The College Football Playoff is finally set for the third year in a row, with reigning champions Alabama returning to the number one spot. The rankings are set with Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Washington in that order. Many different people have different opinions of how the playoff should’ve played out and who will win the playoff. Here are our opinions.

I believe that the the top four should have been a little bit different from what the committee thought.  The Washington Huskies had the 69th hardest strength of schedule in college football this year, while Alabama had the 3rd hardest schedule, Clemson had 7th hardest schedule, and Ohio State had the hardest schedule.  It doesn’t really make sense that a team with a very easy schedule made it in the playoff.  Penn State came in at number five and they have the 11th hardest schedule so it seems that they are more deserving of the number four spot than Washington.  Also, Penn State is currently on a nine game win streak and grabbed the Big Ten Title.  Alabama is absolutely going to destroy Washington in the playoff because of the Tide’s extremely strong defensive line.  Jake Browning is going to have to deal with a lot of pressure from Alabama and is going to have trouble in the pass game.  Ohio State is going to meet Alabama in the championship as a result of Deshaun Watson’s trouble with throwing interceptions.  Also, the Tigers are going to have a lot of trouble running the ball against the outstanding Buckeye linebackers and defensive ends.  In the championship Ohio State will hand Alabama their first loss of the season.  They are going to have to protect against the deep ball and Jalen Hurts’ plays outside of the pocket.  Ohio State will need the help of explosive flex Curtis Samuel to get past the Alabama secondary.  The way Ohio State will win is if they can perfect their throws down the field.  – Carter Shubert

The playoff selection committee got all of their teams right this year, yet the order they ranked them in was wrong. Alabama obviously deserves the top spot, as the Tide easily rolled over everyone this season, capping off the year with a 54-16 SEC Championship win over the Florida Gators. Clemson won a close game against Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game, picking off Jerod Evans on the 14 yard line to win the game. They deserve the second seed despite a close loss to Pitt at home, as their entire body of work for the season outweighs that of other teams. Ohio State and Washington are the two teams left in the playoffs, and Washington should’ve taken the third seed overall, pushing the Buckeyes to the fourth seed. Washington had one loss to a USC team, and a resounding PAC-12 championship game victory over 9 ranked Colorado Buffaloes. Ohio State failed to even make their conference championship game, as Penn State beat Wisconsin for the Big Ten title. The committee has consistently valued conference championships, so if Penn State’s title win isn’t enough to warrant a playoff spot, Washington’s championship should move them up to the third seed. As far as predictions for the playoff goes, I believe Alabama will beat Ohio State for the title after a two-score win over Washington. Ohio State will pull off a narrow victory against Clemson, before taking the L to Tide. -Nate LeRoy