If the college football season ended today, this would be your Playoff 4
In our opinion, at least. And it’s not far off from what the actual Playoff committee would give us if it had to pick a field right now. Full ballots and top four below.
The College Football Playoff committee won’t release 2016 rankings for another month and a half, but we’re not bound by such restrictions and lack of haste. Each week, 15 SBNation.com staffers vote on our top fours as of RIGHT THIS SECOND, and two of us chat about it on Facebook Live, as you can see above. It’s wilderness survivalist Spencer Hall joining Ryan Nanni this week to explain, among other things, why Bama’s not his No. 1.
The Tide are our overall No. 1, however, with two others also claiming top votes. Here’s our full ballot, and again, this is not a prediction of what it’ll look like in January (for that, head over here):
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | |
| Alex Kirshner | Alabama | Ohio State | Louisville | Clemson |
| Bill Connelly | Ohio State | Alabama | Louisville | Michigan |
| Bud Elliott | Ohio State | Alabama | Louisville | Clemson |
| Dan Rubenstein | Alabama | Ohio State | Louisville | Houston |
| Jason Kirk | Louisville | Alabama | Ohio State | Michigan |
| Jeanna Thomas | Ohio State | Alabama | Louisville | Clemson |
| Luke Zimmermann | Alabama | Louisville | Texas A&M | Ohio State |
| Matt Brown | Alabama | Ohio State | Louisville | North Dakota State |
| Morgan Moriarty | Alabama | Louisville | Ohio State | Houston |
| Richard Johnson | Alabama | Louisville | Ohio State | Miami |
| Ryan Nanni | Alabama | Louisville | Ohio State | Houston |
| Sarah Hardy | Alabama | Louisville | Ohio State | Houston |
| Spencer Hall | Louisville | Ohio State | Alabama | Houston |
| Steven Godfrey | Ohio State | Louisville | Houston | Stanford |
| Wescott Eberts | Alabama | Louisville | Ohio State | Houston |
Add that together, and you get this:
Bama’s a fair No. 1, having demolished two decent (we think USC’s decent, right?) teams and won at Ole Miss (which is probably better than decent).
Ohio State’s also a fair No. 1, with a blowout win at the house of the preseason Big 12 favorite and obliterations of two respectable mid-majors.
Louisville’s also also a fair No. 1, having annihilated a team that beat Ole Miss better than Bama did and doing to two bad teams exactly what a good team should.
No. 4 is tricky, but Houston also has a win over Oklahoma (at this point in the season, beating 1-2 teams can count for a lot, and that’s the way it is) and has a 24-point road win at a likely bowl team.
What do you think? Who are your four?
See More:
