A look back at what happened in the first three years
It remains an open question whether the four-team College Football Playoff format to determine the national champion has been an improvement on the Bowl Championship Series model.
Even in the small sample size of the first three years, the results have been mixed. Two of the three title games have been superb, but the semifinal bowls, with one exception, have been quite forgettable. Here’s how the Playoff has unfolded.
2014
The initial year of the Playoff era made a strong case that four teams are better than two. Ohio State got the nod from the committee over Big 12 co-champs TCU and Baylor for the No. 4 spot, and the Buckeyes made the most of their opportunity. They outlasted top-ranked Alabama 42-35 in the Sugar Bowl, keyed by a 230-yard rushing day from Ezekiel Elliott who sealed the win with an 85-yard scoring dash in the fourth quarter.
In the day’s earlier semifinal, the Rose Bowl wasn’t nearly as close. No. 2 Oregon and Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota jumped on a succession of second-half turnovers by Florida State and cruised 59-20.
But the Ducks were largely grounded in the title game while Elliott had another huge night for the Buckeyes with four TDs as OSU pulled away in the second half for a 42-20 victory.
2015
Alabama’s second Playoff venture was considerably more suc- cessful. The Crimson Tide were again matched against the Big Ten champion, but this time they were more than up to the task against Michigan State. The Spartans were completely overmatched in the Cotton Bowl, as the Tide rolled 38-0. Alabama held MSU to 239 total yards, while Jake Coker hit on 25 of 30 pass attempts.
Clemson took a bit longer to put away Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, but the Tigers outscored the Sooners 21-0 after intermission for a 37-17 win.
The championship game, thankfully, was an instant classic as the Tigers and Tide went back and forth. A couple of fourth-quarter kickoffs, one beautifully executed onside kick and a 95-yard return by Kenyan Drake, proved decisive as the Tide held on for a 45-40 victory.
2016
A lot of observers of the sport probably wanted to see an Alabama-Clemson rematch. That list certainly didn’t include their semifinal opponents, but, as it turned out, there wasn’t much Ohio State or Washington could do to stop the inevitable.
The Buckeyes were making their second Playoff appearance in three years, but this time they were totally shut down by Clemson in a 31-0 Fiesta Bowl rout. Washington fared little better against the Crimson Tide in the Peach Bowl, though the Huskies did take an early lead. But Alabama’s defense did its job the rest of the way and even provided a score of its own on a game-turning interception return in the second quarter en route to a 24-7 triumph.
The championship encore looked like it might not live up to its billing early on as the Crimson Tide took a 14-0 lead and had Clemson’s offense out of sync. But Deshaun Watson led the Tigers to three fourthquarter touchdowns, and he found Hunter Renfrow for a 2yard score with one second on the clock to give Clemson the 35-31 win.