College Football Playoff selection process could still be easy peasy, or a sticky mess

Here’s a question for you.

Let’s say Ohio State beats Michigan this weekend, but Penn State, as expected, wins the East Division of the Big Ten and advances to the conference championship game. And let’s say, for the sake of this scenario, Florida beats Florida State, then upsets Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

If you had to pick out of the 11-1 Ohio State team and an 11-2 SEC champion Florida team coming off consecutive wins over LSU, Florida State and Alabama, which one would you have ranked ahead of the other for a potential final Playoff spot?

Those are the kinds of questions the College Football Playoff committee can look forward to having to ask itself if things gets knocked off script going forward.

The possibility of No. 2-ranked Ohio State, the favorite in its grudge match with No. 3 Michigan this weekend, finishing as the Big Ten’s highest-ranked team but also not its champion, is something the committee is already facing as a likely possibility that throws the process out of whack.

If that were to happen, 9-2 Penn State would likely win the division after upsetting the Buckeyes and assuming a Nittany Lions win over 3-8 Michigan State.

The Big Ten would have a one-loss team in Ohio State but two-loss teams (Penn State and either Wisconsin or Nebraska) playing in the conference championship game.

So, let’s say some unlikely things happen, like a two-loss Florida team WITH an SEC championship and a win over Alabama? And how do you compare Florida to a Penn State team with wins over Ohio State and a Big Ten title?

How do all those teams compare to a 10-2 Oklahoma?

If you’re the committee, here’s your dream scenario for an easy peasy Playoff selection:

1. Alabama continues to wreak havoc on the SEC, manhandling Auburn and Florida to get the No. 1 seed.
2. No. 3 Michigan beats No. 2 Ohio State, then handles No. 6 Wisconsin, making the Wolverines the obvious Big Ten team in the Playoff.
3. No. 4 Clemson avoids an upset from South Carolina, then handles (we assume) Virginia Tech for the ACC crown.
4. No. 5 Washington wins the Apple Cup for the Pac-12 North title, then handles Colorado for the conference championship.

That, for the committee, is the perfect world. No controversy. You’d have an undefeated Bama and the three one-loss teams from Power 5 conferences. Everybody else has at least two losses and no real complaint.

The opposite of this scenario?

1. Alabama loses to two-loss Florida in the SEC Championship Game.
2. Ohio State beats Michigan, then No. 7 Penn State plays Wisconsin for the conference title.
3. Virginia Tech upsets Clemson.
4. No. 9 Colorado beats Washington for the Pac-12 title.
5. It doesn’t matter who wins Bedlam.

In this scenario, you have four, two-loss conference champions (Florida, Colorado, the Big Ten champion and the Big 12 champion). You’d also have two one-loss teams without a conference championship (Ohio State and Alabama).

So who ya got in the Playoff?

You can’t leave out Alabama, can you? And you can’t leave out an Ohio State team that knocked off Oklahoma and Michigan, right? So do you leave out a Colorado team that closed the season with wins over Washington State, Utah and Washington? You leave out the Bedlam winner?

Regardless, somebody’s not going to be happy.

More than likely, the next two weeks will yield us a result somewhere between the gift-wrapped first scenario and the blow-it-all-up second scenario.

But the takeaway if you’re the SEC is this:

Alabama is in control, and Florida isn’t dead. It might need more 98-yard touchdown passes and a few more fumbles in the red zone by the other teams, but the Gators are still around.

Gary Laney