Daddy's Hangout College Football Playoff Final Rankings

After another exciting weekend of college football, we’re now a few hours away from deciding who’s going into the playoffs. This weekend my record was 4-1, as I underestimated Penn State and thought the world of Wisconsin. Going into the bowl season, my record is 53-22 and raised my overall winning percentage from 70% to 70.7%. Coming into this weekend, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Washington rounded out the top 4. Michigan, Wisconsin and Penn State were on the outside looking in. The Crimson Tide will be the unanimous #1 team as they routed the Gators in the SEC title game. Clemson and Washington took care of business in their respective conference championship games with Washington beating down the Buffaloes. With the latest developments, who should fill out of the other three spots in a battle between like five teams? Check out my top 4 and see if you agree.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Like I said up above, this is the unanimous #1 team in the country heading into the committee’s big decisions. They have blown out every team they’ve faced and have been the top ranked team from the beginning of the season. They just demolished the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship by the score of 54-16. What else is to be said about the Tide that hasn’t been said already? Even Florida Coach Jim McElwain said that’s the best team Saban has had from top to bottom EVER!!!

Clemson Tigers

Yes, the committee had the Ohio State Buckeyes here, but I’d move Clemson here because they won the ACC Championship. The Big 10 has been the best conference in the country all year, but with Ohio State, not only they didn’t win it, but they didn’t participate in the title game. The College Football Playoff committee has stated several times that the conference champion will be rewarded, right? The Tigers have had several scares throughout the season, but they emerged with only one loss, so I move them to the second spot. DeShaun Watson made a statement in the 42-35 win over Virginia Tech that he could very well walk away with the Heisman Trophy also, but I think his focus is on capturing the national championship.

Ohio State Buckeyes

I know, I know, they didn’t win their conference title, hell they didn’t even play in the title game, but they pass the eye test. In the BCS Era and even some of the new era of the College Playoff system, people still rely on stats. For me, I don’t care about all they numbers they throw out throughout different shows on ESPN, for me it comes down to looking and saying, is this one of the top 4 teams in the country? In that regard, I say yes because they have key wins over Michigan, Nebraska when they were hot and that win in Norman against Oklahoma is looking real good right now. I’d go with Ohio State in the three spot, which would set up a great match-up against the Clemson Tigers. I don’t know about everyone else, but a Clemson versus Ohio State is very appealing to me.

Washington Huskies

This is probably the spot that will be debated for years to come, but I’d go with Washington. First off, they won the Pac-12 Championship over a very good Colorado Buffaloes team that came in ranked 8^th in the college playoff rankings. I know people will say that they had one of the weakest schedules in the country, which is true, but they convincingly beat Colorado who almost beat Michigan in the Big House. They are led by a really good defense and their offense is really good which is guided by Heisman candidate, QB Jake Browning. I’m actually looking forward to their match-up against Alabama if they get the four spot and think it’ll be a competitive game.

What About These Teams?

Penn State Nittany Lions

The Nittany Lions came into this weekend as the 7^th ranked team in the College Playoff Rankings. They had a nice come from behind victory over 6^th ranked Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship 38-31. If you follow college football, they’re a great story and it’s good to see them returning to prominence after the scandal that decimated the programs a few years ago. They finished the season 11-2, which they won their final 9 games of the season, which included the huge upset over Ohio State. They are one of the hottest teams in the country, but they still have two defeats, with one of them being a blowout loss to Michigan 49-10. If they were to leapfrog Michigan and Washington, I wouldn’t be mad because the Big 10 is the best conference in the country.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan came into this weekend as the 5^th ranked team in the country. Like Ohio State, they didn’t play in the conference championship game and many thought they were out unless Clemson and Washington lost. We could go back and forth about Michigan deserving to get in, but I think if the committee rewarded them with the fourth spot it wouldn’t bother me either. They hold big wins over Wisconsin, Penn State and Colorado, plus you can say they were hosed against Ohio State because I didn’t think J.T. Barrett got that first down. Once again with the eye test, I think they’re one of the best teams in the country, but at the end of the day they have two losses. Once again, if the committee decides to put two teams from the best conference in the playoffs, you’re not going to hear a complaint from me.

What do you think the committee will do with the fourth spot? Who would you choose to be in your top 4 and have in the playoffs? Which team do you think could give Alabama the hardest time in the playoffs? Head to the comments section and give me some feedback. Below are my top 10 teams in after this weekend of football.