History is being made on the gridiron. Until 2013, the national champion was determined after the top two college football teams played in a championship game in what was known as the Bowl Championship Series. Then, until 2023, the top four teams competed in their playoff games on New Year’s Eve and in January, they played the National Championship in the College Football Playoffs. However, for the first time ever, there will be twelve teams in the College Football Playoffs.
This year’s new College Football Playoffs has not been without its fair share of controversial rankings and teams. In fact, this season has been declared by many the most entertaining in years. Usually, in college football, teams with even one loss run the risk of missing the playoffs entirely as one game can mean everything. Now most of the teams in the brackets have not only one loss, but some up to three. Alabama, a three-loss team, was in a tight race for the last playoff spot before the conference championship weekend. Having ‘bad losses,’ facing losses against Vanderbilt University and the University of Oklahoma along with the University of Tennessee (which is not a ‘bad loss’), Alabama was seen by many as not worthy of a playoff spot. Therefore, they are missing the playoffs entirely this year. A bad loss is a loss in which the opposing team was ranked less than the other team, yet won anyway. In other words, the underdog comes out on top and severely hurts the other team’s rankings. In this case, Vanderbilt was an unranked team when they beat the number one team, Alabama at the start of October. Now, this loss is looked back on as one of the elements that ended the season for Alabama.
The new College Football Playoffs bracket has also given smaller universities and teams not as used to the limelight a chance to shine. For example, teams such as Southern Methodist University (SMU) and Boise State will be playing in the playoffs this year. Boise State, with their front-runner Heisman candidate running back Ashton Jeanty, are currently projected as the fourth seed in the playoffs and tenth overall in rankings. In addition, SMU is currently the 11th seed despite losing a close ACC Championship game to Clemson.
Finally, a season would not be nearly as exciting without upsets. Upsets occur when an underdog, lower-ranked team, beats their much higher-ranked opponent. Several upsets have occurred this season, severely shaking up the playoff bracket week after week. One of the most notable upsets from this season was when Vanderbilt, an unranked team, beat Alabama which was the number one team in the country at the time. The following week, their rankings dropped six spots, and it was the beginning of the end for them as they came to miss the playoffs completely. In addition, Ole Miss, which was the number nine team only two regular season games away from championship weekend, lost to the unranked Florida Gators in November which also eliminated them from playoff contention. Going all the way back to week one, Florida State was ranked number ten in the preseason polls and took on Georgia Tech in Ireland to kick off what would be an electrifying season. Angry from what they had seen as a snub from the college playoffs just a season earlier, FSU was searching to avenge themselves and prove that they were worthy of a CFP spot. However, they proved themselves fraudulent as they lost to the unranked underdog Georgia Tech 21-24 and began their trainwreck of a season which ended with a record of 2-10. It is safe to say that this season put to rest the long debate regarding FSU missing the playoffs in 2023. Although this is only three upsets, this season has been full of many upsets that undoubtedly rocked the College Playoff rankings and gave us what is now the solidified bracket.
After what has been one of the most entertaining seasons in years, college football fans are eager to see how the playoffs can top what has already been. With a large variety of talented teams in the playoffs, including Boise State, Notre Dame, Georgia and Oregon, it is hard to project a clear winner. One thing is for sure, though: the 2024 College Football Playoffs will be nothing short of amazing and something that, despite the team you root for, will be exhilarating to watch.
