Wahoo Wire

• Opening round games will be held December 19th at the higher seed’s home stadium.
• Second round games will be held December 25th at the listed bowl sites
• Final Four games will be held at the Rose and Sugar Bowls on New Year’s Day.  Teams in each is TBD.
• The National Championship game will be held in Pasadena on January 8.

The first bracket is in, so start the bickering over who got in and who didn’t.

Initial Reaction:

No surprises here.  Coming off their 32-13 thumping of former No. 1 Florida, the Crimson Tide richly deserve the honor of being college football’s first-ever top seed.  The No. 16 Troy Trojans enjoy an automatic bid as the fruit of their undefeated record in the Sun Belt Conference, but their road to the Final Four likely ends in Tuscaloosa.

With No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Ohio State—conference champions, both—each down a notch from their rankings in the writers’ and coaches’ polls, it’s likely they’ve been leap-frogged in the standings by ACC champion Georgia Tech.

The second half of this bracket:

Initial Reaction:

Soft-schedule powerhouses TCU and Boise State are, no doubt, too close for each other’s comfort as Nos. 4 and 5.  With Alabama’s official coronation as No. 1 complete and Texas all but certain to be No. 2, suspense still surrounds the committee’s choice for No. 3.  The Gators can’t have fallen below both non-BCS unbeatens after one loss…can they?

The tournament’s first two official at-large selections have emerged in this group: No. 12 West Virginia and No. 13 Iowa.  Both were likely helped by head-to-head wins against two teams still on the bubble, with the Mountaineers boasting a 19-16 victory over Big East rival Pittsburgh and the Hawkeyes buoyed by their early-season toppling of fellow Big Ten contender Penn State.

The other side of the bracket (first half):

Initial Reaction:

The Yellow Jackets land at No. 7 after putting Clemson down 39-34 in the ACC Championship, a week after their 30-24 loss to in-state rival Georgia left their top-10 status in jeopardy. They’ll host the LSU Tigers, who lay claim to one of the three remaining at-large berths after struggling through a brutal conference schedule that included both Alabama and Florida.

Texas (Big 12) and Central Michigan (MAC) were mere formalities at Nos. 2 and 15 as conference champions. Enjoying their first-ever appearance in the national FBS standings at No. 25 in the coaches’ poll, the Chippewas face a steep uphill climb to advance past Austin.

Counting the Gators as a mortal lock for a tournament bid, all but one of several strong at-large candidates will be left out in the cold after the last four teams are revealed.

The last four:

Initial Reaction:

As the last pieces of college football’s first postseason tournament fall into place, the selection committee’s priority has become clear: Win your games. All of them. (Or, at least, as many as possible.)

The undefeated Cincinnati Bearcats fit neatly into the No. 3 slot as the last perfect BCS-conference team, with Florida’s fall from grace ending at No. 6, behind all five unbeatens, as the highest-ranked at-large candidate. East Carolina’s upset win over Houston in the Conference USA Championship grants the Pirates an automatic bid and the tournament’s No. 14 seed, robbing Cougars quarterback—and darkhorse Heisman candidate—Case Keenum of a national showcase.

Signature wins over Miami (Fl.) and Nebraska, coupled with losses to respectable foes (and conference champions) Alabama and Georgia Tech, boosted No. 11 Virginia Tech ahead of their competition for the last at-large bid. The Hokies’ trip to Gainesville is the tournament’s only first round matchup of at-large teams, and it figures to be a close one.

Bubble Teams Not Invited:

BYU 10-2

Houston 10-3

Penn State 10-2

Pittsburgh 9-3

Miami 9-3

Oklahoma State 9-3

Final Thoughts:

First, two points of contention.

1. Clearly stating a preference for perfection, the selection committee slotted college football’s five remaining unbeatens ahead of former No. 1 Florida after the Gators’ 32-13 loss to top-seeded Alabama in the SEC Championship.

The Crimson Tide, along with No. 2 Texas (Big 12) and No. 3 Cincinnati (Big East), have certainly earned top billing as undefeated BCS conference champions. But Florida’s strength of schedule (eighth in the nation) should have kept the Gators ahead of less-tested juggernauts No. 4 TCU (75th) and No. 5 Boise State (92nd).

Now, instead of hosting No. 13 Iowa—losers in two of their last three games—Florida must prepare for a tougher matchup against No. 11 Virginia Tech and the Hokies’ high-powered rushing attack.

2. In awarding No. 10 LSU an at-large bid, the committee spurned several possible alternates, but none with a better case for inclusion than Miami.

Most other candidates popped their own bubbles. Brigham Young and Houston each boasted double-digit win totals, but their strength of schedule ratings—88th and 91st, respectively—sunk them beneath their BCS conference competition. Pittsburgh, Penn State, and Oklahoma State each lacked a signature win over a true top-25 opponent.

(So did LSU, really.)

The Hurricanes’ win over ACC champion Georgia Tech stands out, in contrast, as the mark of a potential postseason contender. They’ve been up-and-down since, of course, including a loss to upset-hungry North Carolina—who, let’s not forget, also beat at-large contenders Virginia Tech.

To stock the tournament’s at-large ranks with capable foils to the big dogs, the committee should have gone with a team who’s actually finished one off.

Still, thanks to the format, the teams that made the Dance will finally be able to settle such grievances on the field. At long last, here in what the powers-that-be would call a “bizarro world,” rhetoric is merely the prelude to the college football postseason—not the main event.

So, TCU and Boise State, is your “unbeaten” as good as Alabama’s or Cincinnati’s?  Florida, are you prepared to claw back to No. 1?  Conference champions, are you national champions?  At-large teams, can you pave an improbable road to the top?

Strap on the pads and prove it. Welcome to the first second season.

@MiamiFL: Can’t please everybody.  Better luck next year.