Stanford’s schedule might have cost it a playoff berth
The self-proclaimed “Conference of Champions.”
The Pac-12 is the only Power 5 conference left out of the four-team playoff, with champion Stanford consigned to the Rose Bowl.
Selection committee chairman Jeff Long said Stanford, ranked No. 6, really “wasn’t close” to making it into the top four.
What sunk the Cardinal was their two losses; the four playoff participants have no more than one loss each.
[...] just think, had Stanford scheduled, say, FCS team Sac State or even San Jose State, for its opener instead of a road game at Northwestern, it could have made the playoff, or at least made the committee’s job very difficult in terms of which conference champion to leave out.
Stanford faced 12 Power 5 opponents in its 13 games (counting Notre Dame), more than any other team in the country.
Even with their loss to the Wildcats, who went on to finish 10-2, the Cardinal still managed to beat 10 Power 5 teams, more than three of the playoff participants (Alabama, Oklahoma and Michigan State), which defeated nine each.
SEC, ACC and Big Ten teams made the playoffs both years while playing only eight conference games, and every SEC team and most ACC teams play at least one FCS opponent each.
The Pac-12, meanwhile, is the only Power 5 conference that both plays nine conference games and stages a title game.
Most Pac-12 teams also schedule at least one Power 5 opponent in their three nonconference games.
Two teams (USC and UCLA) have never played an FCS team.
Over the past two seasons, the Pac-12 has the best winning percentage against Power 5 nonconference opponents by a wide margin (19-11, .633).
The SEC is second (18-17, .514), and the other three conferences have losing records.
Since that’s the case, the SEC and ACC have shown no inclination to alter their scheduling practices, which means eight conference games and a lot of cupcakes for the rest of the schedule.
[...] for the Pac-12, it’s not a level playing field.
Pac-12’s bowls
With 10 bowl-eligible teams and only one invite to the New Year’s Six bowls, the Pac-12 had three more teams than needed to fill its seven bowl commitments.
Luckily, because there were only 77 eligible teams for the 80 bowl slots, every one of them is going bowling.
The Foster Farms Bowl, to be played Dec. 26 at Levi’s Stadium, plucked UCLA after the Alamo Bowl and Holiday Bowl selected Oregon and USC, respectively.
The Bruins will face Nebraska, which finished 5-7 but earned an NCAA waiver to play in a bowl game (see box above).
Executive director Gary Cavalli said the Foster Farms Bowl is excited to have two such “iconic brands” in the game.
“Nebraska was the hard-luck team of 2015, with five losses in the closing seconds, but they’re also a team no one wants to play,” Cavalli said in a statement.
Jim Mora has done a tremendous job in Westwood, and he’s bringing the top freshman quarterback in the country with him, Josh Rosen.
The Pac-12’s complete bowl lineup:
Alamo (Jan. 2): Oregon vs.
TCU
Holiday (Dec. 30): USC vs.
Foster Farms (Dec. 26): UCLA vs.
Sun (Dec. 26): Washington State vs.
Las Vegas (Dec. 19): Utah vs.
BYU
Cactus (Jan. 2): Arizona State vs.
West Virginia
Heart of Dallas (Dec. 26): Washington vs.
Southern Miss
Armed Forces (Dec. 29): Cal vs.
Air Force
Michigan State 16, Iowa 13:
In essentially a playoff play-in game, the Spartans embarked on an epic 22-play, 82-yard drive that chewed up 9 minutes and 4 seconds before scoring the winning touchdown on L.J. Scott’s 1-yard run with 27 seconds left.
Michigan State won its second Big Ten title in three years and will face No. 2 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
Player of the Week
Christian McCaffrey, Stanford:
The sophomore do-it-all back broke Barry Sanders’ single-season all-purpose yardage record (3,250) by gaining 461 yards for a season total of 3,496 in an electrifying performance in the Pac-12 championship game.
McCaffrey also threw an 11-yard TD pass to QB Kevin Hogan as the Cardinal pulled away for a 41-22 victory over USC and a Rose Bowl berth.
Samuel Chi is the managing editor of RealClearSports.com.
Playoff rankings
Clemson
Notre Dame
TCU
Baylor
LSU
Southern Cal
The semifinals will be hosted at the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
The championship game is Jan. 11 in Glendale, Ariz.
Since the 40 bowls were three eligible teams short of their 80 slots, three teams with losing records got invitations.
The NCAA made the decision last week that 5-7 teams should be selected according to their Academic Progress Rates in 2013-14.
San Jose State was the last team taken, joining Nebraska (Foster Farms) and Minnesota (Quick Lane) as 5-7 teams getting bowl bids.
The Spartans got a last-minute reprieve Saturday night after Appalachian State scored a late touchdown in a 34-27 win over South Alabama, denying the Jaguars bowl eligibility.
San Jose State will face Georgia State in the Cure Bowl in Orlando on Dec. 19.
[...] it’ll be the Spartans’ first bowl game under coach Ron Caragher, whose teams went 6-6 and 3-9 the past two seasons.