
The 2024 college football season has come to a close, prompting reflection on the inaugural 12-team college football playoff. A major point of contention is the seeding process.Instead of selecting the four best teams, the top four seeds were assigned to the highest-rated conference champions. This led to some teams having a more difficult route than others. For example, to seed, oregon ducks (13-1), played against the No. 8 seed, Ohio State Buckeyes (14-2), after Ohio State defeated the No. 9 seed, Tennessee Volunteers (10-3), in the first round.
If the top four seeds had been based on the final College Football Playoff rankings rather than conference championships, Oregon would have faced either the Indiana Hoosiers (11-2) or the Boise State Broncos (12-2).
On The Paul Finebaum Show, SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum expressed that he felt Oregon was unfairly disadvantaged by the complicated seeding process.
“I think Oregon really caught a bad break with the convoluted seeding,” Finebaum remarked. “Had they gotten Penn State, they would have won. Georgia, maybe. It’s just hard to say. They got the worst possible matchup.”
During the regular season, the Ducks had defeated the Buckeyes 32-31 at home, but the quarterfinal matchup proved to be a different story. Oregon fell behind 34-0 and eventually lost 41-21 in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State outgained Oregon in total yards, 500 to 276, with a key factor being the Buckeyes’ ability to stop Oregon’s run game, holding them to minus-23 yards.
Despite the disappointing outcome, the Ducks still achieved notable success, winning 13 games for only the second time in their history and securing the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs for the first time. They also claimed the Big Ten Championship in their first year in the conference, leaving plenty of positives from their season, even if it didn’t end as they had hoped.
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