will be played at Jerry World in Texas.
 
The Award That Most Not Be Named:
1. DeVonta Smith: Deserves the award. The dude balled out.
2. Mac Jones: Stepped into Tua’s shoes and made Tua an afterthought.
3. Trevor Lawrence: Missed too many games
4. Kyle Trask: Looked pretty darn good against Alabama. But two losses in a row doesn’t help the cause.
5. Najee Harris: The forgotten stud for Bama.
- Lawrence has a good shot at winning if the three Tiders take votes from each other.  

Final Playoff Prediction.  
1. Alabama. They gave up a lot of points but they can win a shootout with anyone
2. Clemson: Will jump to 2 because OSU didn’t look great.
3. Ohio State: Didn’t look great but just needed a win to make it in.  
4. Notre Dame:  I think this goes to the Golder Domers because people love to hate ND, though I’d rather see Cincinnati

Waiting in the wings:  

- Texas A&M: Didn’t blow away Tennessee by enough to move the needle
- Cincinnati: Barely beat Tulsa. Not the inspiring win they needed.
- Coastal Carolina: Just because they had a great year and now they’ll up playing before New Years day unless enough teams drop out.
 
Enjoy the politicking by Notre Dame, A&M and Cincinnati this week for the 4th spot. Should be interesting. 

What can we gleam from the penultimate CFP rankings?

Let's work our way down the list at scenarios:

1. Even if they lose in the SEC title game, Alabama is probably in. The fact the CFP still have 2-loss Florida ranked #7 means that if the upset happens, Alabama won't be penalized too much.

2. Notre Dame is probably in, barring a blowout loss in ACC title game. Even if Clemson avenges their only loss, that still puts the Irish at 10-1, with their only loss being to the #3 team in the nation, who they already beat. As long as the game is close, they won't drop out of top 4. If the Irish get blown out? All bets are off.

3. Clemson is in with a win, but will be out with a loss. The CFP isn't going to take a 2-loss non-conference champion.

4. Ohio State is in, if they win. If they lose in the upset to Northwestern, they are out.

5. Texas A&M needs help. They need Northwestern to upset the Buckeyes, the Irish to get the season sweep against Clemson, or, barring a Clemson loss, an absolute blowout victory by Clemson that convinces the CFP to drop ND below #4.

6. Iowa State is out. Sorry, but even as Big XII champ, they aren't going to take a 2-loss Big XII team over a 1 loss Texas A&M.

7. Florida is out, even if they upset Alabama in the SEC title game. The CFP isn't going to take a 2-loss SEC champ over two 1-loss teams from the other division, or a 1-loss Notre Dame or Clemson. LSU ended any hope the Florida Gators had.

8. Georgia is out. A 2-loss non-SEC division winner, let alone champ, isn't getting selected.

9. Cincinnati. Look. Cute story, but there is a reason that despite being undefeated, the CFP only has them ranked #9. Their best win was SMU. They are a mid-major program that played a mid-major schedule. Give that schedule to half of the teams in the P5, and they go undefeated too. In the words of the lovely Shania Twain, "That don't impress me much."

10. Oklahoma: See Iowa State.

What this all boils down to: Barring any major upsets, the College Football Playoff will be the four teams the CFP committee currently has ranked 1-4. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State.


OK, check my logic. Agree? Disagree? Anything I failed to consider?

​
Top 25:

• No. 1 Alabama 52, Arkansas 3
• Michigan at No. 4 Ohio State — CANCELED
• LSU 37, No. 6 Florida 34
• No. 9 Georgia 49, No. 25 Missouri 14
• No. 17 North Carolina 62, No. 10 Miami 26
• No. 11 Oklahoma at West Virginia — CANCELED
• Purdue at No. 12 Indiana — CANCELED
• No. 13 Coastal Carolina 42, Troy 38
• No. 14 Northwestern 28, Illinois 10
• No. 15 USC 43, UCLA 38
• No. 16 Iowa 28, Wisconsin 7
• San Diego State at No. 18 BYU | 10 p.m. | ESPN2
• No. 20 Texas at Kansas — CANCELED
• Utah 38, No. 21 Colorado 21
• No. 22 Oklahoma State 42, Baylor 3

Thoughts:
- North Carolina looked amazing against Miami. One of the most complete beatdowns I’ve seen in a long time. NC just kept pounding it down Miami’s throat and the Hurricanes had no answers. If both Clemson and Notre Dame make the playoffs then NC gets to play in the top six new years bowl as the ACC representative. Not a bad year for Mack Brown.
- LSU’s win against Florida removes the chances of Florida getting into the playoff if they beat Alabama next week.
- Florida’s Trask threw for over 400 yards but too many mistakes should cost him the Heisman. If he has a huge game and they beat Alabama then he still has a shot.
- Alabama demolished Arkansas and they could have easily put up another 21 if they wanted to. They are clearly the most talented team this year.
- DeVonta Smith should win the Heisman this year as he is more important to his team than any of the QBs.
- Iowa took Wisconsin behind the woodshed. Iowa continues to be good, not great on a yearly basis.
- BYU pulled out the win, but the more I watch the less I’m impressed. BYU losses by 40 against one of the playoff teams.
- Coastal Carolina slipped passed a Troy team that they didn’t want to play.
- Colorado choked against Utah and can be properly forgotten again.
- Arizona State routed Arizona 70-7 and got Kevin Sumlin fired.
- Army sunk Navy in a 15-0 shootout.
- Georgia took out some anger on Missouri.  
- USC is set to play against Washington in the PAC-12 title game, unless Washington can’t play and then it will be Oregon.
- If you haven’t seen the wild ending to the Western Michigan - Ball State game, you need to.

Playoff Prediction for This Week. No changes to the four this week.  
1. Alabama. If they don’t destroy Florida by at least 28 points the game will be a shocker.
2. Ohio State: Expect OSU to unload on Northwestern to seal their spot.  
3. Notre Dame: Time for the rematch.
4. Clemson: Put up or shut up time has arrived.

Waiting in the wings: Not Florida anyone.

- Texas A&M: Will need a blowout in the ACC Championship game or it gets a nice New Years Day bowl and no championship.
- Cincinnati: Just sitting still, hoping that magic happens.
- Coastal Carolina: Just keep on trucking.

www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/30483665/sources-big-ten-expected-change-6-game-rule

​The Big Ten officially changed its policy that teams must play six games to be eligible for the conference championship game, meaning undefeated No. 4 Ohio State will face Northwestern on Dec. 19.
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The conference made the announcement Wednesday after its administrative council, made up of all athletic directors and senior women administrators, voted to eliminate the minimum-game requirement in collaboration with the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors.

The Buckeyes' place in the postseason became a question Tuesday when Michigan canceled the teams' regular-season rivalry game because of COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines program. It was the third canceled game for Ohio State this season, after others against Illinois and Maryland, and left the Buckeyes at just five games played overall.

"The decision was based on a competitive analysis which determined that Ohio State would have advanced to the Big Ten Football Championship Game based on its undefeated record and head-to-head victory over Indiana regardless of a win or loss against Michigan," the conference said.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day saluted Big Ten officials for reconsidering the requirement.

"A lot of changes have happened since that recommendation was put in place," he said in a statement. "I know making this decision was not easy, and I am thankful for the opportunity our players will now have to play in Indianapolis as an undefeated East Division champion."

Ohio State (5-0) beat Indiana 42-35 last month, handing the Hoosiers (6-1) what has turned out to be their only loss.

"Coach [Tom] Allen and I are proud of this team and the success we have had so far this season," Hoosiers athletic director Scott Dolson said in a statement. "We are one of only two teams in the country with three Top-25 victories and have matched a program record for Big Ten wins. Although we understand the conference's decision, we are disappointed. From the start of the year, we have said we can only control what we can control. We had a chance to earn our spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, but ultimately fell a touchdown short on the road against a great Ohio State team. We look forward to resuming activities and completing one of the best seasons in our school's history."

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, who is also the chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee, told ESPN he called Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren before the athletic directors met on Wednesday morning to let him know he would recuse himself from the discussions and the voting, but he would join the videoconference to listen.

"He wasn't surprised," Barta said of Warren. "I alerted him to the fact I absolutely was going to be on the call, but I wasn't going to contribute to the discussion and I was going to recuse myself and the University of Iowa was going to recuse itself from the vote. I did want to listen, because as athletic director I did want to hear how the conversation went."

Barta said he joined from the Dallas airport, as he was flying home from the third CFP rankings meeting in Grapevine, Texas. He said he had to leave the call a little early, but "knew where it was headed" and had listened to almost all of it. All 14 athletic directors and Warren were on the call, according to Barta. He declined to say what the vote count was.

"It was very collaborative and I've always appreciated the way the Big Ten athletic directors work together and this was no exception to that," he said. "At the end of the day, it was pointed out that if they had been able to play against Michigan, even if they would have lost, they had already clinched the top spot in the East, so real collaborative discussion and in the end it was voted that the six-game minimum be waived."

Every team in the Big Ten will play an additional game the weekend of Dec. 18-19, and Barta said the athletic directors also discussed those matchups on Wednesday morning. He said they wouldn't be determined until after Saturday's games.

"In normal circumstances, people would roll their eyes and say, 'That's crazy, you can't turn it around that fast,'" he said, "but in COVID-19 pandemic time, the faster we can find out after the games are done Saturday the better. I know the Big Ten is going to work hard at getting them done as quickly as possible. I don't have an exact time of when we'll learn the matchups." 

Northwestern, at 5-1, will represent the West Division in the title game.