College football’s postseason is rather unique. The bowls, steeped in history, offer an opportunity for dozens of teams to end with a postseason victory. While in many ways, it’s the best postseason in sports, crowning a #1 team, until recently, has been controversial. In 1997, #1 Michigan ended their season by playing #8 Washington State in the Rose Bowl. It wasn’t until 1998 that the #1 and #2 teams played for the National Championship in postseason play (FSU vs. Tennessee in the 1999 Fiesta Bowl). This largely solved the issue of split championships such as when Georgia Tech and Colorado split in 1990.

Still, there were cases where teams with a legitimate claim for the #1 spot did not get a chance to prove it on the field. The prime example was 2004 Auburn, which went undefeated, but didn’t get invited to play in the #1 vs. #2 title game. In 2014, a four team playoff was created to solve this issue.

We are now on our sixth postseason with the current four-team playoff format, and we can happily say that it has accomplished the goal of included all the teams with a claim for the #1 spot. Below we’ve broken down each college football playoff and discussed how the four team structure committee picking the teams has done.

Note: Records shown are prior to playoff games.

2014-15

Alabama (12-1, SEC Champs) Oregon (12-1, Pac-12 Champs) Florida State (13-0, ACC Champs) Ohio State (12-1, B1G Champs)

Next Team Out:

#5 Baylor (11-1, Big 12 Champs)

The Baylor Bears won the Big 12 by virtue of an October win over TCU, but turned around and lost by two touchdowns at unranked West Virginia the next weekend. TCU and Kansas State were their only ranked wins and their non-conference schedule was downright shameful: SMU, Northwestern State, at Buffalo. They ended their year with a Cotton Bowl loss to Michigan State. This is one of the more deserving teams to ever be left out of the playoff, however they had no legitimate claim to the #1 spot. Four teams legitimately had a fair claims and they got to battle it out. Ohio State proved to be the top team when they shocked Alabama and then handled Oregon.

2015-16

Clemson (13-0, ACC Champs) Alabama (12-1, SEC Champs) Michigan State (12-1, B1G Champs) Oklahoma (11-1 Big 12 Champs)

Next Team Out:

Iowa (12-1, Non-Champs)

The four team playoff was rather superfluous in 2015-16. Iowa, the next team out, started 12-0, but had tons of doubters. The doubters were proved right when Michigan State won the conference and took the playoff spot. Iowa went on to lose to Rose Bowl 16-45 to Stanford. They had no business in the playoff.

Undefeated Clemson earned the #1 spot, but Alabama may have had an argument based on the “eye test.” Both blew out their semi-final opponents. Clemson won 37-17 over Oklahoma while Alabama shutout Michigan State 38-0.

The National Championship was a classic. Alabama came out on top thanks to a few busted coverages and special teams plays. A two-team field would have been enough to include all the teams with a legitimate claim to #1. In the end, the two best teams played anyway.

2016-17

Alabama (13-0, SEC Champs) Clemson (12-1, ACC Champs) Ohio State (12-1, Non-Champs) Washington (12-1, Pac-12 Champs)

Next Team Out:

Penn State (12-2, B1G 10)

Ohio State became the first team to make the playoff without winning their conference, as they were upset by intra-division rival Penn State, but finished with a better overall record. Regardless of how you felt about that decision, the top 2 teams were all that really needed to play. Clemson routed Ohio State 31-0. Alabama beat Washington 24-7 despite their offense looking out of sorts. Lane Kiffin left for his new role at FAU before the championship game. Alabama scored 31 in the championship, but fell to Clemson 35-31.

2017-18

Clemson (12-1, ACC Champs) Oklahoma (12-1, Big 12 Champs) Georgia (12-1, SEC Champs) Alabama (11-1, Non-Champs)

Next Team Out:

Ohio State (11-2, B1G Champs)

Wisconsin’s loss to Ohio State in the B1G Championship Game knocked them out of the playoff and left college football with only three one-loss conference champs. The well-rested Crimson Tide took the #4 seed and beat Clemson and then played and beat Georgia in overtime for the Championship. There were three teams (Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia) with a legitimate claims to #1 so the four-team field was necessary, but it allowed a less deserving team to sneak into the fourth slot and steal the prize.

2018-19

Alabama (13-0, SEC Champs) Clemson (13-0, ACC Champs) Notre Dame (12-0, Independent) Oklahoma (12-1, Big 12 Champs)

Next Team Out:

Georgia (11-2, Non-Champs)

2018-19 was the picture perfect example of why the four team playoff is a great fit for college football. There were three undefeated teams that all had a legitimate claim for #1. They had to play it out. Oklahoma was a worthy 1-loss conference champ that got included in order to fill-out the playoff bracket. In end, two undefeated teams played and college football got its first 15-0 team in the modern era - the best ever!

2019-20

Louisiana State (13-0, SEC Champs) Ohio State (13-0, B1G Champs) Clemson (13-0, ACC Champs) Oklahoma (12-1, Big 12 Champs)

Next Team Out:

Georgia (11-2, Non-Champs)

For the second year in row, there are three undefeated P5 Champs. Thank goodness for the four-team playoff, because leaving any one of the three out would be a travesty. Oklahoma, the only other conference champion with fewer than two losses earned the final spot. There’s really no controversy about any team being left out and in fact, Oklahoma is a double-digit underdog to the undefeated LSU Tigers. Georgia, the next team out, looked bad while being blown out by LSU in the SEC championship.