Oregon's unbeaten season so impressed CFP committee that Ducks draw the short straw

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This is the College Football Playoff selection committee. Congratulations on a wonderful season and a hard-won conference championship in your first year as a Big Ten member. We are highly impressed with your 13-0 record, especially in a season where so many teams faltered along the way. And when we consider that you had to fly to the Eastern or Central time zone four times, finishing off a perfect season with a 45-37 win over fellow playoff participant Penn State Saturday night, it is truly one of the great accomplishments of the last several years.

In fact, we as a committee are so enamored with what you’ve done, Oregon, that we are going to award you the playoff’s No. 1 seed. Again, many congrats.

But here’s the thing, Coach Lanning.

In every other sport that decides championships in a tournament format, the best teams or individuals get seeded in the order they are ranked to ensure that the bracket is balanced and fair. It doesn’t always work out perfectly, but this is considered standard practice to give the highest-seeded teams the easiest theoretical path possible toward a championship. After all, that’s what they’ve earned by virtue of their regular-season accomplishments.

But never mind that. Here’s the reality of your situation. Despite all the great things you’ve done, you are not getting the easiest path as a reward for being the top team in the country. Far from it, in fact. What the committee has cooked up for you is a quarterfinal against either Ohio State, which might be the sport's most-talented and expensive roster, or a Tennessee team that is currently ranked No. 8 nationally in offense and No. 4 on defense.

In fact, if we were putting together the bracket strictly by our committee rankings, you’d never see either of these teams unless it was in the championship game. Instead, you’d be playing the winner of Boise State-Indiana in the quarterfinals. Oops!

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