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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2014
PAGE 7
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THE DAILY DEBATE
Who will be the No.4 seed in the playoff when the standings come out?
By Nick Couzin
@Ncouz
"OHIO STATE"
This Tuesday, when the College Playoff committee comes
out with its weekly top four standings, there will be a shake up at the No. 4 position.
We already know the top-three seeds are locked right now with Alabama, Oregon and Florida State all winning this weekend with their conference championships coming up. The current No. 4 seed is Mississippi State, but that is going to change because it lost its in-state rivalry game to Ole Miss on the road.
The current No. 5 seed is TCU, followed by Ohio State and Baylor. TCU loses out on its top-four spot because of a loss to Baylor, in addition to nearly losing to Kansas on the road.
The Bears are favored because they won their only regular season meeting
against the Horned Frogs.
against the Horned Frogs. Now, Ohio State is in the best position at No. 6 because it can easily get into the top four. With TCU slipping out of that No. 5 seed, the Buckeyes move up after their convincing win last weekend against a falling Michigan team, 42-28. The Buckeyes will play the Wisconsin Badgers on Friday night for the Big Ten Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
It will be interesting to see how this game plays out. Quarterback J.T. Barrett, who started the majority of the games this season after starting quarterback Braxton Miller went down with a season-ending shoulder injury, is now injured, too. Barrett was carted off the field in Saturday's game with an ankle injury. He most likely will be on the sideline in a cast come Friday night.
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the most important game of the season. This will definitely be a problem for them with an inexperienced leader taking the snaps and the explosive Heisman favorite, Melvin Gordon, running havoc on the Buckeye defense.
Ohio State will be starting sophomore quarterback Cardale Jones, who has only had 14 snaps all season, in
Come next week, don't be surprised if Ohio State falls out of the four spot after losing the Big Ten title to the likes of the Badgers. As of right now, the top four is as mentioned: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Ohio State. On Tuesday, that is what college football fans should see. However, based on what is to come from conference championship games this coming weekend ACC, SEC and Big Ten there will be changes.
By Evan Riggs @EvanRiggs15
Edited by Ben Carroll
"TCU"
This season marks the first time college football will feature
football will feature a four-team playoff, which gives four teams a shot to play for the national title. From 1998-2013, the top two teams in the BCS poll played for the national title. Now, instead of debating who should be number two, we are debating who should be number four. It has been anything but easy for the committee to choose the four best teams.
choose the playoff teams based on strength of schedule, head-to-head results, comparison of results against common opponents, championships and other factors. It has also said it will take injuries into consideration, which means Ohio State's hopes ended last week when quarterback J.T. Barrett fractured his right ankle, ending his season.
Barring any upsets in the last week of the season, Alabama, Oregon and Florida State are all locked to make the playoffs. With Mississippi State losing to rival Ole Miss last week, the fourth spot is once again up for grabs. Led by Heisman Trophy candidate Trevone Boykin, TCU — who is fourth in the current playoff rankings
— should be the fourth playoff team.
The selection committee will
Baylor, on the other hand, does have an argument with its 61-58 win over TCU six weeks ago. However, Baylor was fortunate to come back from a 21-point deficit and was helped by two pass interference calls against TCU. If just one of these bad calls was called differently, there is a good chance TCU would have won this game. Baylor did not prove it was better than TCU, just that it had luck on its side that day.
There is a reason Baylor is still ranked behind TCU. The Bears' overall body of work does not measure up to the Horned Frogs' TCU's strength of schedule is No. 45, while Baylor's is No. 64. Baylor had
no impressive nonconference wins, while TCU handled Minnesota 30-7, who went 8-4 this season.
Last week, Baylor narrowly escaped Texas Tech, 48-46, while TCU dominated the bowl-bound Texas Longhorns, 48-10, in Austin. Their narrow escape over Texas Tech stripped the Bears of their only other edge against the Horned Frogs, and that was their worst win. TCU's worst win came in Lawrence, where it beat Kansas just 34-30. TCU had to play in temperatures below 30 degrees on the road, while Baylor played in-dome at a neutral site.
This week, Baylor has a chance to impress the committee against Kansas State. But the Bears will be hard pressed to be more impressive than the Horned Frogs, who blew out the Kansas State Wildcats, 41-20.
The playoffs are supposed to feature the four best teams, and TCU has 10 weeks of proof on its side, while Baylor has just one.
Edited by Miranda Davis
DAILY DEBATE RESULTS:
Should Bowen remain head coach for next season?
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