Quote:The dirty little secret of the NFL is that the best team doesn't always win the Super Bowl.  The key is to be good enough to qualify for the playoffs, be lucky enough that you suffer injuries at positions of depth(if not avoid injuries entirely), and then get hot at the right time.  There have been way too many 4, 5, and 6 seed Super Bowl winners to suggest otherwise.  As college football begins to expand their playoffs, which will inevitably happen, this will be true in that sport as well.  

 

How this ties to Ohio St... I'm not entirely sure I think they were the best team in the 2014 season.  Struggled against Navy.  Lost to an average VaTech team.  Went to OT against an average Penn St team.  Was losing to a bad Indiana team by a TD late in the 3rd.  Tied with a bad Michigan team late in the 3rd.  They did have the impressive win against Michigan St but that was it.  Most of their games were against average to bad teams and they didnt look great in half of them.

 

But you have to give them credit for showing up at the right time.  Crushing Wisconsin to get into the playoff.  And then playing really well in their two playoff games.  They definitely deserved to win it once they got there.  Had they played a more challenging regular season schedule, would they have finished the season with only one loss and received an invite to the playoff?  Maybe not. 

 

But this is going to be the new reality as we keep expanding the playoff. More and more champions with questionable losses and/or struggling in a number of games throughout the season.