Part of what I've always loved about football is that an opportunity for a championship can turn on a matter of inches in a single game ... the playoff just exacerbates that by so many teams being left out by just one play here or there ...
Within the SEC, Ole Miss's missed FG against UK and an questionable penalty on a long run by South Carolina against LSU ended up being what kept both of those teams out. Alabama's loss to Tennessee was sealed by a late interception. Miami and BYU each had two one-score losses. Iowa State, Mizzou, Illinois, Syracuse(x2), Colorado and UNLV (x2) all had one-score losses that kept them from being 2-loss teams and likely in.
Every top-25 team except Army (who only dropped one game) was within a single score of making the field.
A lot of people always thought a playoff would kill the regular season, but ...
Every game and every play in those close games now matters more than ever.
Within the SEC, Ole Miss's missed FG against UK and an questionable penalty on a long run by South Carolina against LSU ended up being what kept both of those teams out. Alabama's loss to Tennessee was sealed by a late interception. Miami and BYU each had two one-score losses. Iowa State, Mizzou, Illinois, Syracuse(x2), Colorado and UNLV (x2) all had one-score losses that kept them from being 2-loss teams and likely in.
Every top-25 team except Army (who only dropped one game) was within a single score of making the field.
A lot of people always thought a playoff would kill the regular season, but ...
Every game and every play in those close games now matters more than ever.
