The College Football Playoff Committee announced Sunday that the four playoff teams are Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama in that order.
This is the first year in the history of the playoff committee that two teams from the same conference made the cut. Despite the major controversy between Alabama and Ohio State for that fourth spot, the committee looked at the season record and strength of wins compared to strength of losses more than a conference championship.
Clemson will play Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, which will be the third straight meeting of these two teams in the playoff. Alabama deserved to be the team to compete against the reigning champs, because Alabama would put up more of a fight against Clemson.
Last year, the playoff committee made the controversial decision to put a one-loss Ohio State team in over a one-loss conference champion Penn State team in the fourth spot. This decision led to Clemson dominating Ohio State, 31-0, in the semifinal and eventually winning the National Championship.
This year, the playoff committee showed it has learned from its mistakes.
It didn’t put Ohio State in, because the Buckeyes had worse losses than Alabama, including a 31-point loss to an unranked Iowa.
The committee also avoided being blamed for hypocrisy by putting in a two-loss conference champion over a one-loss non-conference champion. Clemson was a well-deserved top team after playing very well on the road against South Carolina and beating up on Miami in the ACC Championship. The Tigers have the most complete team right now and their defense is the best in the country.
Georgia will play Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day right before the Sugar Bowl. Georgia has had quite a journey by going undefeated the whole year until its bad loss at Auburn. Georgia definitely deserved the No. 3 spot after getting revenge against Auburn in the SEC Championship. The Bulldogs finished 12-1 on the year, and had a better resume than anyone else in the SEC.
Oklahoma was a clear No. 2 team after dominating TCU in the Big 12 championship. It finished 12-1 and had higher quality wins than any other team in the country. The Sooners beat TCU twice along with Ohio State and Oklahoma State. They have a likely Heisman winner in Baker Mayfield, and they could finish off this stellar year by bringing home a National Championship trophy.
The playoff committee got it right this year, despite having the toughest decision for the fourth spot in the history of the College Football Playoff. The opening lines have been released, and Alabama is favored by one over Clemson, while Oklahoma is favored by two and half over Georgia.