They say sometimes that “everything’s done but the shouting,” but eventually, the shouting stops too. After spending Sunday and yesterday yelling at each other, most of the college football world seems ready to move on and enjoy Alabama vs. Michigan, Texas vs. Washington, and all the other joys of Christmastide.
Most of the college football world.
I would imagine there are some Florida State fans that are still fighting the good fight, and I would imagine there are a comparable number of Alabama fans feeling insecure enough to hit back, and hard. There is a market right now for an FSU/Alabama fight club, and not only from potential participants.
Still, most of the college football world has turned the page, or is beginning to head that direction. Army vs. Navy is only four days away now, and there’ll be a Heisman spat that night as well, and the NBA’s In-Season Tournament is unexpectedly electric (someone—certainly not me—called it an NIT with talent, and while that’s a little unfair it does capture how fun the NIT is when there is a lot of talent involved). But emptiness lingers, and anticipation begins to surge. There are vibes in this world, and they permeate every piece of our college football universe. Here’s where they stand this afternoon, from the worst to the best:
Montana State
Montana State had North Dakota State. It was just about over. The Bobcats were moving the ball reliably, they were stopping the Bison enough, and time was running out. Then, Tommy Mellott got hurt. Then, they only got one full-strength play from backup Sean Chambers before his body started giving out as well. Then, they tied the game in overtime except…
Except they didn’t tie it.
Except their kicker, who’d missed two makeable kicks in the first quarter, had his final extra point blocked.
So Montana State, who went to Brookings early this season and played South Dakota State to the wire, was eliminated in their first playoff game after a bad finish and a bad draw left them limping and losing.
No trip back to South Dakota as a favorite against the ‘Yotes.
No rematch in Missoula with a spot in the national championship on the line.
And to make it all worse, Montana had a really good time in the snow.
Bad stuff all around for the guys in Bozeman. I would guess a lot of Montana State people are in that space of remembering their situation every few hours and letting out a long, low sigh.
Oregon
Was it worse to miss the playoff as Florida State, or as Oregon? I would argue Oregon. Florida State got unlucky, or screwed, or punished by a wrathful god. Oregon lost as a pretty big favorite. Came out slow, came back strong, ran out of steam too fast. Lost by being physically bullied, too, when Washington had the ball. That’s not the way you want to miss the playoff, and that’s not the way you want to lose your quarterback the Heisman, whether Bo Nix deserved it or not.
Louisville
Louisville wasn’t going to make the playoff, but they had a chance to win the ACC, which I think they would have enjoyed. They would have gone to the Orange Bowl; they would have sparked offseason excitement; a decent share of fans would have said, “Hey, that Louisville team’s not bad!”
Nobody thinks Louisville isn’t bad anymore.
In fact, we spent a lot of energy on Saturday night talking about how Louisville is bad.
In some ways, this was a compliment—we all expected more out of Louisville than hanging with a near-playoff team, which is a lot of respect out of context and a little even when the context is there—but man. Louisville did not play a Good Louisville game. Louisville played a Bad Louisville game. At the moment the most eyes were upon them.
The secondhand disgust phenomenon played out last week, too, when everyone was ripping Florida by saying how terrible FSU looked in beating them. There was more firsthand disgust this time, though. We are disgusted by Louisville. And Jack Plummer’s old enough that unlike Brock Glenn, it doesn’t feel distasteful to be mean to him. (Side note: I bet Glenn ends up being pretty good in two years and someone says, “This is why the committee needed to give him a chance!” even after FSU trots Tate Rodemaker out there against Georgia in a few weeks to go 11-for-23 with a pick and no touchdowns.)
Georgia
Like Oregon, Georgia blew it. Unlike Oregon, Georgia then had a massive group of people remind them they blew it all day yesterday as they said, “BUT IF IT’S THE BEST TEAMS WHY ISN’T GEORGIA IN THERE” before ripping more limbs off their Nick Saban voodoo dolls.
Ohio State’s in a similar spot to Georgia. They were good enough to make the playoff, and they didn’t make it. They know this, we know this, everyone knows this. They got a little unlucky, but they also weren’t quite good enough to take matters into their own hands. This is better than Oregon’s situation—Oregon’s not sure it was good enough, and Oregon isn’t as reasonable in its hopes for a title next year—but it’s still not very fun. Georgia does not want to associate itself with Ohio State.
Iowa
Iowa stopped being a good time.
For a while, Iowa was a good time. Iowa was good, clean, silly fun. Here was a football team that was worse than hundreds of others at scoring points yet was pretty good, on the whole?
Against Michigan, it stopped being fun.
Florida State
At long last, we’re to Florida State, who has the best vibes of any weekend loser who made the list (FSU didn’t lose the game, but they did lose the weekend). Why are Florida State’s vibes so good? Well, they aren’t good, but they aren’t that bad. Aside from Jordan Travis, who is understandably wishing he broke his leg earlier (that was the saddest tweet I’ve ever seen, and most tweets have a sadness to them), Florida State doesn’t have that much of a reason to be unhappy. I mean, obviously they have a lot of reasons to be unhappy, but those guys weren’t winning this thing even if they had Travis. Sure, it’s possible, and Washington would’ve been a good semifinal draw if that’s how it went, but you have to be really delusional to think Florida State was at a national title level before Travis went down. We’re in favor of delusion around here, but the delusional are having their day. We’d guess the most delusional of FSU fans are having a great time this week, fantasizing about running into committee members on a dark beach just east of Destin. Honestly, Boo Corrigan should have been on this list, way back by Montana State. Boo Corrigan knew what news he delivered for the ACC when he delivered it.
Michigan
Michigan is excited. Michigan’s vibes are good. But at the same time, Michigan is living in a whole lot of fear right now.
The weird part of this is that I’m not sure Michigan needs to be that afraid. They’re favored in betting markets, and people said, “That’ll change,” but it hasn’t changed yet. Michigan’s good! Alabama has issues! This isn’t the same top–of–the–SEC we usually see.
*pause*
Ok, fair point. Now that you mention it, I guess we have said that a lot of times before.
Alabama
Alabama does have issues. The offensive line is still out of sync at times, and you can only win close for so long (a theory we also had about Washington, who has won close for much longer than Alabama has, but then again a theory we also had about 2022 TCU). Alabama has a very difficult path, drawing Michigan first. But, they beat Georgia. They prevented Georgia from winning three titles in a row. They kept Georgia from asserting total control over the SEC. Alabama needed that.
Miami (Ohio)
One of the happier weekend winners was Miami, and no of course we don’t mean the Miami in Florida. That team stunk. We mean the Miami in Ohio, whose longtime head coach Chuck Martin charmed while his defense made their opponent look like the Toledo Bottle Rockets. Which would be a fun name for a minor league baseball team. But does not inspire much fear.
SMU
SMU started this season 1–2. They then won ten straight games, and now they get to join the ACC as its third or fourth-best team and reason to believe they’re rising. Rhett Lashlee has SMU better than they were those last two years before the death penalty. SMU is, in unexpected and unheralded fashion, a national factor again in college football.
Washington
Sometimes it helps to not know a lot about something, and while I think there are a number of great Washington fans, let’s be real: The University of Washington, as an ecosystem, does not care as much about football as people do at Alabama, Michigan, and Texas. In this case, though, that’s helpful. No, Washington doesn’t have a great chance at winning it all. But do you know how many Amazon employees walked into work yesterday and said, “Hey, how about that? We’re in the playoff!” and then tried to find the sports guy on the floor to explain to them how a four-team single elimination tournament works? Imagine when they hear their alma mater’s heading to the Big Ten.
Texas
But cheerful as those cloud-loaded Huskies may be, the best vibes in the college football world are here in Austin, Texas. Facing possible doom (Texas was set to miss the playoff if all the favorites won), the Longhorns got a break, then won big, then dodged a bullet, waking up on Sunday with only the faintest trace of fear in their hearts. The Texas Longhorns are going to the College Football Playoff, and they’re the fifth-most talked-about team in the four-team field, leading only UW (1. Florida State; 2. Alabama; 3. Michigan; 4. Georgia). That’s a good recipe to not completely embarrass oneself. At a point, that becomes all you really want.
