Who will be the last four standing in the college football playoffs?
By: Robb Johnson
The college football season has been filled with upsets and great times for many fans, now it’s that time of the year to crown a new national champion. The word chaos is among us again, as this year, we have teams with one or two losses that can legitimately make a claim that they deserve a shot at the National Championship. Today, I will go through the list of my top four teams going into the conference championships and after. This will culminate in my picking of the winner of the National Championship on January 8th 2018.
The Conference Championships will feature Miami vs Clemson, Oklahoma vs TCU, Ohio State vs Wisconsin and finally Georgia vs Auburn. The four games mentioned all have final four implications. Miami and Alabama both lost this past weekend setting up a lot of questions going into the final weekend. First, I will give you my top ten going into the final week of the season before bowl season starts up in December.
1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Wisconsin
4. Auburn
5. Georgia
6. Alabama
7. Miami
8. TCU
9. Ohio State
10. Penn State
These are my projected rankings, now will they stay the same or will they change? This is up for debate because teams like Miami, Auburn, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma control their fates. So now let’s go through the titles games and let’s clear the picture up for our final four ranking.
The Clemson vs Miami game is not hard to call, Clemson is overall the best team in America. Miami had a great run, but it’s over now and their dreams of a sixth title are burned to the ground when Clemson takes them down 35-3 in a beat down.
Oklahoma beat TCU 38-20, the first time and this to me is all about Oklahoma being able to get up for one more big game to make it to the playoffs. Will Oklahoma put their past of choking and not stepping up behind them? This game leans towards Oklahoma, but Gary Patterson is the more experienced coach, if he can rattle the sometimes loose cannon in Baker Mayfield, then TCU has a chance. I will pick the upset TCU 33-30.
The next game is of course the rematch of the smackdown in Auburn, when the Auburn Tigers took the Georgia Bulldogs to the woodshed 40-17. This game comes down to Georgia being able to run the football and not letting Auburn make them a one dimensional football team. Georgia has the talent and even though Auburn beat Alabama, I believe in the resilient Kirby Smart to have his team ready in Atlanta. I am going Bulldogs in a tight game 17-14.
The next game is the Big 10 battle of Wisconsin vs Ohio State. This game is a statement game for the underrated Badgers who have a freshman running back named Jonathon Taylor who has accounted for 1,806 yards rushing with 13 touchdowns. Wisconsin is out for blood and are wanting to prove that they are class of the Big ten against the nationally loved Ohio State Buckeyes. This game for me is simple, Wisconsin is hungry, and the Buckeyes are too inconsistent. I will take Wisconsin 35-24.
Now we move on to the final four and who will they be after next week. The list goes as follows with the matchup in the playoffs according to 1 versus 4 and 2 versus 3.
1. Clemson
2. Wisconsin
3. Alabama
4. Georgia
In the format, we will have Clemson vs Georgia, and Alabama vs Wisconsin. In the first matchup I will take Clemson 21-14. The second matchup I have Wisconsin beating Alabama 35-27.
This sets up Clemson vs Wisconsin. This game would be unexpected, but it will be memorable. I have Wisconsin upsetting Clemson 38-35 in a shootout that becomes an instant classic.
