The Washington Huskies received their due recognition as Pac-12 champions when they were awarded the No. 4 spot in the College Football Playoff on Selection Sunday. While the Huskies are unfortunate in one sense since they will have to play the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide in the Peach Bowl they have to be happy just to be there on the national stage. Here is a look at the biggest winners and losers from Selection Sunday.
Winner: Washington Huskies
There is no doubt that Washington will be in tough against the Crimson Tide in their playoff semi-final. However, the fact that the Huskies have made it this far is pretty special in its own right. The selection committee felt that Washington was a better team than Penn State and therefore gave them the nod to compete in the playoff ahead of the Big Ten champions. Jake Browning and company has had an incredible season and it is definitely a bright spot to see them rewarded on the national stage. The Huskies might not beat Alabama but the fact that they will play them in the Peach Bowl is enough to consider them a winner.
Loser: Big Ten
There are many experts that believe the Big Ten was the best conference in the entire country this season, so the fact that they will not be represented by their champion in the playoff has to feel like a major loss. Ohio State and Michigan were both top-ranked teams for nearly the entire season and yet it was Penn State that won the Big Ten championship and was kept out of a playoff semi-final. Of course, these conference playoffs are always controversial as some have them and some don’t.
The Nittany Lions had the tougher non-conference schedule than Washington and a case can be made that they had just as difficult of a conference schedule. The fact that the conference champion from one of the top conferences in the country failed to make the playoff may sets a bad precedent even with the Buckeyes getting in since it could inspire teams to schedule lighter slates of non-conference opponents in an effort to try to win more games and ultimately get in to the playoff. We’ll see how they fare in the CFP as there could be a lot of hindsight and regrets if they get rolled by Clemson.
Winner: Clemson Tigers
An ACC championship helped push Clemson to No. 2 in the playoff rankings and while the swap with Ohio State at No. 3 might not mean anything other than a change in jersey color, it is an impressive accomplishment. The Tigers rebounded strong following a slow start and they did just enough to win the ACC by playing their best football in their biggest games. Clemson will have a tough test against the Buckeyes but they ranked high enough to avoid a semi-final showdown with Alabama and with a win over Ohio State, they will be set for the national championship game rematch with the Crimson Tide that they have been chasing all season.
Loser: Bowl Projections
While most had Washington joining Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State in the playoff once they won the Pac-12 championship the remaining bowl projections were all over the place. The St. Petersburg Bowl was supposed to be made up of Conference USA, American or the third tier from the ACC but instead it will be MAC vs. SEC with Miami of Ohio taking on Mississippi State. The fact that there were 12 bowl-eligible teams from the SEC provided the biggest shakeup but that wasn’t the only issue. The Las Vegas Bowl was supposed to feature the Mountain West champion against the fifth-best non-New Years Six team from the Pac-12 but instead it was Houston that jumped up from the AAC and earned a spot against San Diego State. The domino effect of the key matchup shakeups really changed the overall outlook of the bowl games and made the bowl projections extremely inaccurate beyond the playoff picks. One thing that will definitely be odd is to not have either Texas or Oregon playing in any bowl game at all this year. It’s hard to believe that programs of that magnitude can’t get it together.
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