Last Sunday the FBS college football committee decided the final four teams that will play in the 2018 college football playoffs. In 2014, the NCAA introduced a four-team single elimination playoff format for the top four teams in college football.
Before 2014, the top two ranked teams would play in the BCS bowl to decide the national championship. Unlike other sports, college football’s playoffs are not decided solely based on the teams record but they are selected and voted on by an independent committee.
The committee looked at a lot of different criteria to decide the best four teams in the country. This includes strength of schedule, conference championships and overall win-loss record. The top four teams that will compete for a national championship are the defending champion Alabama as the number one team, Clemson as the second seed, Notre Dame will be the third seed and the fourth and final seed will be Oklahoma.
Alabama has been the best team all year and they are the most deserving team on this list. They’ve won all of their regular season games by at least 20 points and they beat the number 4 ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC championship game last Saturday. Alabama has not missed the playoffs since it was implemented in 2014 and they look to win their second straight national title and third in four years. Alabama will take on the fourth seeded Oklahoma Sooners in the Orange Bowl on December 29th.
The Clemson Tigers were ranked as the second-best team in the country. The Tigers finished undefeated (13-0) and won the ACC title for the fourth consecutive year. Clemson last year lost to Alabama in the semi-final game as the top seed. They will play Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on December 29th and are the favorites to win by 11 points.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will make the playoffs for the first time in history as they finished their season undefeated. (12-0). Notre Dame is not officially in a conference, so they have no championship, which some critics believe should keep them out. The committee does not think so and the Irish will battle Clemson for a spot in the national championship.
Oklahoma is the fourth seed as they managed to top Ohio State and Georgia for this position. Oklahoma has only one loss which was to Texas in October, but in a rematch during the Big 12 Conference championship game they defeated them in a rematch. Last year, Oklahoma lost to Georgia in the semi-final game in an overtime thriller and look to advance to the national title game this year. The Oklahoma Sooners are led by quarterback Kyler Murray who hopes to win the coveted Heisman Trophy.
The committee decided to leave Georgia out since they have two losses, and they left Ohio State out because they got blown out by Purdue by 29 points in a game they should not have lost.
The committee selects what they believe are the four best college football teams in the nation and who they believe will provide the best matchups in the playoffs. Last year two out of the three playoff games went into overtime including the National Championship. Hopefully this season will provide us with just as much excitement as last year.