The College Football Playoff final rankings will be revealed to the world Sunday on ESPN’s selection show at noon eastern, and the top 4 teams are pretty much set.

The biggest question remains — in what order will the top 4 teams be? Alabama, Michigan, Georgia and Cincinnati are going to get into the Playoff, but the No. 1 seed is important for a couple reasons.

While most folks think that Alabama will be ranked as the No. 1 team Sunday, Michigan does have a case for it, too. The Wolverines have been spectacular all season despite a narrow 37-33 loss to rival Michigan State, and it just throttled Iowa 42-3 in the Big Ten Championship Saturday night. Michigan also hammered then-No. 2 Ohio State 42-27 in The Game.

However, what Alabama did to the No. 1 team in the nation — and the No. 1 defense — in Georgia will likely give it the edge over Michigan for the No. 1 seed. That’s important because the selection committee likely wants to avoid an Alabama vs. Georgia rematch in the Playoff semifinal game, and instead, it will make sure that that won’t happen with the final rankings.

But by ranking Michigan as the No. 1 seed — and Alabama at No. 2 and Georgia at No. 3, college football would avoid an all-SEC national championship again. That might be attractive to those outside the southeast.

However, we think the final top 4 will shake out like below:

College Football Playoff rankings projection

  1. Alabama Crimson Tide: 1-loss SEC Champion
  2. Michigan Wolverines: 1-loss Big Ten Champion
  3. Georgia Bulldogs: 1-loss SEC team who lost in conference championship game
  4. Cincinnati Bearcats: Undefeated AAC Champion