Barstool Breakdown Coach Day's Playoff Bracket

Championship Saturday is in the books. With that, we now officially have our 5 automatic qualifiers... or so we think for the 5th, and no more chances for teams to show the committee what they got. As we all impatiently await the release of the bracket tomorrow on ESPN, let's take a moment to digest today & what it could have meant for the playoffs.

We started the day a little slow in the Big 12 & SEC games with Texas Tech & Georgia flexing their muscles with monstrous wins over what many consider to be bubble teams in #11 BYU & #9 Alabama. The two blowouts of course started the Twitter debates of whether these games should hurt these teams or not. Many feel that if they do, it could cause a negative ripple effect, ending Championship Saturday.

This feels a bit drastic, as one: there are still situations in which a championship in your conference is your only way in, and two: winning any type of championship in college sports is a HUGE deal. In fact, some could argue that if these games aren’t taken into account in the process, does it make them even less important?

You just can't talk about the possibility before the game of “if Bama wins could they vault into the top 4,” and then when they get boat-raced say this shouldn’t count against them. Many people want it one way as usual. Even Kirk Herbstreit (who I love) talked of BYU falling due to their loss, but then in the same sentence says Bama shouldn’t. It’s either they both fall or neither, since they both put forth a stinker.

The night cap gave us the excitement you were looking for this Saturday. Indiana shockingly cemented themselves as top dog of the football world going into the playoff with a hard-nosed win over Ohio State. Could this have been a prequel of a possible rematch in the national championship? We shall see. One thing’s for sure: Ohio State will be heavily bet to repeat the same act as last year, avenging a late-season loss with a natty.

Well then we have the good ole ACC... yep, 7–5 Duke somehow got into this chip by losing to Georgia Tech (one of the tiebreaker teams) & not playing the other two in SMU & Miami. Well, they continued their insanely puzzling season, with losses to Tulane & UConn, by beating Virginia and taking the ACC crown, thus most likely taking the ACC out of the playoff completely while allowing James Madison to slide right in. I know what you’re thinking with Miami, I’ll get to that in a moment. Let’s first see the bracket.

The four byes are no surprise. I do keep Ohio State at #2, though I’m sure that discussion with Georgia will be very close, without a doubt, and it should be. I just think it was a coin-flip game, they were the only two undefeated, they did enough to stay there. Georgia & Texas Tech then hold those last byes.

When you look at 5–7, Oregon should hold 5 with now their only loss looking even better since it was to, of course, Indiana. I think with all of the issues in Oxford, the committee will flip Ole Miss & Texas A&M. Both have high-octane offenses, and the 5/6 spots will be highly coveted, as both will play a Group of 5 champion. They would have big advantages in those games. But let’s get to the real convo: the bubble...

I of course have bias with Notre Dame, but let’s keep it fair. Oklahoma will slot in at #8. Next at #9, I have Notre Dame. This is based off what the committee said on Tuesday. They stated the room was split on Notre Dame & Alabama, so after this display by the Tide today, the room surely will move ND up one. Thus leaving the final spot between Alabama, Miami, & BYU. For the Cougs, I think the way they lost twice to Tech is hard to ignore, they just got dominated by 49 points combined, with only 14 total in two games.

So this is truly between Bama & Miami. It’s going to be Alabama... I’m sorry Canes, but the total F*** up that was the ACC this year is going to hurt you. Two of the 3 decent teams in the conference you lost to, and not making the title game in a low-conference year is too hard to ignore for the committee.

Now personally, I do think they still deserve it over Alabama. WHY, you ask? Well, while the Tide had a great 3/4 game stretch, they have the worst loss vs Florida State (who then got pushed around in that shit ACC), then they needed 4th quarter heroics to beat 2 non-bowl-eligible teams (South Carolina & Auburn), an ugly win over a hurt/back-up QB LSU, a loss at home to Oklahoma, an FCS win, and then today’s stinker. That is their home stretch since October. To me that isn’t playoff worthy, but the focus will be on those 3 to 4 games in which they looked very good.

Soooo I’m sorry to the Canes fans, but when you lost those two games you put yourself at the mercy of the committee. Your conference did you no help on top of that, thus leaving you on the outside looking in. Of course, the backlash with whatever the committee chooses means we of course will have a 16-team playoff oh so soon. Buckle up college football fans, cause tomorrow is gonna be WILD.

I'll leave you with this, why college sports are so special...

Congrats WHITE BOY RICK! What an experience to win not only a Big 10 title but to do it against Ohio State. He was a fan of a team that was dogshit for so many years and now he got to see that! AWESOME!