Daily Dirt: The much-maligned committee got it right — again

Now we can (finally) sit back and relax. College football’s regular season and championship weekend are little more than dust in the Kansas wind. The final four is made up of the teams that should be there, which occupies the first of today’s three thoughts … welcome to Vol. 149 of the Daily Dirt.

1. It’s like clockwork every year. Beginning late in the summer, then through the fall and early winter we spend weeks, sometimes months, arguing and complaining about the weekly college football rankings.

Who should be the top four teams in those rankings that make the playoffs? That’s the question we have gone over and over and over, but the bottom line is we, as fans, are at the mercy of the mighty College Football Playoff (CFP) Committee. And each year, as upset and frustrated as we get with them, that much-maligned committee that we love to hate tends to get it right. The four schools that SHOULD be in the playoffs tend to wind up there. This year is no exception.

I have absolutely no argument with the schools selected, although I would have changed the final rankings a bit. Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and Cincinnati deserve their spots in the tournament, but I would have had Michigan No. 1 and Alabama No. 2. Maybe that’s splitting hairs, but it’s hard to take much away from Michigan’s overall body of work, including season-ending (not to mention decisive) victories over The Ohio State University and Iowa.

Alabama’s dismembering of Georgia was impressive in its own right, but the Tide endured a far more up-and-down season than Michigan. None of the other “almost” teams are worthy. Baylor’s late-season surge was just that — late; Notre Dame refuses to join a conference and had no playoff-worthy wins (not to mention that defeat to Cincinnati — at home, no less); and The Ohio State University had a playoff spot reserved until it was beaten by Michigan for the first time since like the Civil War.

The four that are in are the four that should be there. Period.

2. What better way to open the week than a look back at some of the weekend’s top social media posts? Thanks again to Facebook for the entertainment:

• “I am not lazy, I am just on my energy-saving mode.”
• “Weight, I’m gainin’ it.”
• “Rule of math, if it seems easy, you’re doing it wrong.”
• “After Tuesday even the calendar says W T F.”
• “No one ever says, ‘It’s only a game’ when their team is winning.”

3. Here’s a sampling of some of the best slogans ever to find their way to a T-shirt:

• “Hello, boys!”: This one’s a bit dated, but still funny. It originated in a Wonder Bra ad in 1994.
• “I’m in Shape. Round is a Shape”: Pretty self explanatory, at least for those who really, really enjoy snacks. 
• “Warning! I Do Dumb Things”: Hmmm … more than one person has given me this T-shirt. I don’t get it.
• “I Pee in Pools”: Who will be the first to wear this T-shirt to Indian Mounds Pool next summer?  
• “Santa Has the Right Idea, Visit People Once a Year”: These shirts should start popping up any day now.

Steve Fact O’ The Day Steve got lost a combined six times while going to and coming back from Columbia, Mo., last Friday. Who knew Faurot Field could be so hard to find, or get away from?

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. The phone conversation about him getting lost in Boone County, Mo. is one for the ages.