Alabama Likely Clinches College Football Playoff Berth With Impressive Win

The college football fans rooting for chaos on the final weekend of the season were sorely disappointed with all five betting favorites winning their conference championship games.

That will all be revealed on the College Football Playoff Selection Day presented by AT&T on ESPN at approximately 12:30 on Sunday.

Oklahoma likely wrapped up one spot last week with their win over Oklahoma State, which clinched the Big XII championship. Ohio State needs the same luck as Nebraska had in 2001 and they could be chosen for the four-team playoff.

The ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12 Championships do indeed promise madness of a gridiron variety. It will be decided by whatever happens in Saturday’s conference championship games. The Big Ten is nearly certainly getting one team in, the Spartans, but the odds that the committee will choose a second are slim.

Case against: The only way Clemson was not going to make the CFP was if it lost to North Carolina (and even then, it still may have snuck in). In a championship game, it is hard to see Alabama putting up significant points to cover this spread. All of the questions will be answered Saturday however when they take on No. 5 Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship game. Still, after a slow start to the season, San Diego State has run roughshod through its conference schedule, and will face an Air Force team that played very well against Michigan State earlier this season, and beat Boise State in Boise a few weeks ago.

So the only drama is will Michigan State move ahead of Oklahoma and take the No. 3 seed and play Alabama in the semifinal game in the Cotton Bowl. The committee has had its opportunities to place Oklahoma in front of Alabama as the Sooners have piled up impressive late-season wins and the Tide have beaten teams from what has been this season a weaker SEC than usual.

The Pac-12 begins a similar slate at 7:45 ET, when Stanford and USC get underway in Levi’s Stadium.

Two-loss team makes playoff field. That means unfettered focus between the two in the first real Playoff game. To have a chance, they will need to force Alabama quarterback Jacob Coker into turnovers. The Big Ten title game is a chance to prove all the critics wrong, and claim a spot in the final four.

A conference championship game can help or hurt you, depending on the circumstances of that particular season. Hell, if North Carolina wins on a last-second field goal or something, Clemson may still be alive too.

Spread Prediction: I have no clue what to make of this game.