College Football Playoff 2019: Did the committee really pick the 4 best teams?

The College Football Playoff field is set but did the committee pick the right teams or did they leave out a team worthy of inclusion?

This year’s College Football Playoff left little suspense about the four teams that would make the field, but that won’t stop some fans from thinking the committee got it all wrong.

The playoff committee really only had one decision to make: Oklahoma or Ohio State?

With Alabama and Clemson winning the SEC and ACC Championship Games and Notre Dame finishing their regular season undefeated last week, there was one spot open.

The final spot went to Oklahoma who beat Texas by 12 to avenge their three-point loss in the regular season. Georgia came in at No. 5 and Ohio State was No. 6. Georgia with two losses and not having won their conference championship ended any legit debate about their inclusion.

The Sooners got in ahead of Ohio State who won the Big Ten over Northwestern. Georgia had an argument because they lost by seven in the final minute after leading the entire game, but a two-loss team that isn’t a conference champion isn’t getting in over one-loss conference champions.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise for Ohio State fans, but it also doesn’t mean that they can’t be upset by the news.

Oklahoma was ahead of Ohio State last week after the Buckeyes throttled Michigan with 62 points to embarrass their bitter rivals. The committee could have put them ahead of Oklahoma last week after the Sooners beat West Virginia in a nail-biter. That was all the indication fans needed to know how the committee viewed Oklahoma and Ohio State.

The Buckeyes certainly looked like a playoff team against Michigan but they haven’t looked like a playoff team for the rest of their season. The most damaging to their resume was a 29-point loss to a 6-6 Purdue team. That was unforgivable in the eyes of the playoff committee. It also hurt Ohio State that they didn’t have a marquee opponent in the Big Ten Championship Game to boost their efforts. Had they played an undefeated or one-loss Wisconsin team, for example, that type of quality win could have been enough to jump Oklahoma.

With the Sooners beating a better opponent in No. 14 Texas, there was nothing Ohio State could have done. Urban Meyer’s team needed Texas to beat Oklahoma to get in.

The playoff committee has opened themselves for criticism in year’s past, but they should be commended for picking the four best teams who had the four best seasons this year.