I have to admit it, sometimes I hate being right. For the last six days I’ve been bothered by the fact that I was spot-on in my ScoreBoard article last Monday. I was fully expecting the College Football Playoff Committee to give TCU the big middle finger when they announced their initial rankings of the season, and guess what? They did. They placed the 8-0 Horned Frogs at number 7, behind a one-loss Alabama team and a Clemson squad, that, quite honestly, hadn’t looked great nor beaten anyone of much significance. It’s still, as it has always been, all about the brand when it comes to the CFP. Replace the Horned Frog on the helmet with a Longhorn or an “OU”, and that team most certainly would have been in the top four or five.
The sports media in general screamed “outrage”, and Horned Frog Nation was up in arms. ESPN’s stats department even did a strength of schedule metric, that had TCU sitting firmly in the number 3 spot. So, does the Committee purposely pick a team or two to “screw over” just to get people talking about the rankings and to get the controversy started? Maybe. Or do they look to allow only the “big boys” to their party to generate larger ticket sales and TV ratings when the playoffs begin? Possibly. Or are they just incompetent? That final one seems to be the most likely scenario to me.
But guess what? For now it appears that in spite of the Committee’s nonsense, things have taken care of themselves. On Saturday, the Frogs were able to take down a feisty Texas Tech 34-24, ‘Bama lost their second game of the season (albeit an OT thriller at LSU), and Clemson got exposed/throttled by the Fighting Irish 35-14 in South Bend. So now I expect the top four to be as follows when announced Tuesday evening: 1) Georgia, 2) Ohio State, 3) Michigan and 4)…..TCU. But once again, I’m not holding my breath.
If I sound a little jaded, it’s because I remember the 2014 season all too well. The Horned Frogs were ranked No. 3 by the Committee with a 10-1 record, then won their regular-season finale over Iowa State 55-3. The Committee then proceeded to slide the Frogs all the way back to No. 6 and out of the playoffs. TCU, to their immense credit, went out and made their point to anyone who was paying attention, by whipping No. 9 Ole Miss 42-3 in the Peach Bowl.
Great to stomp on a team from the almighty SEC, but it still didn’t fix anything. It still didn’t give the Frogs a shot at the title. The mind-boggling decision to drop the Frogs three spots after a 52-point victory may have literally cost the TCU program millions in revenue, but no one is held accountable. There’s no one to voice a complaint to, no way to file a lawsuit, and no chance to create change of any kind for a better system. The Committee can do what they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want…just because they can. And they answer to no one.
Random political side note: This actually reminds me of the energy supply situation we have here in the great state of Texas. Dallas-based ONCOR, is the largest electric distribution and transmission company in the state. They saw profits soar by $60 million last quarter, as consumers saw electric bills reach staggering all-time highs. Through nine months this year, profits were up by $146 million year-over-year, and all of our bank accounts are smaller because of it. ONCOR, in case you also didn’t know, is a state-sanctioned monopoly, with, I’m assuming, really good lobbyists on their payroll. ONCOR can do what they want, to whomever they want, whenever they want…just because they can. And they answer to no one. Sound familiar?
So anyways, up next for TCU are the resurgent Longhorns on Saturday night in Austin. A tough one for sure, with implications so large that the Game Day crew has announced they’re heading to our state’s capitol. This will be another very tough test for the Frogs, and I honesty have no clue what the outcome will be. But a win would certainly solidify a top four rating. And hey, maybe we can get Pat McAfee to dig into this ONCOR nonsense for us while he’s in town.
