College football has lacked drama in recent years, at least in the national-championship picture. Clemson has won five straight titles in the ACC. Ohio State has won three straight in the Big Ten. Oklahoma is a five-time reigning champion in the Big 12. In the vaunted SEC, Alabama has won four of the past six […]
The Red River Showdown traditionally has been a midmorning buffet of resentment and braggadocio, of “those sorry bastards” and Horns Down hysterics. It’s also an annual litmus test for the Big 12 Conference. The rivalry game in Dallas often denotes the moment pragmatism makes its way into the postseason-expectation conversation. And for tentpole institutions like […]
The College Football Playoff has a little something for everyone — even if your favorite Group of Five program has once again been relegated to watching the festivities from the proverbial couch. LSU is both the only first-time playoff participant and also the top seed. Oklahoma, for a second consecutive season, enters a semifinal matchup […]
Chalk up the 2019 college football season as one in which the sport reestablished the value of conference championships. Each of the top eight teams in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings is vying for a conference title this weekend. The committee, which has often been prone to going in a new direction after the […]
In what has become a recurring tradition since FiveThirtyEight started predicting the College Football Playoff field, it’s time for another installment of our Playoff Doomsday Scenario. This is the set of results that could potentially give the selection committee the most fits when they sit down to pick the playoff teams in about a week […]