Warm Weather Ponies

Penn State 38, SMU 10

The Nittany Lion defense ran the warm weather Mustangs out of town on Saturday in the first round of the College Football Playoffs. On a 17-degree wind chill day, the Big D from Big Beave forced well regarded quarterback Kevin Jennings from Big D to throw three interceptions on the way to a most ignominious first-round departure from the playoffs. Whether the Nittany Lions were the better of two pretenders might require a couple of rounds to sort out. In the meantime, I must wonder how the first round of a playoff configuration that was supposed to solve all the problems failed to provide competitive games.

Back to my brief recap, the Penn State offense did its usual slow start routine. I kept thinking, “When the hell are they going to start playing?” And there was a dumbass fourth down call that handed SMU the ball inside the Penn State red zone. Fortunately, that ended with an INT and a PSU touchdown eight plays later.

Poon State led 28-0 at the half and coasted to victory. So, it’s on to the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve against Mountain West champs Boise State. Fortunately, the Lions will not be required to play on blue artificial turf.

Toxic Bracketology

Let’s talk about this first-round playoff bullshit. Only one of four games was competitive, but even that one, Texas vs. Clemson, wound up with a two-touchdown margin for the winning Longhorns. The weekend started with Notre Dame ushering the Hoosiers to the exit door 27-17, but it wasn’t that close. Indiana scored a couple of TDs in garbage time. Then, on Saturday, Penn State gave SMU the 23-skidoo, Texas handled Clemson 38-24, and the Schmuckeyes kicked the living shit out of those Volunteers from Rocky Top, 42-17. Now, really, CFP? Did you have your heads up your asses when you constructed these brackets?

So, the 12-team playoff didn’t solve any of the problems it was supposed to solve. The top half is easy to sort out, except that I don’t know that including the Mountain West winner is going to accomplish anything other diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is unneeded bullshit. However, let’s see if the Broncos prove me wrong. If Penn State blows them out in the next round, then the algorithm is severely defective. If Boise State wins next week like all the haters think they will, then I’ll shut up. Otherwise, fix the damn thing!

I’m not saying Alabama or Ole Miss should have been included. But I agree with the likes of Joel Klatt, who think Penn State got an unchallenging ride. Would they be around past the first round if they played Alabama or Ole Miss? No one knows. But I believe in my heart of hearts that the game would have been competitive.

SMU has a respectable defense. On offense, they screwed up early, digging a big hole for themselves. Meanwhile, Penn State’s defense saved the day for the Nittany Lions. Not much else to say about the first-round win.

I’ll be back after Christmas with my assessment of the New Year’s Eve second-rounder in the Fiesta Bowl. Meanwhile, Merry Christmas to all of you or Happy Hanukkah, as applicable.