Did the College Football Playoff pick the four best teams?

Two two-loss teams (Penn State, Michigan) and two three loss teams (Wisconsin, Nebraska).

Washington will be making its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Since 2012, the ACC has posted a 5-3 record in the New Year’s Six Bowls and College Football Playoff Games – the best among peer conferences. USC won their last eight games of the season, and Penn State won their final nine. Hocutt also said the decision to take Washington over the Nittany Lions came after “a detailed conversation that went on for hours and hours”. It’s a 99.9th-percentile result, in fact. Plus, it’s “The Granddaddy of Them All”.

Star quarterback J.T. Barrett is the linchpin of Ohio State’s offense for his ability to run and improvise, and his candidacy for Big Ten player of the year is a testament to that.

But let’s break this down, CFP participant by CFP participant.

And for that, Penn State fans should retaliate with … a thank-you note and a big, wet kiss.

It made ideal sense at the time: The Big Ten was struggling, the SEC reigned supreme, and Delany was desperate to ensure that his champion wasn’t boxed out by multiple teams from the kingpin of conferences.

And will the College Football Playoff committee continue to select what it thinks are the four best teams if OSU disappoints or would it put more emphasis on conference champions? Clemson will combat Ohio State’s depth and explosiveness with an offensive line that rounded into form during season-ending wins against Wake Forest, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. In the National Football League, no one uses the “eye test” to disregard an NFC East title won by the Washington Redskins because the Dallas Cowboys have better stats and will draw higher TV ratings. It struggled with Northwestern. It probably got handed the MI game through the Wolverines’ poor play in the clutch. But the committee’s love for Ohio State extended into it passing the eye test overwhelmingly, despite a shaky and inconsistent passing game.

Winner: Service Academies. All three made the postseason, and Navy nearly climbed into the New Year’s Six.

Props to Peppers for offering Penn State some congratulations.

The Buckeyes have only lost once. If the Sooners had played only Houston or Ohio State, instead of both, would OU be in the playoff? Every other Power 5 conference has been represented at least twice. It won its conference. The Big Ten was a dog fight. Penn State lost to Pitt and MI (by 39) before closing the season with nine straight victories.

Clemson will be looking to get back to the national-championship game after losing to Alabama a year ago while Ohio State is back in the picture after winning it all two years ago.

That became the latest message delivered Sunday by the CFP selection committee, which made Ohio State the No. 3 seed in its playoff field.

But will that really be the case next season when the championship game returns? It beat ranked Utah.

Bowlsby isn’t saying that Oklahoma should have been selected over Washington or Ohio State.

Negatives: The Huskies didn’t play much of a non-conference schedule. It won rather impressively, week after week. Washington also boasted wins over the CFP’s 10th-ranked team (Colorado), 18th-ranked squad (Stanford) and 19th-ranked team (Utah). The Eagles, who are 13-11 all-time in bowl games, will be going after their first postseason win since 2007.

Another aspect of Alabama that should be recognized is the play of their defense this season. Only three other teams can claim they haven’t lost since September – unbeatens Alabama and Western Michigan, along with Oklahoma. Ohio State and Clemson are in for the second time, and Washington is a first-timer in the four-team field.

Can we play a best out of three with this one? But this is a young team, with nearly everybody returning next year.

Clemson fans are “all in” and ready to take on Ohio State as the football team moves on to the semifinal round of the College Football Playoffs. Maybe, having that carrot dangling in front of them isn’t the worst thing for this program, which has developed so much more quickly than anybody could have imagined these last two months.