Suspense will wane if top 4 keep winning
What the College Football Playoff system needs is for Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Washington to finish undefeated and ride into the Final Four without controversy or quarrel.
It would be good for the selection committee, too, though it can’t say that.
Alabama, Michigan, Clemson and Washington are the only Power 5 conference teams who have won every game so far, but no one is going to make it to the playoffs without a November to remember.
This past weekend, Nebraska (grossly overrated to begin with), Baylor, West Virginia and Boise State all lost and vacated their positions as top contenders.
The Big 12 no longer has an undefeated team and would need a ton of help now for Baylor or West Virginia to get any serious consideration from the committee.
None of the undefeated four has a cakewalk.
No. 1 Alabama has the most difficult road. The Crimson Tide are at No. 15 LSU on Saturday and then finish with their final three games at home. Mississippi State and Tennessee-Chattanooga don’t appear to be much of a challenge, but the season finale is against archrival Auburn, which is much better than expected and apparently improving each week.
No. 2 Michigan has Maryland, travels to Iowa and returns home for Indiana before it takes its show on the road to No. 6 Ohio State. The winner of that game, provided the Buckeyes can beat Nebraska this Saturday, has the best shot at making the playoffs (unless Louisville wins out). The Buckeyes are wildly talented but are coming off a loss at Penn State and last Saturday struggled to beat Northwestern 24-20.
No. 3 Clemson has the easiest route to its conference championship and the Final Four. The Tigers are home against Syracuse (4-4) and Pitt (5-3) and play at Wake Forest (5-3) before finishing the regular season against in-state rival South Carolina, which just beat the Tennessee Vols, who are becoming known as The Rocky Flop.
No. 4 Washington is at Cal then hosts Southern Cal and Arizona State before going on the road for its final regular-season game against archrival Washington State. The 25th-ranked Cougars are a wild and crazy team that can be very good on some Saturdays and very average on others.
A lot can happen with four weeks remaining. There are a couple of scenarios where a one-loss Texas A&M makes the playoffs if Louisville trips again, and possibly even a two-loss Auburn.
But that would mean the SEC would be making up half the field of the final Four.
If the Florida Gators were to win out, including winning the SEC Championship, they would be invited, and that could lead to two SEC teams in the playoffs. But Alabama would need to win out until the showdown in Atlanta for that to happen.
The Gators face a difficult road though. They visit a ticked-off Arkansas team this Saturday, get South Carolina at home but close the season at LSU and Florida State.
Can’t speak for the committee, but most of America would not be happy with two SEC teams being part of the national championship playoff. Call it football envy.
The SEC has three teams in the top 10 and and five in the top 15 in most polls, and four of those teams are from the SEC West, which is not a surprise.
The West is 7-1 against the East this season, and the only loss came when Kentucky, second place in the East, beat bottom-dwelling Mississippi State on a last-second field goal.
All in all, November could be a month to remember for a lot of reasons.