ADVERTISEMENT

Year 5 of B1G West and College Football Playoff

With four to five Big Ten teams projected as Top 10 programs in 2018, the idea of two Big Ten teams making the College Football Playoff has been suggested.

Of course, over the four seasons of the CFP, only once has a conference sent two teams to the Playoff!

Of course, that was last year, when the SEC landed two, with Alabama and Georgia playing for the National Title Game.

How can the Big Ten expect one, with the likelihood the conference foes will beat up on one another and the risk B1G teams will not get through OOC unblemished?

Of course, Ohio State is projected as the Big Ten's #1 agajn, after making the CFP in both 2014 (winning it as #4 team) and 2016 (getting nailed 31-0 in semifinals by eventual champion Clemson).

In 2015, Big Ten champ Michigan State went 7-1 in Big Ten, losing once in regular season at Nebraska, and taking out undefeated Iowa in Big Ten title game. By the way, the Spartans head to Lincoln for a Senior Day match up again, like 2015!
  • Alabama has played in all 4 CFPs, since 2014, so is this the year they finally slip up? They won last season, like Ohio State, as the #4 team and nearly missed, if little 'ole Iowa hadn't rained down on the Buckeyes?
  • Clemson is another program on a roll having played in three straight CFPs, losing to eventual champion Alabama twice and beating them for the championship in 2016! Is another game with Alabama another likelihood for 2018?
  • No Group of 5 program has played in the CFP, though two teams have gone undefeated in back to back seasons, losing their coach to the Big Ten, as well. P.J. Fleck and Scott Frost both parlayed undefeated seasons at Western Michigan and Central Florida into jobs at Minnesota and Nebraska, respectively. So, is Illinois the next Big Ten team to go that route, since everyone seems to want to put Lovie Smith on the "hot seat" in 2018?
After Alabama and Clemson, the final two teams for the College Football Playoff is certainly up for debate?
  • Ohio State is the most popular third team or pick, as usual, heading into 2018? Of course, a brand new QB will be at the helm of the Buckeyes offense.
  • Also, Urban Meyer has gone back to back seasons with 31 point losses, with the blanking in the CFP semifinals in 2016 to Clemson, the eventual champ; then the debacle at Kinnick, losing 55-24 to Iowa last year!
  • Is Urban Meyer ready to reverse things, after three straight seasons of upset games, with 2015 home loss to MSU to third?
  • Are the Buckeyes, another program that runs the table in the Big Ten in 2018?
  • Wisconsin did last season in the regular season!
Of course, how often do Power 5 programs run the table these days?

Since the beginning of the CFP, not one champion has gone 14-0. Alabama is the last, in 2016, to enter it undefeated.

Maybe this will be the season, with fewer marquee head to head OOC games or am I understating that fact?

Do Alabama or Clemson run the table in 2018 regular season?

What about Ohio State, Washington or Oklahoma, who each project as top dogs in Big Ten, Pac 12 and Big 12 respectively?

Is there another Group of 5 team, to follow up on what Western Michigan and Central Florida accomplished?

Is this a year someone surprises and falls into the Playoff?

Wisconsin or Penn State are two Big Ten programs worthy of mention?

The list of past participants is small.

Florida State and Oregon were players in 2014, but haven't done anything in the past three seasons to really suggest they are strong candidates for 2018?

Michigan State won the Big Ten in 2015, then got blasted by eventual champ Alabama in semifinals.

Could Mark Dantonio's Spartans emerge again in 2018?

Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield had a great three year run for the Sooners, leading them to two CFP games in both 2015 and 2017. He moved onto the NFL, as the #1 draft pick of the Cleveland Browns.

So, is Washington QB Jake Browning this year's poor-man Mayfield? I say that, since LT Trey Adam's may be a bigger NFL prospect for the Huskies than Browning, since Browning isn't necessarily the top Heisman or top NFL draft choice in the 2018 class?

Then, there is Jim Harbaugh and Michigan. A program that didn't finish in the Top 34 in the final AP College Football poll. But, a program, since 2015, when Harbaugh arrived back at his alma mater, projected in the Top 10 annually.

And, what about Georgia in 2018?

The Bulldogs jumped into the CFP last season, joining SEC mate, Alabama, as the first conference to send two teams in the same season to the Playoff.

Who will be the foursome in 2018?

Is this a year for upsets?

Is this a season the Big Ten gets back into the conversation, after a 7-1 bowl season, where only the 8th and final game, a first loss by Michigan, spoiled the bowl run for the conference?

Who wins the Big Ten?
  • Ohio State is the defending champion!
  • Penn State won in 2016
  • Michigan State won in 2015
  • Wisconsin has won 3 of 4 B1G West divisions, but has yet to find a way to defeat the East superpowers!
  • Michigan gets a lot of Top 10 love for a program that Iowa took down in 2016 and was outside the Top 25 conversation in 2017 ....
  • Iowa ran the table in 2015, but Wisconsin stands squarely in their way, let alone Northwestern and Purdue last season, or two, when it comes to the Wildcats!
  • Northwestern hasn't come close to a division title in four, let alone seven seasons. And, do they have a healthy QB Clayton Thorson for a run in 2018 in the B1G West?
  • Purdue was the eighth program in 2017 to make a bowl game, fueled by 24-15 Senior Day win at Iowa. The Boilermakers defeated Arizona 38-35 in the Foster Farms Bowl to close out the coaching debut of Jeff Brohm, bringing plenty of excitement and hope for the future!
  • Nebraska was 4-8 last season, but with Scott Frost now in Lincoln; the Big Ten kickoff against Jim Harbaugh and Michigan is ramping up interest. The Huskers open season with 3 straight at home against Akron, Colorado and Troy, so a 3-0 start should build even more interest in that B1G road opener in Ann Arbor, if they can just do it?
  • Is Maryland next in the pecking order, after the 4-8 campaign under D.J. Durkin in Year 2 in 2017? The Terrapins host Texas in the season opener!
  • Minnesota was 5-7 under P.J. Fleck in his debut at the helm; they row out the season with New Mexico State, Fresno State and Miami-OH at home, before heading to Maryland to kickoff the 2018 B1G season!
  • Rutgers ended 4-8 in Chris Ash's second season at the wheel winning 3 B1G games @ Illinois, then at home against Purdue and Maryland. Kickoff B1G season in Week 2 @ Ohio State, after season opener against Texas State!
  • Indiana was 5-7 in Tom Allen's first full season, after replacing Kevin Wilson for the 2016 bowl trip .... open 2018 @ FIU!
  • Illinois enters third season under Lovie Smith (5-19) on a 10 game losing streak, after fielding the youngest team in college football last season! Is he really on the hot seat in 2018?
The US Open for the PGA and The NBA Draft both concluded in the past week. The World Cup and Major League Baseball are going on, but the #1 sport is approaching in 2018.

Season 5 of the College Football Playoff may be the best yet?

Cheers from
@cidsports
 
  • Like
Reactions: saluno22
George-Clooney-Too-long-didnt-read.gif
 
Alabama/Georgia
Clemson
Ohio State
Oklahoma

will be the Final 4 pretty much always unless they goof things up.

Last year, Iowa State beat OU, but they won the rest of their games and beat Nebraska.

OOC doesn't have a marquee team, unless you are going to suggest UCLA or FAU, so I think they rotate off again.

Ohio State could make it, but I see a 2015 team this year, young at QB and Urban often finds one game where he stubs his toe.

Washington is a Pac 12 team that may get back, after being there in 2016. QB is back. Of course, Pac 12 doesn't get a lot of love.

You have 5 listed, so who will be odd man out?
 
ADVERTISEMENT