Hey, CFP committee, do the right thing and give UW playoff spot

Published 8:45 pm Saturday, December 3, 2016

OK College Football Playoff selection committee, I have one thing to say to you.

Do the right thing. Put the University of Washington Huskies in the playoffs.

This should be a no-brainer. When the committee announces Sunday morning the schools that will compete for the national championship, the Huskies should be one of the final four. Washington is one of just four Power Five conference schools with one loss or fewer. The Huskies came into the final week at No. 4 in the CFP rankings, then whupped Colorado 41-10 Friday night to claim the Pac-12 championship. This should be a slam dunk performed with the ease of 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, not the degree of difficulty of 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues.

But committee members, I know some of you are wavering.

When the rankings came out last Tuesday, committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said the gap between Washington and No. 5 Michigan was “extremely small.” There was discussion about whether the Huskies needed not only to win against Colorado, but to do so impressively to remain ahead of the Wolverines — or whichever of No. 6 Wisconsin or No. 7 Penn State claimed the Big Ten title. Some will point to Buffaloes quarterback Sefo Liufau getting injured in the first quarter Friday as de-legitimizing Washington’s victory. And one need only hear the ramblings of Fox studio analyst Robert Smith, who just moments after Washington’s victory was advocating for one of those two-loss teams from the Big Ten to pass the Huskies in the rankings, to know there is at least some semblance of national sentiment working against Washington.

But committee members, this is an opportunity to allow common sense to prevail.

It’s a chance to say that wins and losses matter.

The biggest knock against Washington is its strength of schedule. No, the Huskies didn’t face the equivalent of the 1927 Yankees Murderers’ Row in their non-conference schedule. But let’s not forget that although many claim the Pac-12 is down this season, there are five Pac-12 schools in the CFP top 25. Washington defeated three of the other four, and the loss to USC, which is as hot as any team in the country since installing Sam Darnold at quarterback, is about as quality of a loss as it gets — it’s sure as heck better than Michigan’s loss to Iowa or Penn State’s loss to Pittsburgh. Schools can only beat the teams placed in front of them, and the Huskies did that better than Michigan or Penn State.

It’s a chance to say conference championships matter.

Before the advent of the CFP, which teams went to the Rose Bowl? Was it the Pac-12 and Big Ten teams that were highest in the rankings? No, it was the teams that won their conference championships. The biggest prize was reserved for the teams that proved over the course of the conference schedule to be the best the conference had to offer. In the current scenario, we’re looking at the possibility of not one, but two teams that didn’t win their conference title (Ohio State and Michigan) being selected ahead of a Washington team that did. If teams that don’t win their conference are judged to be better than the teams that do, why even have conference championships?

And it’s a chance to say that geographic diversity matters.

Because there’s so little interaction between the Power Five conferences during the season, all speculation as to which conference is stronger than the others is just that — speculation. This is a chance to get beyond speculation and into the realm of proof. Michigan had its chance against Ohio State. It lost. Give a team that hasn’t lost to an Ohio State or an Alabama a chance to show whether it’s up to the challenge. The whole point of a playoff is to determine a best team when there isn’t a balanced schedule among all the participants, so a playoff loses credibility when it’s not inclusive of teams from all corners of the pool.

I understand the Pac-12 may not have been at its strongest this year. I understand there’s a sizable portion of the country that believes the Big Ten is the deepest conference this season, and therefore would like to see two Big Ten teams in the playoffs, especially with Ohio State and Michigan having needed overtime to determine their outcome. I understand that the Rose Bowl would be no small consolation for the Huskies, who haven’t been to the Pac-12’s traditional glamour bowl since the 2000 season.

But committee members, I implore you to do the right thing and give Washington a berth in the playoffs. The Huskies have earned it.

For more on the Seattle sports scene, check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/tag/seattle-sidelines, or follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.