The final College Football Playoff Rankings for the 2014 season have been released by the Selection Committee, and the Alabama Crimson Tide remained in first place for the fifth straight week.
Alabama is followed by Oregon (2), Florida State (3), and Ohio State (4). As announced earlier, Alabama will face Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and Oregon will take on Florida State in the Rose Bowl.
The winners of the the two semifinal games will meet in the College Football Championship Game in Arlington on Monday, Jan. 12.
“We have two outstanding playoff semifinals which will set the stage for a dynamic national championship game,” said College Football Playoff Selection Committee Chair Jeff Long.
College Football Playoff Rankings (Final)
1. Alabama, 12-1
2. Oregon, 12-1
3. Florida State, 13-0
4. Ohio State, 12-1
5. Baylor, 11-1
6. TCU, 11-1
7. Mississippi State, 10-2
8. Michigan State, 10-2
9. Mississippi, 9-3
10. Arizona, 10-3
11. Kansas State, 9-3
12. Georgia Tech, 10-3
13. Georgia, 9-3
14. UCLA, 9-3
15. Arizona State, 9-3
16. Missouri, 10-3
17. Clemson, 9-3
18. Wisconsin, 10-3
19. Auburn, 8-4
20. Boise State, 11-2
21. Louisville, 9-3
22. Utah, 8-4
23. LSU, 8-4
24. USC, 8-4
25. Minnesota, 8-4
Semifinals & New Year’s Bowls
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014 – 12:30pm ET, ESPN
Ole Miss vs. TCU
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014 – 4pm ET, ESPN
Arizona vs. Boise State
Capital One Orange Bowl
Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014 – 8pm ET, ESPN
Georgia Tech vs. Mississippi State
Goodyear Cotton Bowl
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 – 12:30pm ET, ESPN
Baylor vs. Michigan State
Rose Bowl
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 – 5pm ET, ESPN
(2) Oregon vs. (3) Florida State
Sugar Bowl
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 – 8:30pm ET, ESPN
(1) Alabama vs. (4) Ohio State
College Football Championship Game
Monday, Jan. 12, 2015 – 8:30pm ET, ESPN
Semifinal Winners
How does Ohio State rank over TCU? this is so bad, must be politics, strength of schedule favors TCU and they didn’t lose to Virginia Tech! Its a shame this had to come to this and I’m not even a TCU fan.
TCU does not have the TV Draw of Ohio State
There will rarely be complete consensus for any group of teams selected for a playoff. Fans of the team that just missed the cut will often feel that their team deserved a place.
However, the current 4-team playoff makes it likely that the top two teams will make it to the playoffs every year, and that there will be broad consensus on this point. This was not possible under the previous two-team playoff. This year’s final AP poll is a great illustration of both points:
1 Alabama (1452 votes)
2 Florida State (1436)
3 Oregon (1426)
4 Baylor (1265)
5 Ohio State (1262)
6 TCU (1257)
The top three teams finished in a dead heat for first place (only 26 votes apart). All three can make a strong case for being the best in the nation, but a two-team playoff system would have excluded one of them. The final AP poll and the Selection Committee disagreed on Florida State, ranking the Seminoles as 2nd and 3rd respectively. Florida State is the reigning national champion and the only undefeated team from a major conference. Imagine the outcry from ACC fans if the Seminoles had been left out of the playoff.
The final AP poll also shows a large gap after the top three teams (161 votes). Baylor, Ohio State, and TCU finished very nearly tied for fourth (only 8 votes separation). Baylor and TCU were excluded from the playoff, and fans of both teams could make a strong case for being fourth-best. But I don’t hear anyone arguing that either of these teams belonged in the top two.
Any selection system will be imperfect. But we now have a system that is likely to provide a broad consensus that the best two teams in the country were given a chance to win the championship on the field. Perhaps that is good enough.