The sports enthusiasts, especially those enjoying college football, are on the edge of their seats until approximately noon on Sunday December 7, 2014 when the "Four" will be named for the first football playoff.
These final four will be determined by a panel of twelve "experts" who will decide, based on not only the records of the teams, but their knowledge of football. I say this with tongue in cheek as it has been disclosed one of the panel members is none other than Condoleezza Rice, whose time as National Security Advisor saw her incompetence that resulted in the mass murders of 9/11, her service as Secretary of State which saw no positive agreements between the U.S. and foreign nations, in fact our image diminished during those years of her incompetence, and her recent acknowledgement she wants to be the Commissioner of the NFL. Her sitting on this panel then, may well be the power move which will vault her to that role as the present Commissioner is under a great deal of negativism due to the handling of players' off field misbehaviors.
Rice's being named to this committee accentuates its being more of a political display than one of football knowledge. If the committee wanted a woman in order to show its "political correctness" I am certain one with more expertise could have been placed than one whose only interest has been her desire to be the NFL Commissioner. That organization can ill afford to name someone who has proved incompetence in other areas, especially at a time as this when the credibility of the organization has been terribly damaged.
On the decision that must be made on the present NCAA "Final Four" will be a hard one, politically speaking, as one of the politically important states, Florida or Ohio, will be left in the cold, as it will be difficult for them to show any semblance of competence should they leave Oregon out of the mix, and, of course they could not leave Texas out. After all, they are meeting in Texas.
Based on the Power Rankings which involves not only a team's record, but the strength of their schedule the following is true:
Using these numbers Florida State, Alabama, Oregon, and Ohio State have each played 7 teams with records better than .500 with TCU having played 6 teams with better than .500. Using just this as criteria would not be politically correct as it would leave out TCU.
When looking at the conference each plays in Alabama's SEC has the highest ranking with TCU's Big 12 rankings 2nd and Oregon's Pac-12 3rd. Ohio State's Big 10 is 4th and the ACC is 5th. Politically, this would leave Florida out of the mix, plus Florida State is the only undefeated team among the five.
Ohio State played only 1 team with a power ranking of greater than 100. Florida State and Alabama played 3 teams with a greater than 100 Power Ranking with Oregon playing 4 (one was ranked at 99), and TCU played 5 with one being rated 98. The combined record of the teams TCU played was 70-71 or .496%. Ohio State's opponents had a .552%, Alabama .543%, Florida State .532% and Oregon's .520%.
Using these statistics as a criteria, as all of the mentioned teams are conference champions, the Horned Frogs of TCU should be the team left off the "Final Four", however, being from Texas with the political clout coming from that state, one can only believe they will survive. Unfortunately, the next team in line to be cut is Oregon which has the sentiment of the media due to having the leading Heisman candidate. Alabama is another media "darling" and much has been said that you cannot leave the SEC Conference out of the championship run. Based on Conference Power Rankings that would be an accurate statement as they ranked #1. That breaks down to Ohio State and Florida State. The power rankings hae Florida State as #1, but the ACC Conference ranked 5th and FSU's opponents combined record of 83-73 ranked behind OSU's of 85-69. That would leave Oregon, Alabama, and Ohio State as the three from this group, leaving out the only undefeated team among the top college teams and the top Power Ranked team.
The "Final Four" therefore will be Oregon, Alabama, Ohio State and TCU. Texas politics prevailed and Condi's chances of reaching her goal of NFL Commissioner advanced. Now sit back and watch the character demonizing of Roger Goodell picks up Corporate Media Propagandist intensity.
Don't be shocked when Condoleezza Rice is named to replace him. Incompetence will reign at the top of the NFL.
