The college football season is winding down. The regular season is over as we wait for the post-season. BYU did better than expected in their first year in the Big 12 but fell short of qualifying for a post-season bowl game.
There were some close games against the Sooners and Cowboys. Then, there were blowout games against supposed "lesser" great opponents like TCU and Iowa State. I don't know what caused such disparity, but it's not unique to the Cougars. Even their archnemesis, Utah, suffered similar issues this season with wide spreads in scores.
As much as I want to say Penn State had a good season, I can't. It makes me feel bad knowing the Nittany Lions will be in the shadows of Ohio State and Michigan in the foreseeable future. They will still make it to a New Year's Six, though.
This year's national championship will probably be between Michigan, Georgia, Florida State, and whoever wins the Pac12. I don't have a preference for who wins. This year will be the last season where we have a four-team playoff. Next season is the start of the 12-team playoff. I was hopeful, but the following article made things less exciting: https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/39000898/cfp-rankings-reaction-conference-championship-week
Here's the archived version: https://archive.is/Oom1c
Basically, the top 12 ranked teams will make it to the CFP.
The P4 (because Pac12 will cease to exist after this season) champions will most likely be in the top 6. They will also get a bye week and start the tournament ladder in the second round. The at-large bids will most likely include all the runner-ups from the P4 conferences. That would leave four spots for the rest of the teams, which will probably be from the P4 conferences as well.
To visualize, if we were to have 12 teams in the Playoffs this year, Oklahoma would be the cutoff. From now on, we may see a lot of drama for the coveted #12 spot.
The problem with this system is that a G5 team may never have a chance to shine unless they go undefeated, defeat ranked team(s), and somehow jump into the top 12. The problem with defeating ranked teams is that there may not be enough time to schedule "out-of-conference" games for the G5 teams. Most P4 teams would not want to take the risk or waste time playing a nonconference opponent from the G5.
The 12-team format, as it stands, is just a setup for brand biases. The cynic in me feels it's a way to allow a media darling (like Alabama) to have a second chance at snatching the national championship for the season. I guess the dream of seeing Boise State make it into the CFP and embarrass some P4 teams is not coming true in the near future.