Stan Van Gundy makes College Football Playoff case for USC, TCU despite title-game losses

The College Football Playoff picture was thrown for a loop on Friday night when Utah beat USC for the second time, this time in the Pac-12 Championship Game, potentially clearing the way for one-loss Ohio State or even two-loss Alabama to join the top four teams on Sunday.

TCU also lost in the Big 12 Championship Game against Kansas State on Saturday, though the Horned Frogs can presumably remain in the mix for a playoff berth with only one loss.

But at least one prominent TV analyst believes it’s a bit of a farce that either team should drop from last week’s College Football Playoff ranking simply because they earned the right to play in their conference championship game.

“To me the College Football Playoff makes no sense to me,” TNT NBA analyst Stan Van Gundy said. “Playing in your conference championship game should never work against you. Why should it be advantage for Ohio State and Alabama to sit home while USC and TCU have to play an extra game against a nationally ranked team?”

What will the College Football Playoff selection committee do on Sunday?

That remains to be seen.

Ohio State’s only loss this season came against Michigan in the regular-season finale, with the Wolverines posting an impressive 45-23 road victory. Alabama, meanwhile, lost two games but both were on last-second plays on the road against ranked LSU and Tennessee teams.

Could Ohio State or Alabama move into College Football Playoff spot?

Even before the conference championship games this weekend, there were some interesting discussions about whether No. 5 Ohio State and No. 6 Alabama were locked in position relative to each other prior to the final CFP rankings, with both of their seasons already over.

ESPN analyst Rece Davis spoke with College Football Playoff selection committee chair Boo Corrigan on live TV during the rankings reveal show on Tuesday and had the following exchange:

“You’re trying to get me to project a little bit,” Corrigan said, when asked what would allow Ohio State or Alabama to reach the top four. “It was a tough decision.”

“I know you don’t project, but their bodies of work are done,” replied Davis. “So nothing can really change for those teams that have already played in terms of how they stack up against each other, correct?”

“Correct,” Corrigan responded. “Now there’s four teams ahead of them still playing games that we need to go through as we go through this weekend.

“And again, coming out of this week, as we looked at Ohio State and the wins that they have over Notre Dame and Penn State. You look at Alabama and their big wins are over Texas and Mississippi State. They’ve got a couple games where they also played close – two close losses. But again, in the minds of the committee, we came back to Ohio State at No. 5 and Alabama at No. 6.”

But Corrigan clarified his comments shortly after on a media teleconference, saying it wasn’t “necessarily the case” that Ohio State and Alabama were locked in position in the rankings.