What final College Football Playoff rankings should look like for 2016
The sixth and final installment of the College Football Playoff rankings will be released today (12 p.m. ET, ESPN). They’re anything but cut and dry.
As far as the SEC is concerned, West champion Alabama tore East winner Florida a new one Saturday in the conference championship game, so the Crimson Tide moved to 13-0 and are all but guaranteed the top seed by the committee.
The situation is much more convoluted in the Big Ten, though. Penn State topped Wisconsin to claim the league title, so its résumé got as much of a shot in the arm as anyone’s following Championship Weekend. The Nittany Lions also own a head-to-head victory over Ohio State, which was forced to sit at home and watch on television.
It’s a bit murky for the winners of the other Power 5 conferences — Clemson in the ACC, Oklahoma in the Big 12 and Washington in the Pac-12 — as well. The Tigers are surely in. The Sooners are clearly out. The Huskies? Eh, we’ll see.
Here’s how the sixth and final CFP rankings should look, at least if I were on the committee. It’s a mystery what they’ll actually be.
1. Alabama
The Crimson Tide survived an odd first quarter and put the hammer beginning in the second, crushing Florida 54-16 in Atlanta.
After being held out of the end zone on defense and special teams for four games, ‘Bama got an interception return for a touchdown from Minkah Fitzpatrick and a blocked punt that resulted in a TD for Joshua Jacobs, too.
If you’re a believer in the eye test, and I tend to be, it’s fair to wonder if any program in the country can hang with the Tide. Offensively, they’re more dynamic with the addition of Jalen Hurts at quarterback. On defense, they’re nothing short of suffocating. While their kicking game isn’t perfect, it’s better than most.
What coach Nick Saban has done in Tuscaloosa is positively incredible — perhaps borderline unfair. When you combine the best players in America with the best coaching, you get what looks to be an unstoppable juggernaut.
Alabama was just a 24-point favorite in the SEC Championship Game and covered easily. Another title all but seems fait accompli at this juncture.
2. Clemson
The Tigers had to hold off a late rally from Virginia Tech, but ultimately they prevailed 42-35 in the ACC title game.
Deshaun Watson made his last plea with Heisman Trophy voters, throwing for 3 touchdowns and running for 2 more to go along with 373 yards of total offense. However, he did get picked off for the 15th time, which is quite a lot.
Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Clemson ended up being the class of the ACC by leaps and bounds, as both Louisville and Florida State lost three games. The Cardinals and Seminoles can play with anybody in the land, but they suffered a letdown or two along the way. While the Tigers got past each in nail-biting fashion, no style points were necessary.
There’s no reason to believe that coach Dabo Swinney and Co. have anything to worry about regarding the selection process. Even with an ugly defeat in Week 11 to Pittsburgh — at home, remember — they’re going back to the playoff.
Certainly helping their case is the fact that they gave Alabama everything it could handle a season ago in the CFP National Championship Game.
3. Washington
Kicking off the weekend early on Friday night, the Huskies opened up a can on a quality Colorado club and triumphed 41-10.
Like the SEC, the Pac-12 was down to some degree in 2016. Stanford — a preseason playoff pick by yours truly, unfortunately — stumbled out of the gate. So did USC, which lost three times before becoming USC again.
There are some who believe that U-Dub doesn’t deserve very much attention from the committee. Its conference didn’t put together a rousing performance collectively. Its non-conference schedule featured nothing more than Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State, all at home. The Trojans doubled them up 26-13 in Seattle, too.
However, the Pac-12 was the only Power 5 conference left out of the Final Four last year, so I’d be nothing short of shocked if voters did so a second straight season. They can’t afford to have the Pac-12 revolting so soon into the playoff era.
I think Washington is in. Even if the West Coast may not be as passionate about college football as the Southeast, there are a lot of TVs out there.
4. Penn State
Yes, I believe it’s possible that Ohio State falls from No. 2 a week ago to all the way out of the Top 4 of the rankings.
Not playing on Championship Weekend only highlighted that the Buckeyes, despite an 11-1 record, didn’t win the Big Ten East, let alone the conference as a whole. All the other playoff participants will be league champs.
Although Penn State has two losses — including a blowout at the hands of Michigan — it finished the campaign on a nine-game winning streak and took down OSU fair and square. Being a conference champion should matter. Head-to-head results should also matter. Hence, the Nittany Lions deserve an invite ahead of Brutus.
Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Do I think PSU is better than Ohio State? Not necessarily. If what you’re really looking for is a squad that can potentially defeat Alabama, then the Buckeyes are probably better candidates to do so than Penn State.
That being said, putting them in over a Nittany Lions team that beat them and then went on to capture a strong Big Ten would be unjust.
NEXT FOUR
5. Ohio State
The Buckeyes own victories over Oklahoma, Wisconsin and Michigan. That might be the most impressive trio of Ws nationally. But as far as I’m concerned, the loss to Penn State simply matters too much.
6. Oklahoma
The Sooners handled rival Oklahoma State at Bedlam in the pseudo Big 12 title game, but they had so far to go after starting out 1-2. Losing by three touchdowns to Ohio State is a killer, as well.
7. Michigan
Like the Buckeyes, the Wolverines were hoping for as much chaos as possible over the weekend and simply didn’t get it. They needed either Clemson or Washington to lose, if not both. No dice.
8. USC
The best three-loss team in the nation, the Trojans wrapped up the regular season on an eight-game winning streak after a miserable September. Southern Cal could challenge for the playoff in 2017.
John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.
