College Football Playoff: 5 dark horse contenders

With Spring Practices finishing and becoming summer camps, it’s time to take a look at the landscape of teams in college football who could be vying for a spot in the second iteration of the College Football Playoffs.

We can pretty much call the first version a success, though there was still the usual controversy when some teams were left out, and we can assume the second version will be just as good. Unlike previous years, which saw two—maybe, on rare occasions, three—teams in contention for a title there were easily six or so who could have made the playoffs.

Four teams had their shots and the National Champion actually seemed like the National Champion.

Of course, there are issues with the format.

The setup favors power conference teams, and it will be hard to see an independent not named Notre Dame, or a small conference team at all, making the dance. Boise State has made noise in the past, but their uphill climb has almost always ended with a Wile E. Coyote-like tumble back down the hill, resulting in an ACME Dynamite explosion.

We want to see those small schools and independents succeed though. Just as we want to see the normally overlooked schools in the big conferences make a run as well.

It’s what makes the whole idea of the playoffs fascinating and compelling. Which, of course, was the point. Compelling television drives eyeballs which in turn, drives advertising dollars.

Ultimately, the playoff format still favors the Pac12, SEC, Big 10, ACC and Big12, but even those conferences can have surprises and dark horse teams within, just waiting to surprise us.

Today we’ve got five teams we think people will overlook, but will be compelling all season long.

Next: Boise State