The College Football Playoff is a very argumentative subject. The playoff is chosen by a committee of people, so some people aren’t happy when the final products come out. This year the playoff will be a very argued subject, as one of the matchups that will decide at least one of the teams in the playoff: current Associated Press (AP) poll #1 LSU against current #2 Alabama. Here is my take on the playoff spots that will be taken this year as of 11-5-2019.
The current top four in the AP poll from fourth to first is Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, LSU. The LSU-Alabama game will probably take one of the teams out of the running. My prediction on that game is that Alabama will win. LSU is really good right now, beating a good Florida and Auburn team. But Nick Saban is a very experienced coach for Alabama. My end of year ranking for Alabama is #1. LSU will probably fall back some, so that has brought another team or two in to the conversation.
The other two teams are the first matter, though, and they are Ohio State and Clemson. Ohio State takes on a tough Penn State team in three weeks. Ohio State has the home field advantage, and I believe Penn State has too young of a team to win this game. That should move Ohio State up to #2. As for Clemson, they will probably win out and move up to #3.
The #4 spot will really be a free spot. Penn State will probably not get it if they lose to Ohio State like I predict. So that brings Georgia or Oregon. Georgia recently beat Florida, making them move to #6 in the AP poll, but still have a hard Auburn team to play. Oregon has easy games and should win all of them. But LSU is not totally out of it. You can’t say that Georgia is a better team than LSU, so out of previous rankings, LSU should secure #4.
The CFB playoff will really depend on the last few weeks, but that is what I predict the final standings will be:
#1 Alabama
#2 Ohio State
#3 Clemson
#4 LSU