For the first part of our doubleheader on MNC Wednesday today, we present the College Football Playoff’s most recent “efforts” to provide America with a “champion”—minus the honesty, integrity, and transparency required to have significance in the eyes of history/posterity. Again, its urgency to rig a final left us plenty of holes to poke in it as we sort through the mess with our usual high standards.

This could have been more exciting, but alas, this is what we have left.

The 2021 MNC: The problem, again, when the fix is in …

Here is the Associated Press Top 10, including final record with key bowl results:

1. Georgia (14-1): Won CFP Bowl, 33-18
2. Alabama (13-2): Lost CFP Bowl, 18-33
3. Michigan (12-2): Lost Orange Bowl, 11-34
4. Cincinnati (12-2): Lost Cotton Bowl, 6-27
5. Baylor (12-2): Won Sugar Bowl, 21-7
6. Ohio State (11-2): Won Rose Bowl, 48-45
7. Oklahoma State (12-2): Won Fiesta Bowl, 37-35
8. Notre Dame (11-2): Lost Fiesta Bowl, 35-37
9. Michigan State (11-2): Won Peach Bowl, 31-21
10. Oklahoma (11-2): Won Alamo Bowl, 47-23

Well, the main problem here is, as loyal readers know, that you have to win your conference in order to be able to claim the mythical national championship, and the Bulldogs didn’t win the SEC. They would not have even been picked for our 8-team tournament field, based on a weak strength of schedule. The end never justifies the means, really, in our corner of the interwebs.

That means the Bears become our frontrunner, as the winners of the Big XII and a bowl game. The Buckeyes were the best non-champion team at the end of the regular season, but they won’t rate here, of course. The Cowboys didn’t win the Big XII, either, and the Fighting Irish blew their chance at a claim to the MNC by choking away the Fiesta Bowl. That could have been interesting.

The Spartans didn’t win the B1G, and the Sooners obviously didn’t win the Big XII. What about any small schools? We have to have some other team in our subsequent comparison, of course, or else this is the most boring analysis in the almost two-year history of this project. We do have one option, but it is not really good.

To wit, Louisiana posted a 13-1 record with a Sun Belt title and a New Orleans Bowl win. That was the only other team to meet our criteria, really. So … this reality leaves us with just 2 teams to scrutinize more closely this time out, the bare minimum for a “meaningful” analysis, obviously. These are the respective SOS ratings for our top teams, after the chaff sifting above:

  • Baylor: 13 Division I-A opponents, 3.28 SOS rating, 32nd of 130
  • Louisiana: 13 Division I-A opponents, -4.82 SOS rating, 119th

It’s clear the more the CFP tries to fix things, the less it works on a logical level. But it is what it is for the most corrupt sport this side of FIFA. For Baylor, this means the men’s basketball team won the NCAA Tournament and the MNC in the same calendar year, really. Impressive double dip!

Also, the “lamestream” media has made a big deal out of Georgia’s first alleged MNC since 1980, but we stripped the Bulldogs of that one, too, since the SOS was weak. See how this works when you apply data to a decision instead of just dollar signs? It’s just not what the powers that be want to hear, of course.

Congratulations to the 2021 Baylor Bears, the mythical national champion!