I applauded the decision however many years back it was to make the national championship of college football go into a bracket system of sorts. It was intended to prevent exactly the sort of thing that happened this year in the championship game. We kind of expect, after so much practice and evaluation of the teams involved including a semi-final game, that the true final game is going to be exciting to watch and normally a very close game. That was NOT the case at all when TCU faced off against defending champions Georgia badly. It might be a record point spread as far as a national championship is involved but even if it isn't one thing is for certain: TCU looked out of their element and like they didn't deserve to be there.
src
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/DUCRB2FYMZECXOE6IRJPA55IXQ.jpg){kind=link}
There can be only one winner and one loser in these matchups and the bracket system was designed to prevent a "shared championship" based on perceived equal performances in bowl games. This happened years ago when Nebraska AND Miami were declared national champions even though they didn't play one another that season.
TCU getting completely blown out 65-7 in what was supposed to be the "best of the best" doesn't bode well for the ranking system and has many people suggesting that the ranking system, yet again, needs an overhaul. I am sympathetic to the people who are in charge of the rankings because unlike pro sports, it simply isn't possible to have everyone play everyone the way that it is in pro sports. There are currently 774 colleges in the United States with football programs and while they are separated into 5 divisions. Even if we limited the number of teams to the perceived 2 "best" divisions, we would still be dealing with 255 teams.
It simply isn't possible to do it any other way than to have a ranking system in place that at times, can be marred with bias and politics. Well I suppose it is mathematically possible, but it would take many years to accomplish even if every team played every single week.
src
:no_upscale()/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/BOTYGCRLLFA7TKYT4OTBAXMHQ4.jpg){kind=link}
TCU's humbling began really early in the game and the only time that the Texans looked like they even belonged there was early in the 1st quarter. Even though they put points on the board in the 1st they still ended the quarter 17-7. By halftime the game was essentially over with the Bulldogs leading 38-7. At this point I started flipping around on my TV to watch other sports because it wasn't a competitive game the likes of which we expect from a national championship. Instead, it looked like a mid-season game where a dominant team is playing one of the worst teams in their conference.
By the 4th quarter, Georgia put in a back-up quarterback and he stayed in the game for the rest of the game. Outside of injury, this is almost completely unheard of. Even with a rather untested quarterback leading the charge, and an offensive line that didn't actually need to do any more, the Bulldogs managed to score 2 more times.
It was such a slaughter that any observer probably started to feel bad for TCU. They were a 150-1 underdog to win the national championship weeks ago and a lot of people were saying that the only reason they made it this far was because of a couple of lucky games at the end of the regular season and of course, them staving off Michigan in the semi-finals. Both of these ideas could be (and probably are) true, but honestly, there really isn't a better way for this process to be conducted.
src
I flipped back to the game every now and then in the 2nd half and the TV crews were heavily focusing on the lack of enthusiasm by the TCU fans and testament to them for sticking around until the bitter end.