For the second 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. However, this season was an interesting one, where the CFP just did okay in picking its teams for the playoff, and the end result is one we can live with, surprisingly. We really cannot wait for the expanded playoff, though.

The 2022 MNC: Simplicity, perhaps, but we will take it this time out

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

1. Georgia (15-0): Won CFP Bowl, 65-7
2. TCU (13-2): Lost CFP Bowl, 7-65
3. Michigan (13-1): Lost Fiesta Bowl, 45-51
4. Ohio State (11-2): Lost Peach Bowl, 41-42
5. Alabama (11-2): Won Sugar Bowl, 45-20
6. Tennessee (11-2): Won Orange Bowl, 31-14
7. Penn State (11-2): Won Rose Bowl, 35-21
8. Washington (11-2): Won Alamo Bowl, 27-20
9. Tulane (12-2): Won Cotton Bowl, 46-45
10. Utah (10-4): Lost Rose Bowl, 21-35

Let’s start at the top: Unlike last year, the Bulldogs are eligible for our MNC, since they did win the SEC this time. In a weird twist, two of the teams chosen for the CFP didn’t win their respective conference (TCU, Ohio State). But the Horned Frogs beat the Wolverines in the playoffs, so the B1G champ was eliminated. The Crimson Tide, the Volunteers, the Nittany Lions, and the Huskies didn’t even make their conference title games, so our entire Top 10 is decimated, really.

The Green Wave did win their conference (the American Athletic Conference, whatever that is), however, so it gets to stick around. The Utes won the Pac-12, but they lost the Rose Bowl again; we feel they were shafted out of the CFP, sadly, so maybe the motivation for Utah was low. Who knows? Anyway, Kansas State won the Big XII Conference Championship, but the Wildcats lost the Sugar Bowl to Alabama, and ACC champion Clemson lost the Orange Bowl to Tennessee. There you go.

No other school else meets our criteria, really, while also having a legitimate SOS shot here. These results 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:

  • Georgia: 15 Division I-A opponents, 6.28 SOS rating, 11th of 131
  • Tulane: 14 Division I-A opponents, 0.38 SOS rating, 68th

Easy as pie … piece of cake. Whatever. The Bulldogs did us a favor by plowing through the Horned Frogs, who in turn did us a favor by keeping the Wolverines relegated to also-ran status. Sometimes the cookie crumbles the way it should—just don’t give the CFP credit for that. Either way, this is the first time we have awarded Georgia the MNC, as we took it away in both 1980 and 2021. Good for the Bulldogs, finally …

Congratulations to the 2022 Georgia Bulldogs, the mythical national champion!