College Football Playoff: A Top 4 Prediction
As the college football season starts to wind down, we at CST decided it was time to come up with a prediction article for the new playoff format. As you know a group of esteemed professionals will be determining the top 4 teams in college football. Those 4 teams will play an all or nothing tournament, and the winner will be declared the National Champion of Division I college football. I am making it sound far more dramatic than it really is, as the 1 seed will play the 4 seed and 2 will play 3. Then, those winners will face off in one final battle to crown the true college football champion. Now this seems to be the true goal of this new system, but as previous years, there is still controversy. In the BCS era, the teams ranked 3rd, was always screwed over, and now it seems the 5th ranked team will get the short end of the stick.
Regardless of the new system and continuing controversy, we still have to select 4 worthy teams to play in this winner take all mini tournament. So, before the committee releases their new pole Tuesday night, I have my Top 4 teams listed below.
#1) Alabama –
I know most of you reading this are screaming at your computer asking why I don’t have Florida State as #1, and the answer is simple. Alabama simply has a more difficult conference and schedule than FSU. Alabama has played SEC road games @Ole Miss, @Arkansas, @Tennesse, and @ LSU. Not to mention, 2 home games vs Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The SEC is a talent loaded conference, where any team can win on any given weekend. I think Alabama has better players than FSU and I think their body of work has earned them the #1 overall seed to this point.
#2) Florida State-
This team is undefeated and they are the defending National Champions. These two reasons help to overshadow FSU’s horribly soft schedule and their questionable play this season. Now, at the end of the day, they have won all of their games, so they deserve respect. However, there have been points during games this season where FSU has looked very beatable. Their last 2 games against Louisville and Virginia were not very pretty. In case you didn’t know, those two teams are not very good. Regardless, I rank FSU at #2, and I cannot wait to see a real team destroy them in the playoff.
#3) Oregon-
It seems that during the last 5 seasons, Oregon has been atop the BCS charts, and then there is a major let down and they fold up their title hopes. This year may be different as Oregon has lost early and they have played great since their home loss to Arizona back in early October. Wait just a minute, it would seem that upon further review that Oregon plays @Oregon State to end their regular season schedule. Uh Oh, could this be an upset special? A loss here would easily kick Oregon out of the playoff race. I guess we have to wait and see.
So far, this has been fairly easy. Now comes the controversy. This last spot has three teams that are fighting for the right to play on. They are TCU, Ohio State, and Baylor.
#4) Ohio State
I personally think that OSU is the best team of this group and that they would provide the best crowds and the best talent for a playoff game. I understand that TCU will probably get the nod from the committee, based on some argument of schedule strength. Quite honestly TCU’s schedule isn’t that much better than Ohio States. I also think that Ohio State is playing great football and has better athletes than TCU or Baylor. Call me a homer if you want, but these are my opinions.
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