Oregon handles JMU — will first round blowouts lead to CFP changes next year?
Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz reacts to Oregon’s 51-34 win over James Madison University in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
Video Transcript
The Oregon Ducks are headed to the second round of the College Football Playoff.
And nobody's stunned.
But the conversation on this game is going to Be wild.
Look, we went into this wondering, Does the Group of 5 even belong in the College Football Playoff?
Certainly, after watching Tulane get blown out by Ole Miss, And then seeing this game get to 48 to 13 in the third quarter, We thought we were gonna get more of the same.
But James Madison made this a game.
The final score: 51 to 34.
And if you're an Oregon fan right now, You might be concerned about the fact that James Madison put up over 500 yards of offense.
Certainly feels like Oregon took their foot off the gas.
Maybe Oregon, uh, took everything down, uh, once this game was 48 to 13, it looked like It was out of control.
But you still had a couple of turnovers.
And a game that ends up far closer than anyone wanted it to be, If you are looking for the narrative that the Group of 5 doesn't belong.
Fact is, James Madison just put up 34 points on the No.
5 team in college football.
Playoff.
Now, let's be honest.
If James Madison's football team were as competitive as James Madison's social media, This would've been a better game from the outset.
And whatever grief they get in this process, they probably earned by talking their talk.
But it has been a wild week of enjoyment, watching them get ready.
The question is, what does this mean for the future of the involvement of the Group of 5 in The College Football Playoff?
We've already seen through one year that the Group of 5 and the process of the College Football Playoff is always up for examination.
It took almost no time last year for them to change the automatic bid process.
Right?
Will they look at the Group of 5 and 2?
Blowout games over the course of this weekend and start to make tweaks to what it means to The involvement of everybody in the college Football Playoff moving forward?
What we know for now is Oregon will advance.
They're going to take on Texas Tech.
And it is certain that their defense is gonna have to be better against explosive plays.
Their defense is going to have to play at a much different level than they did before, Especially the fourth quarter of this game, if they want a shot to continue this magical Season.
