Every year, we have controversy in college football. The nature of the sport creates it. Whether it is paying players, controversial personalities like Jameis Winston and Johnny Manziel or how the postseason teams are selected, controversy is all but guaranteed each season.

Looking ahead, we predict a few areas of possible controversy and assign how likely such controversy is to occur…

1. College Football Playoff Selection (Chances: Guaranteed)

It doesn’t matter if the mechanism of selection is a computer formula or a selection committee, when you’re slotting a limited number of college football teams into a postseason playoff, a team (and a conference) is going to be left out.

The 2014 season brought plenty of controversy, and it’s possible that some of it could have been avoided. While the Big 12 getting left out (Baylor & TCU) was controversial in and of itself, the manner in which the committee moved teams around in its weekly rankings didn’t help the situation. TCU went from No. 3 one week to outside the top 4 the next week.

Controversy here is guaranteed, but the committee will likely be more cautious with regards to its weekly rankings in 2015.

2. Cost of Attendance (Chances: Very Likely)

While cost of attendance will likely remain controversial for some time, I’m not sure it’ll even register for most fans. A couple reasons are to blame. First, many fans simply don’t care about complex off-field issues such as cost of attendance. Second, most fans fail to understand just what cost of attendance means and what it refers to.

From collegedata.com:

As dictated by Congress, the COA is the average cost to attend for one academic year (fall through spring). It includes tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, transportation, and personal expenses. Colleges adjust the COA yearly to reflect changes to these costs.

The problem of course is that schools are giving kids extra cash in widely varying amounts. Heck, it varies widely even within the SEC. As noted in a recent Al.com article:

At Tennessee ($5,666), Auburn ($5,586) and Mississippi State ($5,126), cost-of-attendance stipends will provide student athletes with more than $5,000 in extra spending money this school year. Meanwhile, The Chronicle of Higher Education estimates that athletes at Alabama ($2,892), Vanderbilt ($2,780), Texas A&M ($2,706), Georgia ($2,598) and Kentucky ($2,284) will each get cost-of-attendance stipends that are less than $3,000.

Nick Saban has already commented on the disparate amounts within the conference, and other coaches have chimed in that it will absolutely be used in recruiting. From Bret Bielema:

I know for us at Arkansas, we’re hopefully going to be on the higher end, than some of our competition. The part in recruiting is, if it’s not equal it’s really not fair. I don’t care if you’re talking about academics or cost of attendance, you’re always going to find an advantage and you’re going to use it as a coach.”

So, the athletes have some extra cash to blow on the latest iPhone, coaches will use the arbitrary numbers for recruiting purposes, and I’m guessing that it won’t do much to calm the storm with regards to the media calling for players to get paid. Yeah, there’s no controversy here.

3. SEC Bias – (Chances: Likely)

While the SEC bias topic hit a fever pitch in 2014, it might take a step back as a result of Ohio State taking over at the top of college football and the SEC West having a rough bowl season. But, not too big of a step back. Unfortunately for the SEC haters out there, the SEC will still be talked about more than any other conference in college football, and that includes the Big Ten.

Even if Ohio State is No. 1 in the country, there are still many more interesting weekly matchups in the SEC versus any other conference. As such, shows like College GameDay will still give the nod to the SEC with regards to air time. How long until the haters start blaming Alabama alum Rece Davis in his new role as College GameDay host for heavy SEC coverage?

4. Dak Prescott snubbed for Heisman (Chances: Possible)

Dak Prescott could be primed for a special season in 2015, but as we all know, the best player in the country doesn’t necessarily win the Heisman. Rather, the best player on the best team will be the favorite, and few expect Mississippi State to make another run at the College Football Playoff field in 2015.

On a positive note, if Prescott can lead the team into national contention, it’ll be quite a surprise and further help his Heisman chances.

5. Conference realignment flareup (Chances: Not Likely)

Huh? I thought conference realignment was over. Well, it is for now. But that doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on the future as one columnist Chad Scott recently did with regards to the future of Oklahoma and the SEC.

I can’t think of anything that would be more fun that Big Game Bob joining the SEC. Maybe Stoops can hang on to his job until 2025?

Could conference realignment become a major topic in 2015? Nothing is off the table, but the chances are slim.