The Playoff Foursome That Would Be The Best For College Football

Clemson maintained its five-week hold on the No. 1 spot in the College Football Playoff selection committee top 25 ranking Tuesday, and the Big Ten is holding down the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots this week. Both head into conference championship games needing a victory to lock up a playoff spots.

Clemson plays North Carolina for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship; Alabama plays Florida for the Southeastern Conference title.

But sneaking in behind Ohio State is a two-loss Stanford team that’s coming off a win to Notre Dame and will play USC in the Pac-12 title game against USC.

While the committee gave a debut ranking to No. 25 Tennessee (8-4), which would seem to help Oklahoma’s cause because Oklahoma won at Tennessee, it kept a strong respect for the American Athletic Conference.

Let me take it from here.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl is guaranteed the Big 12 champ, but since No. 3 Oklahoma is in the semifinal, the Sugar Bowl would get the team that finishes second in the Big 12 standings. Would North Carolina deserve to make the playoff ahead of Pac 12 champion Stanford? If Iowa beats Michigan State, it’s settled-the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes are in with the Sooners and Tar Heels, while the Spartans are out. If they win, they could be on the way to a title.

If Alabama wins, they’re in.

“I think that opens up a really, really interesting debate”, ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said, if Clemson is upset by North Carolina.

We’ve gone through and picked out the playoff foursome (one that is possible this year) that we believe would be the best for college football, long-term. Long said the Tar Heels, with two games against FCS competition, no wins against teams now ranked and a loss to 3-9 SC, have a strength of schedule issue compared to even Ohio State.

I’m not so sure one of Ohio State’s opponents, 3-10 Hawaii, which went 0-8 in the Mountain West, is much better than North Carolina A&T, which went 9-2 and tied for first in the MEAC. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, their lone loss came against the one team they couldn’t afford to falter against: Michigan State. The national championship game will be played January 11 in Glendale, Ariz. The highest-ranked conference champion from a Group of 5 conference is guaranteed a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl, so No. 19 Houston would likely face No. 9 Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. However, it’s hard to envision a scenario in which one of the other contenders (Ohio State, Stanford or North Carolina) would rise high enough to knock Oklahoma from the playoffs.

The Seminoles will be in the mix for an at-large spot if Clemson defeats North Carolina.

Although a win, the Utes dropped in the College Football Playoff rankings ahead of the conference championship weekend.