Winthrop and Penn State

Seeing Penn State being overlooked for the final berth in the College Football Playoffs — despite being the Big 10 champion and handing Ohio State its only loss of the season — reminds us of the 1982 Winthrop High School football team winning the Northeastern Conference title with an undefeated record, but because of the ratings system at the time, Bob DeFelice and the Vikings were not able to go back and defend the Super Bowl title they had won in 1981.

Winthrop was undefeated and uninvited as they say. Nevertheless, Winthrop returned to the Super Bowl in 1983 and won it all, completing an amazing 32-0-1 streak for those three seasons. That 1981 trio of John Tiano, Chucky Sullivan, and Joe Giaquinto — who helped Winthrop win a state baseball title in 1980 — may be the best 1-2-3 punch in school history.

So perhaps it may make sense to add a fifth and sixth team to the College Football Playoffs and give the top two teams first-round byes.

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