Year Three of the College Football Playoff presented the selection committee with a question that it's never before had to answer: Would it rather open its velvet stanchion for a one-loss team without a conference title, or a two-loss conference champion?
The emphatic answer came Sunday: Alabama, Clemson, Washington and Ohio State are in, and two-loss Big Ten champion Penn State is out. As a result, the Nittany Lions, who beat OSU in October, 24-21, will have to watch the Buckeyes play for a bigger prize than the Big Ten title. The Buckeyes punched their ticket for the playoff with last week's 30-27 win over rival Michigan, and their non-conference win over Big 12 champion Oklahoma bolstered OSU's strength-of-schedule argument over Penn State's.
And the strength-of-schedule argument is where it gets all the more gut-wrenching for Penn State. If Ohio State's schedule was a factor in keeping Penn State out of the playoff, what kept Washington in? The Huskies feasted on Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State in non-conference play.
It all came back to one inescapable factor the Nittany Lions: they lost twice, and nobody else in the playoff did. The selection committee has extended a berth to a team that didn't win its conference for the first time in three years, but it still hasn't welcomed in a two-loss team.
For better or worse, the message is this: two losses weigh more heavily than conference crowns or schedule strength.
Here are five other things we learned from Sunday's College Football Playoff pairings:
2. Something must give. In seeding Clemson No. 2 and Ohio State No. 3, the selection committee set up a fabulous matchup between Clemson's offense and Ohio State's defense. The Tigers average 506 yards per game, which ranks seventh among all Power Five schools, while the Buckeyes defense ranks fourth in the FBS in allowing 282 yards per game. Deshaun Watson working against a talented Buckeyes secondary and a dynamic middle linebacker in Raekwon McMillan will be appointment television.
3.*The Big 12 is out again*. With five major conferences vying for four playoff spots, easy math says one will be left out of the field every year. But three years into the College Football Playoff, the Big 12 has already swallowed the outlier pill twice (2014, 2016). The league took its time in joining the Pac-12, ACC, SEC and Big Ten in creating a conference title game (it arrives next year). This year, that probably wouldn't have made the difference anyway, not with its best team, Oklahoma, losing two regular-season games.
4. The Sark factor. Remember when Alabama coach Nick Saban hired Steve Sarkisian as an offensive analyst earlier this year? Sarkisian, who is trying to rebuild his career after being fired from USC, was Washington's head coach when UW's current seniors were freshmen. He also coached against his former team the last two years. Don't think UA won't tap into his knowledge of UW's personnel, even if he is three years removed from seeing it from the inside. And if offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin leaves for another coaching job before the playoff, Sarkisian's role could be all the more important.
5. Title rematch? With Alabama and Clemson playing in opposite semifinals, the possibility exists for a title-game rematch between the Tide and Tigers. Alabama escaped, 45-40, last year in an offensive thriller that took Watson's stature to another level, even in a loss.
6. Quarterbackville. The playoff field will bring together four quarterbacks who are talented and dynamic, yet different in their own ways. Consider Watson the undisputed king of this quarterback hill. As a Heisman Trophy finalist last year and for other reasons mentioned above, he's unquestionably more capable of putting an offense on his back and carrying a team in a playoff setting than any of the other three. J.T. Barrett brings an experience and leadership factor to OSU's offense that can't be easily measured, but is readily apparent in the biggest moments of the Buckeyes' biggest games. He doesn't always light up the scoreboard, but the stage definitely won't be too big for him. Washington's Jake Browning is one of the nation's most improved passers, and has the arm strength to fit throws into small windows. He also has a spectacularly talented target in WR John Ross III. Finally, Alabama's Jalen Hurts is the youngest and most mistake-prone of the four, but he has the poise of a senior and adds a rushing threat that the Crimson Tide typically doesn't have at the position.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
