1 Clemson
2 Oklahoma
3 Georgia
4 Alabama
5 Ohio State
6 Wisconsin
7 USC
8 Miami, Fla.
9 Auburn
10 Penn State
11 Central Florida
12 Washington
13 TCU
14 Oklahoma State
15 LSU
16 Notre Dame
17 Northwestern
18 Virginia Tech
19 Washington State
20 Michigan State
21 Memphis
22 Mississippi State
23 Stanford
24 South Florida
25 N.C. State
Dropped out: Fresno State
Good morning, college football junkies. It's the final Sunday of the regular season rankings and I have a final four here that I'm sure you'll all find to your liking.
Clemson's dominant 38-3 dismantling of Miami in the ACC championship game gives the Tigers the No. 1 spot. Clemson's only loss was a close one on the road in which quarterback Kelly Bryant was taken out with a concussion. The Tigers deserve this over No. 2 Oklahoma, which had a proportional conference title victory over TCU but suffered its one loss at home to a five-loss team.
Georgia is solid at No. 3, its bounce back win over Auburn three weeks after a 23-point loss to the Tigers a confirming ticket to the playoff.
I read and listened to all the reasoned debates from the experts last night on the Alabama vs. Ohio State battle. It really comes down to which points you value more -- conference champion vs. eye test vs. quality of wins vs. nature of losses and so on. Regional biases could play a role in everyone's perspective.
I give No. 4 to Alabama. The Crimson Tide's only loss was on the road by 12 points at Auburn, which was as hot as any team in the country last weekend. Alabama withstood injuries on defense that I think would have made many other teams in the top 10 into very vulnerable opponents.
I simply cannot overlook the fact that Ohio State has a 31-point loss to a five-loss team and also fell at home by 15 points. The Buckeyes are No. 5.
Having written this, prior to the reveal of the College Football Playoff selection committee's final rankings, I think that group will feel the pull to have four different conference champions represented in its playoff pairings rather than two SEC teams. It's a tough call.
I think Auburn's 28-7 loss to Georgia is reflective of a) the difficulty of having to get a team on its sharpest edge three out of four weeks and b) the injuries to Kerryon Johnson that clearly kept him from being at his best. I'm not buying one ounce into the theory of Gus Malzahn's candidacy for the Arkansas coaching job causing a distraction or feeding into a "lack of focus" for the Tigers. Did you see Malzahn's facial expressions and reactions?
No. 11 Central Florida is the easy choice for joining the New Year's Six slate of bowls. That's a remarkable turnaround for a team that was winless two seasons ago. Thank you for the great theater of yesterday's 62-55 overtime victory against Memphis as well.