Happy New Year!

Sorry. Didn’t mean to be so loud at such an early hour.

New Year’s Day is always fun because of the number of bowl games and the full day of action that entails. On this particular day, though, the most attention ought to be paid to the games that involve Georgia and Ohio State.

Anyone who saw the College Football Playoff games Saturday knows Georgia (11-2) was a better team than previously-unbeaten Notre Dame, which got thrashed 30-3 by Clemson. And Ohio State (12-1) also had to be better than the Fighting Irish.

But the CFP selection committee, bound to ranking Alabama No. 1 and Clemson No. 2, had Notre Dame third and Oklahoma fourth. The Sooners trailed Alabama 28-0 before rallying for a mere 11-point defeat (45-34).

The committee has never taken a two-loss team as part of the four-team CFP field, so the Bulldogs were doomed. The Buckeyes suffered a late-season meltdown against Purdue and never regained support. So Georgia finished ranked fifth, just ahead of OSU.

Ohio State will play No. 9 Washington (10-3) in the Rose Bowl at 5 p.m. on ESPN. This might be your last look at quarterback Dwayne Haskins as a Buckeye, as he is seriously considering entering the NFL draft.

Georgia plays No. 15 Texas at 8:45 p.m. in the Sugar Bowl. Georgia will no doubt be looking to make the statement outlined above – that the Bulldogs should have been the No. 4 team in the CFP field.

This is one of the problems with only four teams qualifying to play for the national championship. Any playoff field should be at least eight, but how many games can we ask unpaid student-athletes (a term chosen advisedly) to play?

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman