2014's inaugural College Football Playoff
The first year of the College Football playoffs was contentious, wild, featured some fascinating games, and in many respects was similar to the 2023 playoffs we’ve been watching unfold this season.
Check out the penultimate rankings before the final ones that set the field and actually mattered:
Alabama (11-1)
Oregon (11-1)
TCU (10-1)
Florida State (12-0)
Ohio State (11-1)
Baylor (10-1)
Arizona (10-2)
Michigan State (10-2)
What happened next?
Alabama won the SEC Championship over Missouri, Oregon smoked Arizona for the Pac-12 Championship, TCU sat at home because the Big 12 didn’t have a title game, Florida State eked out a 37-35 ACC Title win over Georgia Tech, Ohio State obliterated Wisconsin 59-0 despite starting back-up quarterback Cardale Jones, Baylor sat at home like TCU, and the final rankings went…
Alabama (12-1)
Oregon (12-1)
Florida State (13-0)
Ohio State (12-1)
Baylor (11-1)
TCU (11-1)
How did Ohio State AND Baylor jump over TCU? By winning their conference and demonstrating overall team quality by winning without J.T. Barrett. Of course the committee wanted the big brand Buckeyes in over the private Christian schools in Texas and Ohio State gave them a reason to pull the trigger.
How did Baylor jump ahead? Well they'd defeated TCU earlier in the year and I suppose their head-to-head weighed more in the final calculation somehow. It didn’t make a ton of sense although the final ranking made MORE sense than the previous placement of TCU ahead. There was fury over Baylor and TCU being left out and a lot of suspicion that Florida State wasn’t quite as good as their record suggested.
A lot happened that year which has set the stage for the years since, including this year.
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