Alabama stuns Georgia in OT behind backup QB ATLANTA (AP) -- To add another championship to the greatest dynasty college football has ever seen, Alabama turned to its quarterback of the future, and Tua Tagovailoa proved that his time is now. The freshman quarterback, who had played mostly mop-up duty this season, came off the bench to spark a comeback and threw a 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith that gave No. 4 Alabama a 26-23 overtime victory against No. 3 Georgia on Monday night for the College Football Playoff national championship. BOX SCORE: ALABAMA 26, GEORGIA 23 (OT) Tagovailoa entered the game at halftime, replacing a struggling Jalen Hurts, and threw three touchdown passes to give the Crimson Tide its fifth national championship since 2009 under coach Nick Saban. "He just stepped in and did his thing," Hurts said. "He's built for stuff like this. I'm so happy for him." The Tide might have a quarterback controversy ahead of them, but first Alabama will celebrate another national title. For the third straight season, Alabama played in a classic CFP final. The Tide split two with Clemson, losing last season on touchdown with a second left. What was Saban thinking as the winning pass soared? "I could not believe it," he said. "There's lots of highs and lows. Last year we lost on the last play of the game and this year we won on the last play of the game. These kids really responded the right way. We said last year, `Don't waste the feeling.' They sure didn't, the way they played tonight."
Saban finds a way to win. Unreal! I bet he cut that kicker after the game after that reaction he had when he missed the game winning FG. Great game and comeback. Saban is the best coach in college football hands down.
Hindsight is irrelevant. Ohio State still deserved a shot. Alabama always had a great chance once they got it. Plus there is no question the 3 teams above Alabama deserved in more and if you want hindsight, well Ohio State won their game too. That being said, the system is broken. I would have 8 teams because any system that leaves out legit title contenders is dumb. It's better to have a few "undeserved teams" (like Wisconsin and USC maybe?) than to have teams left out. It wouldn't change the 8 teams and order I would have had and any of those teams being selected in the current broken system and winning is alright by me.
but do 8 teams deserve a shot at the title? lets say a team was 13-0 and the 8th seed was 11-2. so a 2 loss team deserves a shot at the title the same as a 13-0 team? you start expanding seeds and the more losses you bring into the picture. then the 9th team will cry about being left out and SOS etc. Then the 10th team. it will go on and on. No one is happy. And thank God ND shit the bed late this year bc if they went 12-1 they were in the final 4 so now 2 teams more miss out of the playoffs.
Basically if your team can be considered elite with a record to back it up you deserve a shot. My point is if a few undeserved teams make it then so be it, they likely won't win it anyways but it's a far bigger travesty that a team that should be in doesn't make it than a huge underdog that got in because of a lack of better options makes a run.
8 teams would be fair. That way nobody could say a deserving team was left out. No way could anyone under the top 8 say they deserved it and were left out.
Except UCF this year, although I don't think the committee would keep them out of the top 8 if they knew the top 8 made it. They purposely went out of their way this year to keep UCF low in the polls so they could never cause a controversy at the top near the end of the season. Even if you think UCF didn't deserve to have a shot it is a joke if you think they were supposed to be behind teams like Mississippi State. Scott Frost openly went and talked shit about it after he left UCF.
An official NCAA Championship selector picked them as the Champ. It was also part of the BCS Forumla. In the NCAA's eyes they are an official champ and UCF has a right to claim it. Colley Matrix.
what selector? did they get the BCS Trophy ? I believe Saban has it. So how the hell did some BCS formula which had Georgia vs Bama for the Title include USF? This isn't like 30 yrs ago and the AP Poll picking 1 champ and the USA Poll picking a different Champ. The BCS ended that with the playoff and title game. So again, how is USF any champion ?
The BCS and CFP trophies are just 1 of many possible championships. They are in no way recognized as the only championship methods. They are just the ones that are most accepted by the public. By being a champion in any of the recognized methods you have the right by NCAA standards to be the champion. The NCAA themselves does not select a champion or say their tournament is the only champion. All they do is say which championship methods are legitimate. The CFP is one of them, as is the Colley Matrix. Usually it's unanimous and the BCS/CFP champ ends up getting named champion by each method. This time it was not the case. Why? Because Alabama had a weak-ass resume that didn't get good until they beat Clemson and Georgia, but UCF beating Auburn was enough to stay ahead. Georgia was actually #1 before the CFP Championship. If Georgia won they would have been unanimous #1 everywhere. And USF isn't any Champions. It's UCF.
The NCAA themselves recognizes that the BCS and CFP aren't perfect. They may be the best method available but they never took away the other methods of crowning a champion. However, the simple fact the BCS and CFP both set up extra games vs the most likely top teams means that more often than not that the winner of those "tournaments" ends up helping their resumes so much that they are unanimous champions in every Championship method. Alabama was considered relatively weak in the Colley index and UCF was stronger. Alabama could not jump UCF and Georgia, Oklahoma and Clemson lost to help UCF.
Alabama are the College Football Playoff champions and thus have an official legitimized claim at being NCAA championship (as they do for all the other championships they got this year). UCF is the Colley Matrix champions and thus have an official legitimized claim at being NCAA championship. Now if Georgia won UCF would still have claimed it (as they did before the game) but UCF would not be an officially recognized Champion in the eyes of the NCAA.
