Saturday NFL games easily beat college football playoff snoozers

To little surprise, the NFL games played on Saturday afternoon easily beat the college football competition.

Still, it’s somewhat amazing the margin wasn’t bigger.

The Texans-Chiefs game at 1:00 p.m. ET on NBC averaged 15.5 million viewers, and Steelers-Ravens attracted 15.4 million for the late game that started at 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

The SMU-Penn State CFP game, which started at 12:00 p.m. ET, averaged 6.4 million viewers. Clemson at Texas, with a 4:00 p.m. ET kickoff, averaged 8.6 million.

Both college games on Saturday afternoon weren’t competitive. None of the first four playoff games were competitive. More specifically, it never felt like the road team had a chance to win.

That might trigger the college football bros, but it’s true. The four games sucked. And it’s no surprise. There’s a disparity of talent in college football, and there aren’t 12 teams sufficiently equal in ability to produce games that feel competitive.

Yes, NFL postseason games sometimes aren’t close. But they typically aren’t no-chance-in-hell lopsided. Last year, the six wild-card games had runaway scores. That said, THREE of the underdogs won (Green Bay, Houston, Tampa Bay).

The college football playoff, as currently constructed, won’t often have round-one upsets. More often than not create, those games will create the distinct stink of an NFL team hosting a CFL franchise.

It’s not for us to fix it. But that won’t keep us from pointing it out. And, against that backdrop, it’s impressive for college football that the gap between the NFL games and the college games wasn’t wider.

Next year, it might be. Next year, people might know not to waste their time watching the first round of the college football playoff.

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