It’s a weird year in college football — also for everyone — yet somehow, the College Football Playoff picture going into conference championship weekend feels somehow predictable, despite the latest rankings infuriating multiple fan bases.
The final rankings before the four playoff teams are selected came out Tuesday night, and Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State still occupy the top-4 spots. It’s the fourth straight week of no changes to the top-4 teams, marking the longest streak in the playoff era, as ESPN noted.
With no change, it’s clear the playoff committee still believes these are the best four teams in the country, and if there aren’t upsets in the conference title games this weekend, they’ll likely be the four playoff teams.
But college football is often unpredictable, and we here at For The Win love chaos and heated discussions.
So we’re breaking down the simple playoff scenarios for conference championship weekend — meaning the ones that leave little room for debate and should make the committee’s job easier — and the chaotic playoff scenarios with their ripple effects. This is not what we think should happen. It’s based on the College Football Playoff committee’s rankings and behavior this season, as well as historically.