Every College Football Playoff team in history, ranked

SANTA CLARA, CA - JANUARY 07: Trevor Lawrence #16 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates with the trophy after his teams 44-16 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in the CFP National Championship presented by AT&T at Levi's Stadium on January 7, 2019 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

6. Alabama Crimson Tide – 2018

National Champions — Def. Georgia, 26-23

There are two reasons why the 2017-18 Alabama Crimson Tide come in as the lowest-ranked team to win the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. First is the fact that they were so close to actually losing in pretty decisive fashion. Prior to the switch from Jalen Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback, they trailed by 13 points. Granted, Georgia couldn’t answer that change and allowed the Tide to roll back and then win in overtime but needing that switch to pull it off does dock Bama some points here.

More than that, however, the other reason is that Nick Saban and his program failed to make the SEC Championship Game after losing to Auburn in Iron Bowl for the regular-season finale. While that ultimately didn’t stop them from winning the Natty, when you’re splitting hairs to determine historical greatness, that has to be factored into the equation.

5. Ohio State Buckeyes – 2015

National Champions — Def. Oregon, 42-20

When you look at the final score and, in truth, the box score of the Ohio State Buckeyes’ victory over Oregon in the 2015 National Championship Game, putting them at No. 5 might seem to be slighting them a bit. After all, Ezekiel Elliott dominated the action with 246 rushing yards and four scores while the Buckeyes defense was able to stifle Marcus Mariota and the high-octane Ducks offense.

However, what knocks the Buckeyes down a peg is the fact that they could’ve been even more dominant in this game had Cardale Jones not been just fine at quarterback. Granted, he was the backup filling in for J.T. Barrett but he was still the starter for the entire CFP and was nothing more than okay in the spotlight. Because of leaving some dominance on the table, this Ohio State club comes in at No. 5.