by Tyler Fransen

Alabama. That’s pretty much all you need to know. And if you don’t know, let me show you what you need to know.

After one of the most bizarre seasons in recent memory, college football is coming to a close. At the conclusion of the college football season will be the College Football Playoff (CFP), a tradition three years in the making.

The four teams entering the college football playoff that will compete for a shot at the national championship are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. So how did we get here, and what will happen in the new year when these four teams square off for a shot at national glory.

Well for one thing, several teams got screwed out of the CFP including most notably Penn State. Despite Penn State being the outright conference champions in the Big-10, Ohio State got put in ahead of them, because the CFP selection committee has a weird thing about conference champions, but we’ll get to that later.

Then there’s the dumpster fire turned middle class suburban household, Colorado Buffaloes, who despite losing (badly) to Washington, were still in contention for a shot at the Rose Bowl. Had CU made it to Pasadena, it would have been a fitting ending to a team that was projected to finish last in the PAC-12. Instead, the USC Trojans got put ahead of the Buffaloes for a shot at the Rose Bowl, putting CU in the Alamo Bowl. Now as a diehard CU Buffs fan I’m obviously disappointed but USC did beat them in the season so it kind of makes sense, plus USC was the hottest team for the latter half of the season.

Regardless, the four best teams in the CFP are Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. Alabama, Clemson and Washington are the conference champions in the SEC, ACC and PAC-12 respectively with Ohio State being the one outlier non-conference champion being selected.

Ohio State’s playoff fate was pretty much sealed after their clutch victory over Michigan, because of QB J.T. Barrett and Curtis Samuel’s legs. The Buckeyes have been here before, making the first ever CFP winning 42-35 to coincidentally Alabama in the Sugar Bowl Semi-Final, leading to a 42-20 victory over Oregon in the Championship game.

This year, Ohio State will face Clemson in a battle of strong defenses lead offensively by mobile quarterbacks. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson will enter the game sixth in the nation in passing yards with 3,914 and tied for fifth in touchdowns with 37. Watson is vying for a Heisman trophy against Louisville QB Lamar Jackson. Jackson has had a better statistical season than Watson beating him in the rushing yards category by over 1,000 yards, but Watson will likely have the better season. Clemson and Ohio State have strong defenses, with Clemson ranking third in the nation in sacks with 46 and tied for seventh in interceptions with 18. However, Ohio State ranks fourth in the nation with 19 interceptions and has seven returned for a touchdown leading the nation.  

 This game could very well be either an explosion of offense with Watson and J.T. Barrett rushing for a combined 300 yards, or a defensive nightmare that could come down to whoever makes the last mistake. Either way it’ll be a close contest, but I think that Ohio State has the slightest advantage over Clemson on defense, the Buckeyes come out on top 35-28.

Alabama is the best team in the country by far. Their greatest strength is their defense, but their freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts has been the silent weapon of the Crimson Tide. Hurts has thrown 22 touchdowns and only nine interceptions in the passing game, and has a total of 841 rushing yards and 12 rushing TD’s. Bama will face a Washington Huskies team lead by QB Jake Browning who has thrown for 42 touchdowns and has a 63 percent completion percentage and only seven interceptions.

This game, like Clemson vs. Ohio State, could be an explosion of points on the board from both teams. However, I don’t believe Washington’s defense is strong enough to hold Jalen Hurts and the running game of Alabama, plus Washington has not faced as strong a defense as Alabama all year. Alabama will likely beat the Huskies and they’re probably going to beat them on defense and on the ground. Roll Tide will make the Huskies roll over 42-24.

This means that the CFP Championship game will be a rematch of the 2014 Sugar Bowl between the Buckeyes and the Crimson Tide. If history were to repeat itself, the Buckeyes would be victorious and claim their second CFP Championship in the last three years. However, Alabama is just too good. Alabama has had only two outliers in terms of points scored and points allowed, with their lowest scoring game being a 10-0 shutout of LSU, and their most points allowed came against Ole Miss, but they still won 48-43. Taking the outliers out of the equation, this Alabama team averages 43 points per game, and only allows a shade over seven points per game. Thus, I do not believe that the Buckeyes really have much of a chance to beat the Crimson Tide, meaning the winner of the third annual College Football Playoff will be the Alabama Crimson Tide, beating the Buckeyes in the Championship game 41-31.

So all you really need to know is Alabama will probably win it all for the second straight year in a row.