
Your Tuesday Morning Roundup
College football needs more than four teams in a playoff.
I’m not advocating for an eight-team playoff as certain years there may not be eight teams worthy, and I understand the arguments of devaluing the regular season. So I’m proposing a six-team playoff.
Six teams. The top two teams get byes. Two weeks of playoff games before the national championship.
Take this year’s final CFP rankings and this is how it would play out:
Clemson and Oklahoma get a bye.
Georgia vs. Wisconsin and Alabama vs. Ohio State in the first round.
Then Clemson gets lowest seed remaining and Oklahoma faces the highest the following weekend.
Doesn’t that sound like an enticing few weeks of college football?
It’s the perfect mix of playoff expansion while keeping the regular season still as important as before. Teams can play for that bye and those that have one or two losses can still get in to the dance.
More exposure, more money, and more boosters. That is what it is all about in college sports.
If even one of those first round games are like yesterday’s Rose Bowl, it was definitely worth it.
The Roundup:
Speaking of that Rose Bowl game. Wow. In an Instant Classic as Georgia topped Oklahoma 54-48 in the first ever Rose Bowl that went to overtime. The Bulldogs blocked an OU field goal attempt in the second overtime and then rushed in the game-winning score on their possession.
Georgia will face Alabama in the National Championship on January 8 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the Tide defeated Clemson 24-6 in the All-State Sugar Bowl in the second-half of the CFP doubleheader on New Year’s Day.
In the other New Year’s Six bowl games, Penn State topped Washington 35-28 in the Playstation Fiesta Bowl. It was also the final game of Saquon Barkley’s college career as the star running back declared for the NFL draft on Monday:
In other games, Wisconsin beat Miami 34-24, Notre Dame staved off LSU 21-17, and UCF defeated Auburn 34-27 in Scott Frost’s last game at UCF before he officially takes over at Nebraska.
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To the pro game, a somewhat subdued week 17 in the NFL produced some excitement, especially for the Bills.
Thanks to the Bengals defeat of the Ravens 31-27, Baltimore missed out on the postseason and Buffalo got the final playoff spot in the AFC, sending the franchise to the postseason for the first time since 1999. That ended the longest current playoff drought in the NFL and among all four major sports. That now belongs to an MLB team:
With the Bills in the playoffs, the new owner of the longest playoff drought in American pro sports is now the Seattle Mariners (16 seasons).
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) January 1, 2018
The rest of the weekend went as expected and resulted in these playoff matchups:
NFL playoff schedule for next two weekends: pic.twitter.com/302Xo9hqvp
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 1, 2018
The Eagles game against the Cowboys left much to be desired this past Sunday as the Birds fell 6-0 to Dallas. These stats sum it up pretty well:
Cowboys-Eagles was the second game in the Super Bowl era without a made FG or PAT.
The other was Philadelphia's 34-20 win over Detroit in 2013, when only one PAT was attempted under these conditions: pic.twitter.com/xbxfFMs9R2
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 31, 2017
See what our CB staff predictions were for the game.
The lackluster game left Eagles fans less than optimistic about the upcoming playoffs. Tony Dungy is more of a glass half full type of guy when it comes to Philly:
I keep telling Eagles fans to relax. They are going to be fine. Nick Foles will play well. The NFC Championship game will be in Philly. https://t.co/mPQ8rkw3TI
— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) January 1, 2018
Elsewhere around the league on Sunday, the Saints played the Bucs and this weird exchange between coaches occurred after:
Interesting exchange between Dirk Koetter and Sean Payton following the game. The shoulder pats getting a little aggressive. Sounds like unresolved matters from the week 9 scuffle involving Winston, Evans and Lattimore. (credit @JeffTewksFox13 for video) #Bucs pic.twitter.com/IWDdml3LLM
— Scott Smith (@ScottSmithFOX13) January 1, 2018
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After the games, the NFL coaching carousel began to spin. Here is the rundown:
- Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians retired.
- The Chicago Bears fired John Fox.
- The Detroit Lions fired Jim Caldwell.
- The Indianapolis Colts fired Chuck Pagano.
- The Oakland Raiders fired Jack Del Rio.
The Bengals may still part ways with Marvin Lewis, the Giants already canned Ben McAdoo, and there may still be another surprise.
The Raiders seem to have done what others thought was impossible:
"Jon Gruden is going to be the next coach of the Oakland Raiders." – @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/S4RiYzHXTq
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 1, 2018
To accomplish that, the team is reportedly offering Gruden a part ownership in the franchise.
Arians’ farewell speech was short and sweet, but perfect:
Bruce Arians' goodbye speech to his Cardinals players was perfect: "It's been my f**king pleasure to be your head coach."
Happy retirement, Bruce.
📽: @AZCardinals pic.twitter.com/ln5hspvgfd
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 1, 2018
With all of these openings, teams are going to start plucking from the successful teams in the league, like the Eagles, who could be getting stripped of their best coordinators and assistants this off-season. Already John DeFilippo is reportedly interviewing for the Bears and Cardinals head coach vacancies. Jim Schwartz is reportedly interviewing with the Giants this week. Also, don’t be surprised if Frank Reich gets at least a few looks as well.
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The Sixers are 17-19 and currently sit 10th in the Eastern Conference as the calendar turns to 2018. The team is on a two-game win streak with triumphs over the Suns and the Nuggets last week.
The club hosts the Spurs on Wednesday at 7pm.
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The Flyers are 16-14-8 after a 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning back on Dec.29, their most recent contest.
The team hosts the Penguins tonight at 7pm.
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In other sports news…
DGB was arrested for DWI.
Villanova was upset by Butler and fell from undefeated and #1 overall.
Avery Bradley of the Pistons reportedly settled a sexual assault case.
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In non-sports news…
The protests in Iran continue.
The minimum wage is going up in 18 states, except Pennsylvania.
This:
CNN is lit – a puff, pass, and paint party in Colorado pic.twitter.com/rcU7pW1FPQ
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) January 1, 2018
Happy New Year, everyone!