Entering the final week of the regular season, Alabama seems to be a lock for the College Football Playoff. If we had our way, Ohio State would also be a lock, but the committee’s preference for conference winners may shut the Buckeyes out of the playoff in favor of a two-loss Big Ten champion. Also shut out may be Oklahoma, which is probably the best tw0-loss team in the country, and Western Michigan, which should complete the school’s only perfect regular season tonight. From what we’ve seen, the Broncos could probably hang with every team except possibly Alabama. Should Clemson win the ACC title, it will almost certainly snag a slot in the playoffs, and Washington should be in the same position if it beats Colorado in the Pac-12 title game. Regardless, this scenario absolutely reveals the need for a playoff that includes more than four teams. We would prefer 16, but at least eight teams are needed for a true playoff. Yes, there would still be arguments about who would be 7th or 8th, but those arguments would be far less substantial than discussing whether Florida State, USC or West Virginia should be the final team included in the final slot of an eight-team format.

Also note the Academic Progress Rate (APR) in parentheses after each team (i.e. Alabama’s #23). This is important for bowl placement purposes for those teams that don’t get the required six wins for a bowl game. At present, only 75 teams have qualified for the 80 available bowl slots (not including Army, which has two of its six wins over FCS teams). Only two more teams can get to that six-win level. that means that at least three teams without the minimum number of wins will be selected for bowls. The APR is the benchmark that will be used for those slots. Army will certainly get the first slot with its #6 APR (assuming  that the Cadets don’t pull an upset over Navy next Saturday). That leaves at least two more initially ineligible teams in the bowl parade. At present, we project that North Texas (#10) and Mississippi State (#41) will get those two slots. If either Louisiana-Lafayette or South Alabama lose this Saturday (or both), the next teams in line would be Texas (#45), Northern Illinois (#48) and Arizona State (#75). (It’s questionable that Texas, after firing coach Charley Strong, would accept a 5-7 replacement bowl bid.)

Copyright © 2016 Doug DeBolt