Bowl season is almost here, with some exciting games kicking off this Saturday. These games make for some great bonus football and an opportunity for fans to watch their favorite players play one last time. The main event, however, that everyone is waiting for is the second annual College Football Playoffs.
This year’s four-team selection was a little easier than last year’s, with the four playoff teams — Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State, Oklahoma — clearly standing a step ahead the rest of the field. In years past, the selection of teams for the championship game has been met with a great deal of controversies. This year’s selection feels much cleaner in comparison, and we are now set up with two great matchups.
The Orange Bowl will feature a matchup of speed vs. speed when top-ranked Clemson squares off against Oklahoma. On the other side, you will have a matchup of hard-hitting teams in Alabama and Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
The computers have been crunching the numbers all season, and it appears that they favor Alabama to win the championship. SB Nation has compiled this data, which details exactly what who is favored in each possible matchup (Note: Bold refers to first round match-ups).
Source: SB Nation
The Clemson-Oklahoma game is a virtual tossup, featuring a number of dead-even matchups. The Alabama-Michigan State matchup skews toward the Tide.
Based on the probabilities in the links above, here are the likely championship game matchups:
1) Clemson vs. Alabama: 40%
2) Alabama vs. Oklahoma: 34%
3) Clemson vs. Michigan State: 14%
4) Michigan State vs. Oklahoma: 12%
Here is who is most likely to win the national title:
1) Alabama: 42%
2) Clemson: 28%
3) Oklahoma: 22%
4) Michigan State: 8%
It does not really come as much surprise that Alabama is the clear favorite this postseason. On paper, Alabama has it’s best defense since 2011. But they are not locked to win it all by any means. Despite featuring the Heisman trophy winner Derrick Henry in the backfield, their offense is still shaky. Their offensive line is the worst they’ve had since 2007.
The semi-final games for the playoff championships will kick off on Thursday, December 31. While the numbers show that Alabama is favored, if we have learned anything from years past, anything can happen when everything is on the line.