The college football playoff rankings and bracket dropped Sunday morning, hours after the Oregon Ducks crushed down the Penn State Nittany Lions 45-37 to win the Big Ten championship. And guess what? Much controversy followed. While a lot of analysts focused on Alabama’s exclusion from the playoffs (a right decision, in our opinion), several other themes emerged in the aftermath of the release of the final 12 teams by the Warde Manuel-led committee. Joel Klatt highlighted one such theme that has gone under the radar, and it concerns the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks.

On the December 9 episode of the Joel Klatt show, he didn’t mince his words, roasting the committee for how they seeded the teams, particularly highlighting how they made Oregon’s road tougher to reach the title, even after being the No. 1 seed. So here’s the question: did the Ducks actually get a blunderous deal compared to Penn State despite winning the Big Ten title? Let’s read what the FOX analyst had to say.

“A game that’s the unintended consequence of the cost of the artificial manipulation of seeds will be bored by Oregon, the exact team that should have earned every right to have the easiest path to a national championship,” Klatt said.

Klatt described that, in this sport, everything should be based on what happens on the field; there should be no weird power plays or favoritism allowed. Basically, Oregon is the rightful #1, but they’re being held back because other teams with weaker resumes are getting bumped up for all the wrong reasons. It’s like when ranking systems or selection committees let things like media hype or old-school reputations mess with the pure merit-based order. As per Klatt, it’s a classic case of “let the teams prove themselves” versus “let’s tweak things to make everyone happy,” and we all know how that usually goes.

Moving forward, he pointed out, “Oregon’s path to the National Championship is the reward for going 13-0 and having the best regular season in all of college football, which is supposed to be the most valuable regular season in all of the sports. The reward for that is having to play the three highest-odds teams to win the national championship; they’re going to have to go through possibly Ohio State, Texas, and Georgia to win the national championship. Congratulations, Dan Lanning, and the Oregon Ducks. You got screw-d by the playoff committee because of their sentiment of trying to create artificial floors. Rose some of these teams to the levels where they shouldn’t be.”

Let’s look at the facts. The Ducks will sit out the first round after earning a well-deserved bye. Moving forward, it’s all rocky. In the second record (or the quarterfinals), they’ll face the winner of the Ohio State and Tennessee matchup. Considering it’s a home game, let’s give it to Ryan Day’s men (for now). Ohio State’s resume is up there with the best, probably third in the country after Oregon. What happens if they go past the Buckeyes? Well, Dan Lanning, we give you Texas in the semis with the potential to face the Bulldogs to win the Natty.

Is it how you treat your No. 1 ranked team? Right now, Dan Lanning may just be in the Nittany Lions’ shoes. How are the things for Penn State? Much better, to say the least.

Penn State’s playoff path compared to Oregon Ducks

With college football, the playoff bracket is out, and although Oregon snagged the No. 1 seed after beating Penn State, the Nittany Lions might be the real winner when it comes to their playoff path. Way easier than the ducks! So Penn State, ranked No. 6, didn’t get a first-round bye as Oregon did, but their route to the semis is hilariously manageable.

They’ll kickstart things by hosting No. 11 SMU in a home game, and the results seem quite obvious; if they win this game, they are going to be facing Ashton Jeanty’s team. Now Boise State is technically the No. 3 seed, but they’re ranked ninth nationally. So, it should not come out as a juggernaut.

Meanwhile, think about teams like Notre Dame, who’d face Georgia in the quarterfinals, or Ohio State, which will face Oregon if they beat Tennessee. In comparison, Penn State’s path is a chef’s kiss.