The College Football Playoff (CFP) was new to the college football world starting in 2014-2015 season. It’s a four team/ two game playoff to get into the National Championship. The CFP has a “Selection Committee” of 13 people who are related to the game and sport such as university Athletics Directors, former university presidents, former head coaches, and analysts. The Committee sits down once a week starting at week nine to talk about who they think are the top 25 teams in college football. The Sunday after the Conference Championship Games the Committee sits down to select the top four teams for the College Football Playoff.
Teams have to meet certain criteria for the committee to select them.
The following criteria must be considered.
Championships Won
Strength of Schedule
Head to Head Competition
Competitive Outcomes of Common Opponents (Wins and Losses)
Here are some other factors that are not on the previous list.
Final Record
Conference Champion
Strength of Wins or Losses
Etc.
The committee thinks that these four teams meet all of those criteria.
Clemson 12-1, ACC Champions
Oklahoma 12-1, BIG 12 Champions
Georgia 12-1, SEC Champions
Alabama 11-1, Did Not Play For SEC Title
Ohio State 11-2, Big Ten Champions
Wisconsin 12-1, Big Ten Runner-Up
Auburn 10-3, SEC Runner-Up
USC 11-2, PAC 12 Champion
Penn State 10-2, 3rd in Big Ten Standings
Miami 10-2, ACC Runner-Up
Clemson will face of against Alabama in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 1, at 8:45 PM* and Oklahoma will take on Georgia in the 104th Rose Bowl on January 1, at 5:00 PM*.There has been many debate about the rankings last year and this year. *(All times Eastern)
Last year the Big Ten Champion Penn State and a USC team that did not have a chance to play for a Pac 12 Title were left out of the playoff and instead an Ohio State team that did not play for a Big Ten Championship game got in leaving Penn State out. Don’t get me wrong even though the Rose Bowl game didn’t end out how Penn State fans would have liked; it was a instant classic. But the same thing happened again this year to the Big Ten Champion getting left out of the College Football Playoff. This year a non conference champion Alabama snuck in at four instead of a two loss Ohio State or USC team that won a conference title.
That is why the committee faces challenges when selecting the four best teams. There has been debate about making the playoff a six or eight team playoff instead of four.
**The games would have already been played before you read this. See College Football Playoff Recap.