Breaking Down the Bowls

First, I think the playoff selection worked out great. Yes, TCU and Baylor are right in the ballpark of Ohio State, any of them would be a deserving #4.

It's very ironic that the one conference who bragged about having "one true champion" was the only conference that ended up presenting co-champions.

On Big 12 media day in July, Big 12 Commish Bowlsby said if there was a tie for conference champion, they would go to tiebreakers, meaning head to head. On Sunday, Bowlsby told ESPN: "I went back and looked ... and just plain misspoke."

Um...your conference put up the website onetruechampion.org. That's not misspeaking. That's going back on your word because your one true champion is Baylor but the committee kept ranking TCU over Baylor and you didn't want to hurt the chances of having any Big 12 representation in the playoff.

What I like about the match ups:
SEC vs Big Ten. SEC is always thought of as the best conference so I think it worked out nicely that Bama has the #1 seed. The Big Ten has a chance to either confirm or change conference perceptions.

Oregon vs Florida State. Florida State has the better record but no one thinks they're a better team. Settle it on the field.

And then assuming Bama wins, you've either got a matchup versus the high-flying Ducks, or a Florida State vs SEC rematch.

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Anyways, I wanted to look at the bowls in descending order and see who get what. All numbers are final CFP Committee Rankings.

Sugar Bowl: 1 Alabama vs 4 Ohio State
Rose Bowl: 2 Oregon vs 3 Florida State
Cotton Bowl: 5 Baylor vs 8 Michigan State
Peach Bowl: 6 TCU vs 9 Ole Miss
Orange Bowl: 7 Miss State vs 12 Georgia Tech
Fiesta Bowl: 10 Arizona vs 20 Boise State

Those are the "New Year's Six." There are 2 other games on New Year's Day not a part of that distinction.

Kansas State was ranked 11th but did not get selected for the NY6.
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Alamo Bowl: 11 K State vs 14 UCLA
Belk Bowl: 13 Georgia vs 21 Louisville
Sun Bowl: 15 Arizona State vs (nr) Duke
Citrus Bowl: 16 Missouri vs 25 Minnesota
Russell Athletic Bowl: 17 Clemson vs (nr) Oklahoma
Outback Bowl: 18 Wisconsin vs 19 Auburn
Las Vegas Bowl: 22 Utah vs (nr) Colorado State
Music City Bowl: 23 LSU vs (nr) Notre Dame
Holiday Bowl: 24 USC vs (nr) Nebraska

So that's all the bowls with the top 25.

To my ears, Outback and Citrus have more cachet than Belk or Sun which had teams ranked higher. But I guess there's not really a huge distinction between any of these.

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Lastly, I thought I would go through the Big Ten Standings and explore our possible future destinations.

Ohio State 12-1: Sugar Bowl, New Orleans (#4 seed in the playoffs)
Wisconsin 10-3: Outback Bowl, Tampa
Michigan State 10-2: Cotton Bowl, Arlington
Nebraska 9-3: Holiday Bowl, San Diego
Minnesota 8-4: Citrus Bowl, Orlando
Iowa 7-5: TaxSlayer Bowl, Jacksonville
Maryland 7-5: Foster Farms Bowl, Santa Clara
Rutgers 7-5: Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit
Penn State 6-6: Pinstripe Bowl, Bronx
Illinois 6-6: Heart of Dallas Bowl, Dallas

If you think about it, Illinois got the same destination as Michigan State. And in December, I'd rather go to Dallas than New York. And I'd rather go to Dallas than Detroit any day of the year.