Preview of the Playoff, and Review of the Iowa Game

More on the conflict between Alabama and Florida State

They do it again. Michigan punches their ticket to the College Football Playoff for the 3rd consecutive season. But the question is: who will they play?

There is a huge debate about which teams belong in the playoff this year. Obviously, undefeated Michigan and Washington have spots. However, there is conflict surrounding the other 2 spots in the playoff. 

Florida State finished the season 13-0, as ACC Champions. Generally, that should guarantee a spot. However, their star QB Jordan Travis suffered a season ending injury. In the games since then, FSU has looked really really weak. 

Meanwhile, Texas dominated Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship, meaning they finish as 12-1 conference champions. They also beat Alabama earlier in the season, which is super important.

The biggest game was Alabama vs Georgia. Georgia had won 29 games in a row, and 2 straight national championships. They’d been the consensus number 1 ranked team for over a year. Then Alabama comes in and beats them, effectively eliminating Georgia. Now here is the dilemma:

Alabama, having beaten #1 Georgia and being SEC champions, are clearly deserving of a playoff spot. However, they did lose to Texas earlier. Therefore, since the committee wanted to put Bama in the playoffs, they must put Texas as well. They’re a package deal. If it were up to me, I would also choose Michigan, Washington, Texas, and Alabama. Those are the 4 best teams in the country. 

However, Florida State was a wildcard. They had the resume to make the playoff, but there are only 4 spots. If the CFP committee wants to put in FSU, they would’ve had to keep out either Texas or Alabama. But they can’t choose between one of them. If they had sent Texas over Bama, the playoff would’ve featured 0 SEC teams, which is clearly not representative of the actual 4 best teams in the country. However, if they chose Bama over Texas, it would’ve sparked outrage because Texas already beat Bama. Putting FSU in the playoff would’ve forced the committee to make an impossible decision. Therefore, I think the committee was right to deem Florida State not worthy of the playoffs based on player availability. Let’s face it, we all know Florida State would lose to any of the top 8 teams right now. If we can all agree on that, then why should they be selected as a top 4 team? Florida State was only undefeated because of Jordan Travis. Without him, they are not really a 13-0 team, and therefore do not deserve a spot. They played very few games without Travis, and none of them were dominant wins. I was checking up on the score of the FSU/Louisville game, and every time I opened the ESPN app, I saw that one of the teams was punting to the other. I saw so many punts that I ended up memorizing the name of the Florida State punter. Frankly, a team that struggles this much against Louisville doesn’t deserve a spot. The CFP committee made the same choice, and I think it accurately reflects the 4 best teams in the country.

Michigan’s matchup vs Alabama will be a great one. Having the game at the Rose Bowl will be a great experience. Michigan will have to be able to contain Jalen Milroe. His scrambling ability is really dangerous. However, his passing is not as great. Against Georgia, he missed several open receivers. He also had the tendency to drop back really far when under pressure, and if he can’t break away, it results in a huge loss for the team. Michigan will need to exploit these faults if they want to win. Alabama’s defense is a bigger concern, as they are really physical and talented. Closer to the game, I will post a more detailed preview. 

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So what did we learn from the Iowa game? 

I think clearly, the team is missing Zak Zinter. All credit to Iowa’s defense, they played a fantastic game. However, too many times, we saw McCarthy getting pressured and taking sacks. The Iowa defense was able to keep the Wolverine WRs at bay, and McCarthy couldn’t decide what to do with the ball before the Iowa pass rush got to him. McCarthy couldn’t get the ball far down the field, but his short range throws were really deadly. His precision accuracy allowed for numerous first down conversions in long yardage situations. 

Iowa actually played much better than the 26-0 score reflects. Their defense is phenomenal. Michigan scored 2 touchdowns, but both drives started within the Iowa 10 yard line. Both drives started from a turnover, and were therefore the fault of the Iowa offense. This brings me to my next point. Throughout this season, the Michigan defense has forced a ridiculous amount of turnovers, and are the #1 scoring defense in the entire country. The Michigan defense is the reason they scored 26 points, not the offense. 

The Michigan special teams have come up huge. Semaj Morgan’s punt return was spectacular. His explosive ability is something we haven’t seen since Jabrill Peppers. Kicker James Turner has also been perfect. He’s been a huge asset as the season progresses, and will continue to be as we go into the playoffs. 

The postgame was also special. Semaj Morgan’s postgame interview was great for a laugh, and I would recommend checking it out. He talked about his anticipation for the return, and how he knew he “needed to go crazy.” The trophy presentation was also great. Big 10 commissioner, Tony Petitti, was forced to give the Wolverines the trophy. Instead of accepting the award, Harbaugh asked Petitti to give Zinter the trophy. Pettiti then promptly left the stage, out of view. Mike Sainristil was given MVP for his stellar game, having forced 2 turnovers. 

This season has been special for the Wolverines. 3 Big 10 Championships in a row is an amazing achievement. But the job is not finished. There are still 2 more games to win.