For the most part, the College Football Playoff selection committee got it right.
At least it did when you consider it was restricted to selecting four teams for three games, instead of eight teams and seven games.
Most of the country seems satisfied for the Oregon-Ohio State showdown Monday, on college football's biggest stage ever.
Think how interesting it would be though if Oregon was preparing for Georgia Tech and Ohio State was taking on TCU to see who advanced to that stage. One thing has become crystal clear: It was past time for the Bowl Championship Series to disappear and college football have a true playoff.
If the BCS had been in business this year, complete with its controversial computer ratings and human polls, the championship game would have been between Alabama and Florida State, the two teams who lost in the semifinals.
The BCS was flawed but it has led to a better era, although the good folks in Fort Worth and TCU alums everywhere might disagree.
The Horned Frogs crushed Ole Miss, which was slowed considerably by injuries late in the year, 42-3, to prove they should have been a Final Four team. The Rebels, when healthy, handed Alabama its first loss of the season.
The Crimson Tide made the field of four, apparently more on reputation than performance, and against Ohio State the Tide converted 2 of 13 third downs.
So in a perfect world -- and contracts with ESPN can be renegotiated -- there would have been an eight-team bracket, but perhaps the world of perspiring arts needed a smaller bracket just to kick the BCS to the curb.
The championship game will feature the Ducks, who were ranked No. 3 in the preseason, against the preseason No. 5 Buckeyes, and much of the world is just happy there isn't a team from the SEC involved.
Oregon is favored by seven points according to the oddsmakers and even more heavily in the hearts of nation's football fans. The Ducks didn't just dispatch Jameis Winston and Florida State from the national scene, they put a whipping on the defending national champions so powerful many of the Seminoles scurried to the locker room rather than shake hands with the winners.
Ohio State is the feel-good story. It lost quarterbacks Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett to injury only to have third-teamer Cardale Jones step in and lead it to a 59-0 victory over Wisconsin and over Alabama.
Miller, who was the Big 10 Player of the Year in 2012 and 2013, will be a senior; Barrett will be sophomore and Jones, a junior.
There was more speculation that Miller, who graduated in December, might transfer when he stayed out of the limelight at the Sugar Bowl, as did Barrett.
Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel asked for and received his release before the Birmingham Bowl; Miller has not wanted to be a distraction, yet he hasn't denied he might transfer either.
Miller has had two shoulder surgeries, the second one costing him this season. He and Barrett were considered Heisman hopefuls when they were healthy. Miller's name has been linked with just about every major college in the nation when the conversation is about him transferring.
The big talk is that Ohio State overcame injuries, won the Big Ten, beat Alabama in the playoffs and is headed to Alltel Stadium. What most people aren't noticing is that Urban Meyer is recruiting Georgia, Florida and Texas like he was still in the South.
Bottom line: The selection committee got it right for the numbers it was given.
Sports on 01/06/2015