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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2014
PAGE 9
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I think it's a process in learning through the committee. I think what-ever mistakes, if there were any made, they'll learn from it. Like anything we do, we're all going to learn from it and make it a better system."
Gary Patterson ESPN.com
FACT OF THE DAY
Baylor ranked first in the nation in points while TCU ranked second this year.
- ESPN.com
TRIVIA OF THE DAY
Q: Who and when was the last time a Big 12 team was in the National Championship?
A: Texas in 2009
-ESPN.com
THE MORNING BREW
College Football Playoff causes as much controversy as BCS
the final standings for the inaugural College Football Playoff were released this past
Sunday. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State all won their respective conferences, placing them in the top four of the standings and in contention for the National Championship. Alabama will play Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl while Oregon will face off against reigning National Champion Florida State in the Rose Bowl. The two winning teams will meet in Dallas at AT&T Stadium to play for the National Championship.
Since the selections were announced this Sunday, the many people plugged into football have noticed the apparent snub of TCU, replaced by Ohio State, after being ranked No. 3 the previous week.
Even after a 55-3 win versus Iowa State, TCU fell down to No. 6 in the final standings behind Big 12 co-champion Baylor. Baylor defeated TCU earlier this season by three points at home although TCU claims
Jeffrey Kaplan
@JKap22
to have had a stronger non-conference schedule.
Point being: both are equally qualified. So the question is this: Why is neither TCU nor Baylor selected for the Playoff? Both completely deserve and have strong enough resumes to grab one of the spots. Even though they lost in the head to head at Baylor, TCU has more of a reason to be in the playoff than Ohio State.
How is it that TCU drops three spots in the rankings while Ohio State scores four more points than TCU to shutout Wisconsin and moves up one spot to get into the playoff? Yes, Ohio State did win its conference championship outright, but at the same time, TCU was co-champions of its conference after a more than convincing statement to be in the playoff — this just a week after the committee said TCU was a playoff caliber team at No. 3. Baylor
also is completely deserving of being in the playoff as well. The problem is that the Big 12 does not have a conference championship game leaving out Baylor and TCU in this situation. They both have no conference championship game trophy to say that they deserve a chance like Ohio State does.
The answer is the College Football Playoff expanding to eight teams. Each conference champion from the five power conferences would have an automatic bid into the playoff with room for three more deserving teams. This would eliminate the current TCU/Baylor/Ohio State debacle of who should get the final spot. All three would be in with room for two more teams, in this case being Mississippi State and Michigan State. This year, no other team outside the Top 8 teams has a valid argument for competing for the National Championship.
The playoff system set out to resolve the BCS's problem that the third best
team didn't get a shot at the title while still being a legitimate title contender. In 2012, conference champion Oklahoma State was left out of the National Championship game only to see Alabama jump in the
to see Alabama jump them in the rankings to play SEC Champion LSU who defeated Alabama previously that year. Sports fans were in a rage over Oklahoma State not getting a shot to play in the National Championship
That is the same problem that is still occurring right now. The four-team playoff has not solved the issue it set out to tackle in the first place. TCU and Baylor have a legitimate shot at being title contenders by winning their conference but with the current format, they don't quite make the cut. With an eight-team playoff, it is safe to say that each legitimate title contender and conference champion would have an equal shot at making it to the National Championship and winning it.
— Edited by Miranda Davis
Tuesday No events
This week in athletics
Wednesday
Men's Basketball Georgetown 6 p.m. Washington, D.C.
Thursday
Women's Basketball
Purdue
6 p.m.
West Lafayette, Ind.
Friday
No events
Saturday
Men's Basketball
Utah
2:15 p.m.
Kansas City, Mo.
Sunday
Women's Basketball Arkansas State 2 p.m. Lawrence
Monday No events
Bill Self's weekly press conference
BEN CARROLL
@BCarroll91
1. Frank Mason is limited in practice Monday after injuring his ankle Friday night against Florida
"Now, Frank's not healthy, obviously," Self said. "He's hopefully going to do some limited things today and hopefully be able to practice tomorrow."
2. Freshman forward and ESPN 100'S No. 3 recruit Cliff Alexander is progressing nicely
sively. I've been real pleased with him."
"When you just look at inside guys, Cliff's probably played as well as anybody," Self said. "I do think that he will emerge as a guy that we can play through. His passing has improved dramatically. His rebounding outside the areas improved dramatically. He's getting a better understanding of what we're trying to do offensively and defen-
3. Tough non-conference schedule will help the Jayhawks improve
"There's probably nobody out there that will be playing a tougher stretch than what we will, but I do think it will be good for us," Self said. "This is the toughest non-conference week we have. We will definitely be challenged."
"Santa Barbara was good for us. Rhode Island was good for us, and Tennessee in a tie game with six minutes left was good for us. Michigan State was good for us. And Florida being down 18 was good for us, even though we didn't like it. So there's been something we can draw from. And of course if was good for us to get handled [against Kentucky]."
4. Wayne Seiden has a lot of potential with some great qualities
"Wayne can be an NBA player," Self said. "He's got all of the physical attributes. He's big, he's strong, he's explosive. He works hard. He hasn't shot the ball constantly well, but he's a good shooter. He's got vision, he's tough. He's got some things that he can do that allow him to be not only a very good college player, but play well beyond here."
5. Self briefly spoke with newly appointed Kansas football head coach David Beatty
"I haven't had a chance to talk to him a lot," Self said. "I know he's a night owl. He texted me at midnight, waking me up and stuff like that. But I can tell he's excited. It's nice to see guys with energy and I'm sure that will feed off on many others. So, I'm happy for him."
ANNA WENNER/KANSAN
ones won 71-65
Devonte' Graham steals the ball during the second half of the game against Florida Dec. 5. Kansas won 71-65.
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