The College Football Playoff had one Big Ten team in it last year, and it wasn’t the league champion. Ohio State made the field despite not winning the conference because the Buckeyes had one loss and league champ Penn State had two. That the Nittany Lions beat the Buckeyes in Happy Valley wasn’t enough to get PSU in.
Urban Meyer says Penn State deserved a spot in the 2016 Playoff
Penn State finished fifth, outside a four-team field.
Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer thinks Penn State had a case.
Meyer’s comments are nice things to say about a league opponent. Penn State really was awesome in 2016, when it finished fifth in the decisive Playoff rankings. The Lions went to the Rose Bowl, where they lost a game for the ages against USC.
But the Playoff is a competitive business, and Penn State missing out with two losses was reasonable. No two-loss team has ever made the field in the event’s three years of existing, and it would’ve been unfair to put any two-loss Big Ten team in over one-loss Pac-12 champion Washington. The Big Ten was better than the Pac-12, but barely, and the Huskies’ only loss to that point was to a USC team that finished No. 3.
The Playoff committee could’ve put in Penn State over Ohio State, arguing that a head-to-head win and a conference championship were too valuable to ignore. It would’ve been a defensible case. But so was sticking with the precedent that if you lose twice, you’re out. It’s understandable that Penn State didn’t break through that wall.
See More:
