Baylor's win over TCU might not be enough to get the Bears into the College Football Playoff with both Big 12 teams only once-beaten, but Baylor head coach Art Briles won't ride in the playoff's backseat without making his displeasure known.
Briles on Thursday told ESPN's "Mike and Mike" radio show that TCU being ranked ahead of Baylor isn't "the American way," per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"What country do we live in? I think it's America," Briles said. "That's kind of always been the American way. If there's a conflict or a doubt, you put two people in the ring and they fight. There's a winner. If there's a question who's the fastest guy, you put them on the track and the fastest guy is the guy you pick. That's kind of how I see it. It's a democratic society."
There isn't much democratic about the CFP selection committee's deliberations, though.
They consider strength of schedule, subjective criteria such as "game control," and other such factors that don't divide teams quite as readily as a head-to-head win does. Baylor topped the visiting Horned Frogs, 61-58, on Oct. 11, but a Baylor loss to West Virginia has left both teams with the same record. The CFP selection committee's decision to rank TCU (No. 3) three spots ahead of the Bears (No. 6) stands as the most controversial aspect of its rankings entering the final weekend of the regular season.
Baylor faces a 9-2 Kansas State team Saturday, one which TCU has already beaten soundly, with a chance to strengthen its case to the selection committee. The Horned Frogs close the season against a 2-9 Iowa State team that hasn't won a game since the day Baylor beat TCU (Oct. 11). But with TCU three comfortable spots ahead of the Bears in the rankings, a win over K-State alone isn't likely to put Baylor in the playoff ahead of the Horned Frogs. It would likely require some upset mayhem in other conference championship games for Baylor to make its way through the door.
Unfair? Maybe.
Un-American? To Briles, definitely.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
