- Nov 27, 2017
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College Football Playoff era grades: Judging 91 teams over the past 10 years
The four-team playoff era has come to an end. It was a heck of a decade.
In all, 86 different teams spent at least one week ranked by the playoff committee, 25 were ranked in the top four, eight were ranked No. 1 and six won national titles.
But that math only takes us so far. What we really need is a full accounting of the four-team playoff era, a ranking slathered in math but ultimately as arbitrary as anything the committee has given us in the past decade.
No so surpising top 4
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. OSU
4. UGA
5. MICH
6. OU
7. LSU
8. ORE
9. Notre Dame
10. Washington
18. Florida Gators
Record: 76-50
Average SP+: 14.6 (16th)
Kids, you won't believe this, but there was a time, not all that long ago, when the Florida Gators were considered a genuine power in the college football world. Indeed, on Dec. 5, 2020, the Gators beat Tennessee to move to 8-1 on the season, jumping all the way to No. 3 in the AP poll. A week later, a guy threw a shoe, Florida lost to LSU, and since then, everything is pain. Before the shoe throw, Florida was 45-26 in the playoff era, with three top-15 finishes, three 10-win seasons and two New Year's Six bowl wins. After the shoe throw, the Gators are 17-24 and just 10-23 against Power 5 foes. The lesson here? Footwear is not a projectile.
The four-team playoff era has come to an end. It was a heck of a decade.
In all, 86 different teams spent at least one week ranked by the playoff committee, 25 were ranked in the top four, eight were ranked No. 1 and six won national titles.
But that math only takes us so far. What we really need is a full accounting of the four-team playoff era, a ranking slathered in math but ultimately as arbitrary as anything the committee has given us in the past decade.
No so surpising top 4
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. OSU
4. UGA
5. MICH
6. OU
7. LSU
8. ORE
9. Notre Dame
10. Washington
18. Florida Gators
Record: 76-50
Average SP+: 14.6 (16th)
Kids, you won't believe this, but there was a time, not all that long ago, when the Florida Gators were considered a genuine power in the college football world. Indeed, on Dec. 5, 2020, the Gators beat Tennessee to move to 8-1 on the season, jumping all the way to No. 3 in the AP poll. A week later, a guy threw a shoe, Florida lost to LSU, and since then, everything is pain. Before the shoe throw, Florida was 45-26 in the playoff era, with three top-15 finishes, three 10-win seasons and two New Year's Six bowl wins. After the shoe throw, the Gators are 17-24 and just 10-23 against Power 5 foes. The lesson here? Footwear is not a projectile.