BUCKHANNON – I said last week that there shouldn’t be that much chaos in how the CFP rankings plays out. It was mostly cut and dry. That was until the committee decided it wanted the chaos of leaving ACC champ and unbeaten Florida State out of it.

There were going to be a couple of unhappy teams at the end of the day, but this has turned into a total circus. Florida Governor Ron Desantis is willing to pledge a million dollars to FSU to offset any legal fees if the Seminoles decided to take legal action against the CFP committee, talks have revved up against about FSU bolting the ACC and even boycotting the Orange Bowl.

The funny thing about them wanting out of the ACC, is guess who wasn’t for expanding the playoffs? Yep the ACC. That decision may wind up costing them dearly if the Seminoles bolt, along with other unhappy teams in Miami and Clemson.

My one takeaway from all this that I really haven’t seen discussed is, how did Texas get in? They were seventh last week and jumped four spots beating Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State? The worst team in all the P5 title games? The team South Alabama and UCF beat? Last week the committee felt Texas wasn’t better than Ohio State as the Buckeyes were sixth and the Longhorns seventh. You are telling me a win over Oklahoma State was enough to jump them over the Buckeyes, whose one loss wound up being to No. 1 Michigan? That win put them ahead of one-loss Georgia? Enough to leapfrog unbeaten FSU? That is the part I really don’t get. Shoot maybe if WVU could have beaten Oklahoma State, maybe they would have wound up in the playoffs, since that victory was seemingly pretty impressive for Texas.

Our Showdown winners in our final week went to Jeremy Strader and Chris Dellinger who both went 6-1. Congrats to both on a great week.

And finally, congrats to Brian Bergstrom who outlasted me to win our little in-house competition. We both went 5-2 this week meaning Brian held onto this two-game lead and secured the bragging rights for the 2023 season. Kudos to Monica as well for posting a perfect 7-0 week.

As I close out the 2023 version of The Crunch, I want to thank everyone who made the Showdown a success in our first season. Thanks for participating and thanks to all the readers. Until next season!