CFP and Steelers Win

I decided midway through the afternoon yesterday  that the Monday Morning Blog Post would concentrate on the final bracket for this first ever 12 Team College Football Playoff.

Oh, I am not going to make a case as to whether or not a three loss Alabama or an 8-3 South Carolina, who beat Clemson, should be in there, nor do I care about who is seeded where.  Let the ESPN gasbags deal with all of that.  Rather, I want to speak to one of the unintended consequences, for this year at least, that this format hath wrought, and that is the complete and utter lack of drama that was Conference Championship Saturday in college football, or College Football, as Kirk Herbstreit might put it.

Think about it.  Of the twelve teams in the bracket, four of them (Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee, and Indiana) didn't even play on Saturday because they had failed to qualify for their conference title game, and three of the teams actually LOST in their title game but are still alive for the Championship.  Only one of the games was a win-or-go-home game, Clemson vs SMU, and that was only if Clemson lost.  SMU lost, but they are still alive for the CFP title.  The people who bitch about Notre Dame being an independent and not having to win a Conference Championship in order to qualify, should now shut up entirely, because, clearly, winning your conference championship doesn't matter (see Texas, Penn State, Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana, and SMU).

Oh, the games themselves were terrific:  Georgia 22 - Texas 19 in OT, Oregon 45 - Penn State 38, and Clemson 34 - SMU 27 on a last play of the game field goal, but the question becomes, if these games don't matter, and clearly they do not when it comes to deciding a CFP Championship, then why play them at all?  And before you answer, I will tell you that I already know answer. When it comes to big time sports, the answer to ALL of your questions is MONEY.  These games will continue to be played as long as ESPN or some other TV sugar daddy will open the vaults to the universities in question.

All that said, I am really looking forward to the games that will be played and the sturm und drang  that will surround them.  In the opening round alone....

• Clemson vs Texas. Who doesn't want to watch this game and cheer for Dabo Swinney to get his Bible-thumping ass kicked? Hook 'em Horns, I say!
• Tennessee vs Ohio State.  After losing his fourth straight game to Michigan last month the question becomes, "Will Ryan Day lose his job if he goes out early in the CFP tourney?"
• SMU vs Penn State.  Can James Franklin win a game against a ranked team?  
• Indiana vs Notre Dame.  Well, it is Notre Dame, after all, and they are playing an in-state rival, and just how good is Indiana after all?

It's gonna be a lot of fun, I do believe.

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Oh, and I can't not mention something that always brings great joy to my football heart....

Steelers 27 - Browns 14

Yep, a Steelers win over this long time rival is always good news.  I thought I'd include a few highlights of yesterday's game for my Cleveland pals.

Browns kicker Dustin Hopkins on one

 of his two missed field goal attempts

Kadarius Toney muffs a point which was recovered 

by Steeler Ben Skowronek.  The game was 

pretty much over at that point anyway, 

but it put a nice bow on the Steelers victory.

The Steelers are now 10-3, have a two game lead over Baltimore in the AFC North, as they head into a brutal three game stretch of the schedule: @ Eagles, @ Ravens, Chiefs at home on Christmas.   Three playoff caliber teams as they gear up for the Playoffs.

Let's Catch Up With The Steelers

It has been awhile since I have written of our favorite football team, so, as the team is wrapping up their voluntary/mandatory OTA's this week, let's take a look at how things are shaping up with the Steelers 61 days before the start of training camp in Latrobe, 74 days before the first exhibition game, and 104 days before the Opening Game of the season.

Let us begin by talking about the Draft that took place a little over a month ago.  To refresh your memories, here are the players selected  by  GM Omar Kahn and HC Mike Tomlin.

1. Troy Fautanu, OT, Washington
2. Zach Frazier, C, WVU
3. Roman Wilson, WR, Michigan
4. Payton Wilson, LB, North Carolina St
5. Mason McCormick, G, South Dakota St
6. Logan Lee, DE Iowa
7. Ryan Watts, DB, Texas

With their first three picks, the Steelers addressed two of what every "expert" agreed were their primary pre-draft needs, offensive line and wide receiver.  Add last year's Number 1 pick Broderick Jones to Fautanu and Frazier, and you have the makings of an O-line that could be a strength for years to come, and Roman Wilson has been drawing raves in OTA's, for whatever that is worth, so he could be the guy to team up with George Pickens that will make us all forget the Swann and Stallworth Era.  As for the other four guys, who knows, and I am certainly not going to try to evaluate how good they are, how great they might become, or where they will fit in with the Steelers going forward.  I am always mindful of what long ago Steelers defensive lineman Ben Magee once told my Dad in a lunch counter encounter in downtown Pittsburgh many, many years ago:  "You don't know nothin' about these guys 'til you get them in training camp."

About the only thing resembling actual news coming out of OTA's was the fact the Team Captain, DL, and Walter Payton Man of the Year Cam Hayward didn't show up for them.  Apparently, Cam is looking for a contract extension, not a restructuring, as he is about the enter his 14th NFL season at the age of 35.

Hayward has been nothing but a very good and even great player ever since he arrived.  He is a bonafide team leader, and a solid member of the Pittsburgh and southwest Pennsylvania community.  Perhaps no Steeler since Franco Harris or Joe Greene has been as universally beloved amongst the Steelers Nation fan base than Hayward, and even at his advanced football age, there is no reason to believe that he still can't be a strong contributor to Steelers in 2024.  However, let's be clear about one thing:  the Steelers once cut Franco Harris over contractual issues.  FRANCO HARRIS!!  They are not a team that will blink when it comes to a contract negotiation such as this.  Cam has said that he would consider playing elsewhere if he doesn't  get what he wants, and that would be too bad.   Let's hope that it  doesn't come to that.

Then there are the quarterbacks.

Of course, everyone is excited about the new duo of Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.  Who will be the Steelers starting QB come September?  In THIS COLUMN today in the Post-Gazette, Paul Ziese makes that we shouldn't be kidding ourselves about any "competition".  Wilson will be the man unless and until he can't be due to injury.  I won't restate it here, but read the column.  Fields is a reclamation project, although that may be too strong a label to put on it.  He will sit behind and learn under Wilson, and then the team will make a decision come 2025 as to whether or not he is "the future.'

On personal note, Linda and I took a week's vacation to St. Petersburg Beach in Florida.  during that time at various points I wore either a Steelers golf shirt of Steelers quarter-zip, and when I did, I learned that the concept of a "Steelers Nation" is a very real thing.  Hotel desk personal, bellhops, bartenders, and other vacationers never ceased to comment on what I was wearing and say things like "I can't believe that they got Russell Wilson AND Justin Fields for practically nothing."  A little kid at the pool, about ten years old, said to me "Do you like George Pickens?"  When I said that I did, he said "So do I because we're from Georgia." And these were people who weren't natives of the Pittsburgh area or traveling from there on vacation.  These were people from all over the country.  It really surprised me, but perhaps it should't have.

One final comment on the Draft.  Drafting an offensive lineman Number one certainly isn't a sexy pick, and who knows if Fautanu will work out, but as I mentioned on Facebook on draft night, the last time the Steelers used their first pick to draft a Polynesian guy named "Troy", things worked out pretty well for them.