Big Ten Champions!

An excuse to post on my blog since I haven't forever...

Yes, I'm thrilled that Penn State is the Big Ten Champion.  And no, I'm not all that upset about them being left out of the four team playoff.  It's difficult to make the case for being in the playoff with two losses.  The Rose Bowl against USC promises to be a great game, whereas the other choice would be to be the sacrificial lamb for Alabama.  It's a pretty good way to finish off a great season.

Don't get me wrong, it's completely tortured logic that leaves Penn State out of the playoff.... I realize by even spending time writing down the logic, I could appear to care way more than I do.  What I care about is critiquing the logic of the system in general, not so much the results of it this year.  So, for what it's worth, Penn State is the champion of the toughest conference in college football.  If you just jumped off a time machine from somewhere between 2005-2015, you absolutely heard that right... the SEC is down this year, other than Alabama.  The Big Ten finished the regular season with four teams (Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State) in the top 7.  Where the playoff went funny was admitting 11-1 Ohio State over 11-2 Penn State.  Yes, two losses, but Penn State had the following over Ohio State...

The objective facts...

- beat them head to head
- won their division over them
- won the conference over them

The subjective opinion...

Does Ohio State really have a better chance against the other playoff teams?  Are they really a better team NOW?  How about the last two weeks of the season where Ohio State barely squeaked by Michigan State 17-16 when Penn State pounded them 45-12?  Yes, Ohio State beat Michigan whereas Michigan beat Penn State (early in the season).  Does the current status of a team (Penn State, 9 straight wins, most quite convincing) matter?  I've heard people say Penn State's win over Ohio State was an upset and Ohio State would beat them 8 out of 10 times.  I don't buy that... not right now... line them up and I think you're looking at a pretty even game.  Again, I'm not too upset.  Buckeye fans... I don't begrudge OSU being in the playoff.  The entire season SHOULD matter and 2 losses might just be too much to overlook.  But it does lead to the logical paradox we have right now... the champion of the best conference in all of college football doesn't have a shot at the national championship... and Urban Meyer, of all people, appears to have some sympathy to that view.

UPDATE:  With the season over, hindsight is 20/20, but what it tells us is that (a) Nobody would have beaten Clemson, and (b) anybody would have put up a better fight against Clemson than Ohio State, who got obliterated, 31-0.