BYU and Alabama, the 9th and 11th-ranked teams in the most recent round of the College Football Playoff rankings, both got their own backsides handed to them during conference championship weekend. BYU lost their second game of the year to the same team, 4th-ranked Texas Tech. Alabama was driven through the turf by a 3rd-ranked Georgia team they had already beaten earlier in the game.
While these teams were humiliated on national television, fellow at-large hopefuls 10 Notre Dame and 12 Miami watched from home. Whether absent from their own conference championship or absent from a conference entirely, these teams have placed their fate in the hands of the selection committee as both BYU and Alabama failed to claim an automatic qualification.
On Tuesday, the final format of the College Football Playoff will be released. With just two spots to fight for between these four parties, those with the power to choose are presented an impossible dilemma.
Should championship runners-up be punished for coming in second place, or should they be celebrated for earning a spot and competing for the crown? In other words...
Is playing for a conference championship a disadvantageous?
Miami and Notre Dame have made their case. They've presented their arguments. Notre Dame sits on the bubble thanks to losses in both of their toughest contests (losses to Texas A&M and... Miami. That's a different mess altogether). Miami has a win over current top-10 Notre Dame, but also two late-season losses to unranked teams, which knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC conference championship in favor of... 7-5 Duke (again, another issue entirely).
Depending on the selection committee's decision, the precedent set by this season could impact the future of the sport.
If Miami and Notre Dame jump into the final 12-team bracket, then the answer is yes, you can be punished for competing in the conference championship. Alabama was virtually a lock for an at-large bid (jumping Notre Dame in the rankings just a few days ago), but a loss to the 3rd-ranked team in football knocked the Crimson Tide from their foothold.
BYU, despite owning one of the tightest cases for an at-large bid of any bubble contender, was one spot removed from the 10th-place cutoff line before the weekend. If Miami slides past the Cougars in an idle weekend, the reasoning is clear: a loss to 4th-ranked Texas Tech is a damning offense.
For this reason, BYU and Alabama approach the bench as something of a package deal. Punishing 10-3 Alabama while praising 10-2 Alabama feels backwards. Cracking open the door to 11-1 BYU only to drop 11-2 BYU below an ACC at-large is illogical. It all comes down to that question: what does a conference championship appearance mean for a team's at-large hopes? If Alabama is in, but BYU is out, what about the SEC representative's 10-3 record and 28-7 defeat supercedes the Big 12 representative's 11-2 record and 34-7 defeat?
BYU and Alabama competed for something greater than nearly every other non-Ohio State or Indiana team in the nation this weekend: a battle for the conference championship. Punish them for settling scores on the field, and they undermine the integrity of their own sport. Keep them in, and they lock out two teams who didn't lose this weekend, though they certainly didn't win, either.
If a loss this weekend can steal a team's postseason hopes, why should any team on the bubble compete at all? Will teams opt to forfeit the title game so as to not fall on their face in the eyes of the nation?
It's a circular dilemma; a paradox. What'll it be, College Football Playoff: The runners-up or the living room heavyweights?