Playoff’s top four clear cut for now
As the final weekend of October drew to a close, it seemed we were nearing some clarity in college football.
Four unbeatens lost Saturday, leaving just five at the Football Bowl Subdivision level — and only four in the Power Five conferences.
Those teams sit atop everybody’s rankings. Soon that will almost certainly include the College Football Playoff’s selection committee, which will unveil its initial Top 25 on Tuesday evening.
Figure it’ll be Alabama followed in some order by Clemson, Michigan and Washington.
After the Crimson Tide, we can debate the seeding, but it’s hard to seriously argue against those four if the Playoff were this week.
But here’s the thing: It’s not this week. And to think anything crystallized Saturday — well, the short history of the College Football Playoff era shows that’s probably not the case.
In the first two seasons, the initial Playoff rankings didn’t really look much like the final rankings. In 2014, it looked like this: 1. Mississippi State 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Mississippi 5. Oregon 6. Alabama … 16. Ohio State And here was the first CFP ranking in 2015: 1. Clemson 2. LSU 3. Ohio State 4. Alabama 7. Michigan State 15. Oklahoma Alabama has been nothing short of dominant.
Michigan has been extremely impressive. Clemson just keeps winning, all that talent continuing to find a way.
Washington looks like a complete team without a real weakness. But there’s plenty of football left. No one should be surprised if on Dec. 4 the selection committee’s final rankings — you know, the only set that actually matters — look a lot different from what we get Tuesday.