College football playoffs — dream on, literally

After Duke’s amazing comeback and the Steelers’ heartbreaking loss to the Bengals, I took a… After Duke’s amazing comeback and the Steelers’ heartbreaking loss to the Bengals, I took a nap on Sunday and had an amazing dream that went a little like this:

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 2005 College Football Playoff Selection Show on ESPN 8, ‘The Ocho.’ Tonight, we will be unveiling and predicting the winners of the first-ever college football playoff bracket. The bracket is set up as an eight-team, single-elimination affair with the winner being crowned the national champion of college football.

“All right, let’s get right to it. There will be an East bracket and a West bracket, with four teams in each, seeded one through four. The one seed on each side will meet the fourth seed, while seeds two and three will get together and rumble. So, in the East, the committee has awarded the No. 1 seed to Coach Mack Brown’s Texas Longhorns, undefeated and champions of the Big 12 conference. They will open the playoffs in a rematch of a game played earlier this season against the fourth-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes, who snuck in front of the Oregon Ducks based on strength of schedule.

“The winner of our first game will meet the winner of our next game, and, oh baby, is it a good one. The second seed has been awarded to the Big 10 champions, Joe Paterno’s Penn State Nittany Lions, who were one second and one play away from finishing the season undefeated. However, they have no cakewalk in the first round, as the third seed has been given to America’s college football program, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, led by first-year head coach Charlie Weis. What a bracket the committee has set up here, Texas and Ohio State for the second time and Penn State’s defense against Notre Dame’s offense. There’s no better way to settle college football, folks.

“So, now that the East bracket is set, let’s unveil the West bracket. It should be no secret, but the first seed in the West is the two-time defending national champion, the USC Trojans. They have survived their share of scares this season but have finished with an unblemished record are and now the No. 1 seed in the West bracket. Their competition, the fourth seed in the West, has been awarded to the Southeastern Conference Champions, the Georgia Bulldogs. The Bulldogs put a real whooping on the LSU Tigers in the SEC Championship game and could pose quite a threat to the Trojans.

“In the second game of the West bracket, we have two conference champions going toe-to-toe. The two seed is the Big East conference champion, West Virginia Mountaineers, while the three seed has been awarded to the champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Florida State Seminoles.

“Now that the brackets have been unveiled, let’s take a look at how we think things will shake up. In my opinion, the most interesting bracket with the best teams is surely in the East, where I think Texas puts a good show on against Ohio State to advance to the final four, while Notre Dame and Heisman finalist Brady Quinn score just enough points to sneak past Penn State. That sets up Notre Dame and Texas in the East final, and while this game looks good on paper, Vince Young and the Longhorns are just too solid, as I see them rolling on into the championship game in a shootout over the Irish.

“In the West, the money has to be on the Trojans and for good reason. Georgia wasn’t the best team in the SEC all year, but did enough to win the title and get their bid. However, the Bulldog train stops here as Heisman winner Reggie Bush runs for nearly 300 as the Trojans literally sprint into the final four. West Virginia played great football as the season has gone on, but I think the Seminoles win because everyone knows Pat White can’t throw the football and Bobby Bowden will expose that, and dispose of the Mountaineers. Bowden is one of the game’s greatest coaches but he isn’t a miracle worker, and in the West title game, USC continues its run for a third straight title.

“That brings us to the finale, the national championship game between the Longhorns of Texas and the USC Trojans. I have watched these two teams play enough games this year to have a grasp on what will happen when they meet.

“Texas is a team that scores early and often on its way to blowing out poor opponents while USC allows legitimate opponents to hang around before snatching victory away at the last second. However, Texas will be the first team that has the athletes on defense to keep up with Bush and Matt Leinart. They will by no means shut them down but they will contain them. On offense, I think Vince Young will take the game over and continue to make big play after big play, and when it is all over, the Texas Longhorns will be the 2005 college football national champions and winners of the first ever college football playoff system.”

That was one amazing nap.

Matt Sortino is a staff writer for The Pitt News.