Top 5 2016 College Football Playoff contenders
By John Buhler
With 2015 already in the books, here are the five teams in the Power 5 most likely to contend for a 2016 College Football Playoff championship next season.
The College Football Playoff has completely changed the game in Division I football. Including two more teams with the possibility of winning a National Championship has given hope to all conference champions in the recently deemed Power 5 (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC).
In the first two years of the College Football Playoff, all five Power 5 conferences have made the bowl season tournament and two of the five conferences can claim a National Championship in the new and even more exciting College Football Playoff.
With the 2015 season coming to a close Monday night, let’s begin to ask the questions immediately on our minds: Who are the four teams that get into the 2016 College Football Playoff? Which Power 5 conference gets left out of the conversation? Can a two-loss team make it into a 2016 National Semifinal Game (The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta and the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona)?
The best way to envision a season’s results a year from now is to examine which five teams are most likely to win their respective conferences, which teams have the best players, and which teams are most likely to rise to the occasion in 2016 conference play, while maintaining a strong non-conference slate. Without further ado, here are the five teams most likely to not only make the third annual College Football Playoff in 2016, but come away recognized as the National Champions.
Next: 5. SEC