College Football Playoff - What to Know

Enter: The College Football Playoff era.

It is the first season with the College Football Playoffs, where four teams will compete in two semifinal games to head to the national championship game. This new era brings about a lot of changes as to to how it is decided who will play in the National Championship game in January. Lets take a look at what the next few weeks look like as we approach the playoffs and which teams the analysts say will most likely claim the top 4 coveted spots.

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Who Picks? A 13-person selection committee ranks their top 25 teams and will ultimately seed the four-team playoffs in a few weeks. The committee serves staggered three-year terms. Backgrounds of the members include past coaches, student-athletes, media and current athletic directors.

Where: This year the semifinals are hosted by the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Date to know: December 7, 2014 at 12:45 p.m. (EST) on ESPN – SELECTION SUNDAY. This is the day we find out for sure who is in and who is out and the matchups for the semifinals.

National Championship: Monday, January 12, 2015 in Dallas, Texas

The current Top-10:

1. 1. Alabama (9-1)
2. 2. Oregon (9-1)
3. 3. Florida State (10-0)
4. 4. Mississippi State (9-1)
5. 5. TCU (9-1)
6. 6. Ohio State (9-1)
7. 7. Baylor (8-1)
8. 8. Mississippi (8-2)
9. 9. UCLA (8-2)
10. 10. Georgia (8-2)

Teams that could shake things up:
These teams don’t have a shot at the playoffs, but an upset by them could really mess things up for some potential top teams.

1. Florida Gators: The 2014 season has been in the sewer down in The Swamp. However, the Gators still play Florida State. We don’t need to make any assumptions given that Florida upset Georgia earlier this month and ruined any playoff hopes. With nothing to lose, the Gators could bring an upset. Especially since FSU likes to live life on the edge with some bad first half play.

2. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: There are a lot of ifs with this one. First lets look at regular season. With UNC beating Duke on Thursday, Georgia Tech is set to meet FSU in Charlotte at the ACC championship. Just like Florida, the Yellow Jackets have a great opportunity to shake things for to FSU and their playoff possibility. Second, Georgia Tech faces the Georgia Dawgs in Athens, and this game could mean a lot for the SEC West. If Missouri takes a loss at Tennessee today, Georgia goes to the SEC championship in Atlanta. But if Tech handles the Dawgs next weekend, the SEC West champion faces a tough shot at making the playoff if it loses to UGA in Atlanta. Again, lots of ifs.

3. Texas Longhorns: The Longhorns handed things to West Virginia a couple of weeks ago and ran over Oklahoma State last weekend. With a week off, the face TCU over Thanksgiving weekend, which could easily shake things up a bit. A loss by TCU and a loss by Baylor could end playoff dreams.