1 school has been in the playoffs every season - Bama
1 school has been in the playoffs 3 of 4 - Clemson
2 schools have been in the playoffs 2 of 4 - OSU, OU
5 schools have had 1 playoff appearance - Oregon, FSU, MSU, UW, GA

Current Playoff Record
Bama - 4-2
Clemson - 3-2
OSU - 2-1
OU - 0-2
Oregon - 1-1
Georgia - 1-0
Mich St., FSU, Wash - 0-1

So ranking the top 4 programs is pretty easy to do - 1. Bama, 2. Clemson, 3. OSU, 4. OU

the fifth is much more difficult. Though I believe Georgia should be that team given they have been pretty solid before this season when they had a great year (win or lose).

6th is far more interesting with 4 solid contenders in Oregon, Michigan St., Florida State, and Wisconsin. Oregon is the only team to win a playoff game among those 4, but Oregon is coming off a 7-6 which was after a 4-8 season, and even 15 was 9-4 with a bowl loss. Michigan St. was awful in 16 (3-9), but finished 14 at 11-2, made the playoffs in 15 (finishing 12-2), and just finished this year at 10-3. FSU is in a pretty similar situation as MSU as well finishing 14 at 13-1 (with the playoff birth), 15 at 10-3 (though a bowl loss), 16 at 10-3 before the 7-6 season this year. Wisconsin has not made the playoffs, but its worst season is 10-3 during the playoff span (with a 11-2, 12-2, and 13-1) and has won all 4 bowl games. So I think I'd rank them 6. Wisconsin, 7. FSU, 8. MSU, 9. Oregon.

10 is so far down the list at this point, it is hard to say who should be there, though Washington made the playoffs unlike any other team that could possibly be there, so I will just say Washington since I have no real interest in going past them.

So in the playoff era, I'd rank the teams like this.
1. Alabama
2. Clemson
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Georgia
6. Wisconsin
7. Florida State
8. Michigan State
9. Oregon
10. Washington

Bama is 4-2. They lost to OSU in the first round of 2014, and last year in the championship game vs Clemson.

Oregon should not be on a list. 3 coaching changes in about a year.

Posted by Vitamin_C on 1/4/2018 10:19:00 AM (view original):
Bama is 4-2. They lost to OSU in the first round of 2014, and last year in the championship game vs Clemson.

Fixed (though it obviously doesn't change the analysis or end result of Bama being 1).

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 10:50:00 AM (view original):
Oregon should not be on a list. 3 coaching changes in about a year.

except they are the only team aside from the top 3 and Georgia to win a playoff game. It is hard to ignore a team that won a playoff game entirely at this point, which is why I have them at 9. Another year of mediocrity and they likely fall out.

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 11:30:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 10:50:00 AM (view original):
Oregon should not be on a list. 3 coaching changes in about a year.

except they are the only team aside from the top 3 and Georgia to win a playoff game. It is hard to ignore a team that won a playoff game entirely at this point, which is why I have them at 9. Another year of mediocrity and they likely fall out.

So 1 successful season makes a successful program?
Not sure you're going to get much agreement with that.
Heck, using that criteria, why not UCF since they are one of the few to have an undefeated season during the Playoff Era?

Posted by all3 on 1/4/2018 11:33:00 AM (view original):

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 11:30:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 10:50:00 AM (view original):
Oregon should not be on a list. 3 coaching changes in about a year.

except they are the only team aside from the top 3 and Georgia to win a playoff game. It is hard to ignore a team that won a playoff game entirely at this point, which is why I have them at 9. Another year of mediocrity and they likely fall out.

So 1 successful season makes a successful program?
Not sure you're going to get much agreement with that.
Heck, using that criteria, why not UCF since they are one of the few to have an undefeated season during the Playoff Era?

There have been 4 seasons in the playoff era. Oregon is one of the five schools to have played in the national title game in those 4 seasons. They also had another good season at 9-4 (though not great). Another poor year and they likely fall out, but I'm not just going to pretend they didn't have a top 2 finish either.

As for UCF, I'm sure you are aware they were 0-12 in 2015 and 6-7 in 2016 (along with a 9-4 in 2014). So, why not UCF, that's why.

If you wanted to argue for a team like TCU, that might have some merit, but TCU has yet to play in the playoff and finished 2016 at 6-7.

The reality is outside of the top 6 I listed, basically every single power 5 team has had a season with at least 5 losses in that span and none of them have had a season better than Oregon (I didn't check every team so I might have missed somebody). It really is just a crap shoot once you get past Wisconsin (I'm also willing to give FSU a pass on this year after losing its QB, but this team even with Francois wasn't going to be as good as prior teams).

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 11:30:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 10:50:00 AM (view original):
Oregon should not be on a list. 3 coaching changes in about a year.

except they are the only team aside from the top 3 and Georgia to win a playoff game. It is hard to ignore a team that won a playoff game entirely at this point, which is why I have them at 9. Another year of mediocrity and they likely fall out.

It's not that hard when you take into account that their continuity doesn't exist.

One of your top 5 teams had a 5-loss season also.

Recruiting against Oregon:

"You do know that they're on their 3rd coach in the last year, right?"

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/4/2018 12:24:00 PM (view original):
One of your top 5 teams had a 5-loss season also.

Yep, but since that 8-5 season in 2014, it has gone 11-2, CC, playoff appearance. 11-2, CC, bowl win. 12-2, CC, playoff appearance. Not hard to see why OU is different than the other teams with a 5 loss season in the last 4 seasons.

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 12:37:00 PM (view original):
Recruiting against Oregon:

"You do know that they're on their 3rd coach in the last year, right?"

that isn't exactly true at this point. it has been more than a year since Helfrich was fired. So they had Taggart for a year and now have Cristobal.

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 1:34:00 PM (view original):

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/4/2018 12:24:00 PM (view original):
One of your top 5 teams had a 5-loss season also.

Yep, but since that 8-5 season in 2014, it has gone 11-2, CC, playoff appearance. 11-2, CC, bowl win. 12-2, CC, playoff appearance. Not hard to see why OU is different than the other teams with a 5 loss season in the last 4 seasons.

Okay, so 2 of your top 5 have, UGA was 8-5 last season.

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/4/2018 1:57:00 PM (view original):

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 1:34:00 PM (view original):

Posted by strikeout26 on 1/4/2018 12:24:00 PM (view original):
One of your top 5 teams had a 5-loss season also.

Yep, but since that 8-5 season in 2014, it has gone 11-2, CC, playoff appearance. 11-2, CC, bowl win. 12-2, CC, playoff appearance. Not hard to see why OU is different than the other teams with a 5 loss season in the last 4 seasons.

Okay, so 2 of your top 5 have, UGA was 8-5 last season.

Which is why they are behind Wisconsin in my ranking. If they beat Bama and win a title then they'll jump Wisconsin and likely jump Oklahoma as well.
Oklahoma has been in the playoffs twice, but they've also gone 0-2.

Georgia winning it all makes their resume better than Oklahoma's. NCs are weighted heavily in my rankings because they are what matters most IMO.

Posted by moranis on 1/4/2018 1:40:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/4/2018 12:37:00 PM (view original):
Recruiting against Oregon:

"You do know that they're on their 3rd coach in the last year, right?"

that isn't exactly true at this point. it has been more than a year since Helfrich was fired. So they had Taggart for a year and now have Cristobal.

Close enough to negative recruit.