The College Football Playoff Rankings debate went to a very weird place this week, largely thanks to the presence of the Indiana Hoosiers. But thankfully SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt is able to rise above all the noise.
If you’re a college football coach, analyst, expert, or fan below the Mason-Dixon Line, you spent much of the last week dissing the #5 ranked Indiana Hoosiers and their undefeated record behind a weak schedule. If you’re above that line, you likely spent the same time defending them and belittling SEC schools racking up losses on their resume.
It’s college football tribalism at its finest. And if it sounds a lot like politicians using completely contradictory political arguments depending on which way the wind is blowing, it’s because it’s pretty much the exact same thing.
That was the subject of Scott Van Pelt’s One Big Thing on Wednesday. And while it probably won’t start making everyone in college football talking sense all of a sudden, it’s nice to feel heard as a logical and sane human being sometimes.
One Big Thing
What to make of The College Football Playoff. pic.twitter.com/vfHnEa1Tjf— Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) November 21, 2024
“Much like politics, maybe exactly like politics, you think what you think and you back your side and there is nothing the other side can say that would convince you to even entertain the notion that maybe it has merit,” Van Pelt said.
“Here’s what I want to know, of you, of the committee, whatever. What’s more valuable? The games a team has won in its best moments or do you want to judge teams on their worst? Because when you start assessing your team you tend to choose whatever suits you. And when we start to compare, well it’s an “agenda,” right?”
While the entire five minutes is worth your time and focuses on the arguments for and against teams like Texas, Notre Dame, and even Army, SVP spent the most time talking about the firestorm around Indiana. The discussion about the undefeated Hoosiers even reached the point of ESPN’s Joey Galloway suggesting they bench starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke for their Saturday showdown with Ohio State to preserve their playoff hopes.
“Let me help you out if your handle on social media has Vol or Hoosier or Nittany or Rebel or Dawg or Pony. You know who I’m pretty sure has an agenda? It’s you. And that’s fine, that is the fuel and the engine and it is awesome. But this week we reached the point where everyone was furious and there was one team in the middle of all of it – Indiana,” Van Pelt said.
Van Pelt pointed towards Indiana being an easy target because of their lack of history in the sport and looking at solely the performances and the numbers, it’s a pretty clear cut case to make that they are being unfairly targeted. Van Pelt doubled down that he was able to predict ahead of time that the Hoosiers would be discounted because they aren’t a traditional powerhouse program.
“I was concerned they would get shorted in a head-to-head comparison with Penn State because the Nittany Lions have tradition in this sport the Hoosiers do not have. And that was immediately proven correct. Because Penn State without virtue of a signature win are ahead of Indiana, even with a loss which the Hoosiers currently are without,” Van Pelt added.
Eventually this will all get sorted out on the field (we hope) and there will be a lot more clarity in two weeks time when the College Football Playoff rankings are finalized. By that time hopefully the field will sort itself out and most fans will be content with the amount of teams in their conference or region or sphere of influence that were able to make it in.
But if we’ve learned anything from recent history, we all know there will be something to argue about the morning after the first 12 team playoff field is released. It’s the American way.
