The inaugural college football playoff went better than I think anyone could have ever imagined:
*The defending (unbeaten) champ was vanquished in a fashion we haven't seen in a college football championship situation in 20 years (Tommie Frazier runs over Florida in 1995).
*The dynastic program (and conference) was vanquished by a team that many/most argued didn't even deserve to be in the field, coached by a conference ex-pat.
*It's as much -- possibly more -- about the losers (Florida State, Alabama) as it is about the winners (Oregon, Ohio State). Both games were amazing to watch.
*As many have pointed out, in the absence of the 4-team playoff, we
would have gotten FSU and Alabama for the title -- this makes last
night's outcomes even more amazing.
*And now we have "How Do You Stop the Ducks?" versus "Sure, Keep Doubting the Buckeyes."
*It seems like it'll be Oregon in a rout -- the inevitable conclusion to the Ducks' manifest destiny. But if Ohio State can out-muscle Alabama, there is certainly a "why not?" to the game.
*And we have the end of the mythology of the SEC -- certainly the 2006-2014 version. Critics of the SEC's haughtiness will point to New Year's Day 2015 for years.
*And we have the start of a glorious new era in college football, with a playoff system that produced drama-infused games and highly entertaining outcomes.
*I'll give the last word to Spencer Hall, who had a wonderful morning-after homily about what happened last night, concluding:
"This all happened in the same day, and let's never do this any differently, college football."
-- D.S.
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