In the last four years, the only time Clemson and Alabama have not met for the title was after the 2017 season — when they played in the semifinals. They are ranked No. 1 and 2 to begin this season, and Clemson opened its season Thursday night with a 52-14 rout of Georgia Tech, as Travis Etienne rushed for a career high 205 yards and three touchdowns.

The list of possible foils for the remainder of the four-team College Football Playoff is as familiar as it is brief:

Oklahoma, which has been there three of the last four seasons.

Georgia, or whoever is the second-best team in the SEC.

A Big Ten champion, perhaps (the conference hasn’t been in the playoff in two years and hasn’t scored there in four years).

In the meantime, remaining engaged might require looking elsewhere.

Two coaches who have won national championships are returning to jobs with more modest ambitions: Mack Brown at North Carolina and Les Miles at Kansas. Miles, the serial turf nibbler, will see if the grass tastes greener on the other side, but so too will a long list of quarterback transfers, including two who lost out to Jake Fromm at Georgia: Jacob Eason at Washington and Justin Fields at Ohio State.

If there is a school that has refined the art of the quarterback transfer, it is Oklahoma, where Jalen Hurts — who started for two seasons at Alabama — will follow Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray, who each won the Heisman Trophy after moving to Norman.

The quarterback most watched by N.F.L. scouts will be Oregon’s Justin Herbert, who will be quickly afforded center stage on Saturday night when the Ducks play Auburn. Herbert can dissect more than defenses: he raised hermit crabs, frogs and butterflies growing up in Eugene, and also carries a 4.0 grade-point average in biology.

Urban Meyer also figures to have plenty of options in the near future. Meyer quit as coach at Ohio State after last season, which began with his three-game suspension and ended with a Rose Bowl victory. He’s now one step removed as an administrator in Columbus, but will join Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart on Fox’s college football set this fall. They can tell him all about one possible job opening — at U.S.C.