In the aftermath of another College Football Playoff semifinal blowout, it’s clear that expanding the playoff will only produce more bad games.
Another playoff appearance, another disappointing performance by the Oklahoma defense.
The Sooners were a massive underdog vs. LSU in the Peach Bowl even before they saw multiple defensive starters suspended before the game. Facing Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow and the record-setting bunch of Bayou Bengals is a tough task but no one anticipated Burrow throwing seven touchdowns by halftime. The blowout looks bad and has many questioning whether Lincoln Riley’s team even deserved to be in the playoff.
They earned their spot on the field with a Big 12 championship and other playoff contenders falling on championship weekend. In the case of Alabama, they fell short in the Iron Bowl one week earlier to suffer their second loss of the year.
Could Alabama with Mac Jones put up a better game against LSU than what Oklahoma did? Absolutely.
So could Florida, Auburn and Georgia, but they didn’t do enough in the regular season to merit inclusion in the College Football Playoff.
No, this isn’t an argument for playoff expansion either, because if you expanded the playoffs from four to eight teams, you’re only increasing your chances for more blowouts rather than instant classics.
This is further proof of why playoff expansion is not only unnecessary but ridiculous.
This was a year with three elite teams with Ohio State and Clemson joining LSU in that club. Oklahoma, Utah, Alabama, or whoever got the No. 4 spot was going to get wrecked in the semifinal against LSU.
That’s just keeping with the tradition of the playoff era.
The playoff has delivered some all-time great National Championship Games, but it has only delivered two semifinals that were competitive.
The 2015 Sugar Bowl that saw No. 4 Ohio State beat No. 1 Alabama en route to winning the national title and the 2018 Rose Bowl that saw Georgia outlast Oklahoma in overtime in a high-scoring affair. That’s it. That’s the list.
Do you really want to see more of these blowouts?
I was ready for the Fiesta Bowl between Clemson and Ohio State to start at halftime with the Peach Bowl outcome decided and Oklahoma met with another postseason nightmare.
In many cases, more football is a good thing, but when games are over with 10 minutes left in the second quarter, it’s not good for anyone. For Oklahoma, they’ve been on the receiving end of the “not good for anyone” end of things too often.
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