On Saturday night, the third-string quarterback Cardale Jones, making his first career start, had led the Buckeyes to a 59-0 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis and been named the game’s most valuable player. Teams from four of the so-called Big 5 conferences made the first College Football Playoff. Clockwise from upper left: Derrick Henry of Alabama; Ezekiel Elliott of Ohio State; Jameis Winston of Florida State; and Marcus Mariota of Oregon. Missing was a representative of the Big 12 Conference.On College Football: Big 12 Is Left With Its Nose Pressed Against Playoff GlassDEC. 7, 2014 Nick Saban and Alabama stated their case for the No. 1 seed when the Crimson Tide routed Missouri in the SEC championship game.Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State Selected for College Football PlayoffDEC. 7, 2014 In an ESPN interview on Sunday, the chairman of the playoff’s selection committee, Athletic Director Jeff Long of Arkansas, repeatedly cited how impressive Ohio State looked in that game as a reason the Buckeyes earned the final spot in the national semifinals, against Alabama on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. In addition, compared with T.C.U. and Baylor, Ohio State had a résumé more traditional of a team headed to a top bowl because it had won its conference outright. Even though Baylor beat T.C.U. during the regular season, the teams were declared co-champions of the Big 12 because the conference does not have a championship game and did not use a tiebreaker. Asked about the national playoff format during a news conference Sunday, Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer said, “I think it’s unfortunately still flawed.” He meant, though, that he was worried that players’ families would not be able to afford traveling to two bowl games if Ohio State advanced to the final, and he indicated he was concerned about the wear on the players’ bodies. (He did suggest that the committee’s use of head-to-head results needed to be defined better.) Meyer called his Buckeyes “the most improved team I’ve ever been around.” He mentioned that his assistants attended leadership training workshops in the off-season. Read more here... nytimes/2014/12/08/sports/ncaafootball/ohio-state-takes-jump-into-playoff-in-stride.html?_r=1
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 14:01:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015