The "Best" Team Rarely Wins the Championship

Nov 14, 2022, 4:37 PM

2014-2015
Florida State was the only undefeated team going into the playoffs
Alabama was the 1 seed and considered the "Best" Team
A 12-1 Ohio State team that was beat by Virginia Tech won the Championship

2015-2016
Clemson was the only undefeated team going into the playoffs and considered the "Best" team
A 12-1 Alabama team (who lost to Ole Miss) narrowly beat Clemson for the Championship

2016-2017
Alabama was the only undefeated team going into the playoffs and considered the "Best" team
A 12-1 Clemson team (who lost to Pittsburgh) narrowly beat Alabama for the Championship

2017-2018
There were no undefeated teams going into the playoffs
Clemson, Oklahoma, and Georgia won their leagues and were considered favorites
A 11-1 Alabama Team (who lost to Auburn and didn't win their division) won the Championship

2018-2019
There were 3 undefeated teams going into the playoffs
Alabama was being called the "Best Team Ever" and was the favorite
Clemson crushed the other 2 undefeated teams in route to a Championship

2019-2020
There were 3 undefeated teams going into the playoffs
LSU was being called the "Best Team Ever" and was the favorite
For the 1st Time in the Playoff era, the #1 seed actually won the Championship.

2020-2021
There were 2 undefeated teams going into the playoffs, but Ohio State was only 6-0
Alabama was considered the favorite, but Ohio State was favored by some
For the 2nd Time in the Playoff era, the #1 seed actually won the Championship

2021-2022
Cincinnati was the only undefeated team going into the playoffs
Alabama was considered the favorite at 12-1
A 12-1 Georgia team who had previously lost to Alabama beat them to win the Championship

Moral of the story - if you exclude the 2 playoff years that involved 2020 (which was the strangest year of the last 20), the "Best" team never wins. Even if you could those 2 years, the 1 Seed didn't win the playoffs 6 out of 8 years. The 2 Seed has won it the most (3 times), but the 4 seed has also won it 2 times (as many as the 1 seed).

Clemson is out of contention for the 1 seed and out of contention for being the best team in the playoffs. We may be out of the playoffs altogether, but if we win out and sneak in at 12-1 - playoff history says you definitely shouldn't count us out. And for sure nobody needs to coronate Georgia at this point.

Clemson is flawed.
Tennessee is flawed.
USC is flawed.
LSU is very flawed.
Most likely Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, and TCU are flawed as well.
I'd rather know my flaws during the regular season than find them out in the first couple of weeks in January. It's the 4th quarter of the season... it's our time to shine. Do I think we are or deserve to be favored in any games if we make the playoffs? Probably not... but we know how to win Championships as the underdogs. We've never done it as the favorites.

Go earn it, Tigers.
GO TIGERS!

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