Why Washington Making the Playoff Would Be the Worst Possible Thing for College Football

Breathe with me, Husky fans. I don't hate your team. I'm not bowing down, but I do really like watching this team and think they're deserving of a Playoff spot provided they win in Santa Clara tomorrow night against Colorado.

Jake Browning is a legitimate Heisman candidate, John Ross and Dante Pettis are two of the finest wideouts in the country, Myles Gaskin has NFL potential, and Budda Baker is fantastic to watch as a fan of hard-hitting defense.

The problem lies with the schedule. It's not Washington's fault that it's been a down year in the Pac 12, and I think they actually have a decent amount of quality wins- Washington State, Stanford, Utah, and potentially Colorado, are all really good wins over teams that will likely be ranked by the end of the year. But, boy, is it barren elsewhere.

Washington's current Strength of Schedule is ranked by Jeff Sagarin as 60th in the country, which is lower than every other team in the Top 25 besides Western Michigan. Their non-conference Strength of Schedule is dead-last (!!!) in the country, featuring Rutgers, Idaho, and Portland State. When Rutgers is the strongest of your non-conference opponents, that's a bad sign. I personally witnessed the Scarlet Knights lose 49-0 to my 3-9 Michigan State Spartans, so that's... horrifying.

If Washington gets in despite only beating four good teams the entire year, that is really problematic for college football, and let me explain why. The three teams directly below Washington in the latest College Football Playoff rankings are all Big Ten teams- #5 Michigan, #6 Wisconsin, and #7 Penn State. Those three teams all lost two games, and at least one conference game- they blew their chance to make the playoff. I do not think that any of those teams are more deserving of a playoff spot than Washington, particularly the winner of the Big Ten Championship Game, as whoever it is, they will have lost to Michigan head-to-head. I actually don’t really even want to talk about the Big Ten teams not named Ohio State.

I want to talk about Oklahoma. If the Sooners win Bedlam on Saturday, they will finish an undefeated conference season in which they have been, by a margin, the best team in their league. Dede Westbrook is perhaps the best receiver in the country, Baker Mayfield has followed up his transcendent Sophomore season with an excellent Junior season, and the defense has been stout. But, we all know the reason that Oklahoma isn’t seriously being considered as a playoff contender, and it’s a disconcerting one: the fact that they challenged themselves.

The Sooners, who I am not arguing deserve a playoff spot, will not get one because they dared to go on the road and face Tom Herman’s Houston, and then two weeks later got spanked in a lightning-delayed night game at home by Ohio State. If you are Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma administration, this is a clear signpost: do not challenge yourself. Do not play good teams in non-conference.

The Huskies have thus far managed to avoid the fatal second loss, and they should be commended for it, but the Sooners’ loss is one for all college football fans. The committee is effectively telling teams that if you can win all your non-conference games, regardless of how challenging you are, that you can get in the playoff if you avoid a second conference loss.

In other words, this year’s awesome Kickoff Weekend, with all of its high-profile, inter-conference match-ups, could be a one-off. The Sooners were part of that, remember, losing to Houston. Washington? They played Rutgers.

So, if you want to make the playoff, just schedule Rutgers. And disappoint football fans that want to see those classic games.