Five Takeaways: College Football Playoff First Round

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1. Re-litigating the playoff after the fact is a waste of time

I spent a big chunk of the Heisman race talking about how much I can't stand people creating fictional realities to argue their point. Well, re-arguing who should've or shouldn't have made the playoff after the fact is right alongside it. Whether it was various college football media/personalities, or the network responsible for the playoff itself - the barrage of, "maybe these other teams should've gotten in," bitching was pathetic. Kirk Herbstreit spent so much of his time shouting into the void that his own colleagues are on his ass about it:

What was even more lame was a certain head coach sitting at home passive-aggressively tweeting like he's 16 years old:

I hated the 12-team playoff from the moment folks started clamoring for it, and stuff like this is exactly why. The teams upset about getting left out of the old system at least had legitimate arguments. The teams upset about getting left out of this one have three losses, couldn't beat Kentucky, or got blown out by Oklahoma and have the nerve to cry about it.

The first round sucked from the standpoint of entertaining games - there's no denying that. But trying to retroactively discredit Indiana or SMU's full body of work based off their playoff results because you think Alabama or Ole Miss would've been more competitive is just as silly as your Heisman trophy argument being "What if Ashton Jeanty and Travis Hunter switched teams????"

My biggest takeaway from all this is that we're in for some major changes to the playoff going forward. If the network who essentially owns it is already this upset about how it's playing out, there's zero chance the system remains the same. Get ready to learn SEC/Big Ten Challenge College Football playoff, buddy.

2. Ryan Day makes me look like a jackass

I made an oath to keep it as real as possible with you on here, so I won't lie to you. I thought Ohio State would lose to Tennessee. I let my disgust for Ryan Day blind me, plain and simple. I really believed that the horrendous vibes around the team after losing to Michigan would be enough to tank them into a home playoff loss and mark the end of the Day era. Instead, the Buckeyes jumped on the Vols from the opening snap en route to a 42-17 drubbing:

Almost everything Ohio State did was the antithesis of their performance against Michigan. They dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball. Their offensive gameplan was catered to what they do best - getting the ball downfield to their all-world receivers. They ran the ball efficiently, mostly stayed out of tough third-down situations, and made life hell for Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava. It was the kind of comprehensive showing that illuminates what they look like at their best, and why the Michigan game was so mind-numbingly bad.