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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18. Washington Huskies – 2017

Lost to Alabama in Semifinal (Peach Bowl), 24-7

Much in the same vein as Florida State, the Washington Huskies were not as bad of a team as they looked in their Peach Bowl loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2016-17 College Football Playoff. Jake Browning and the Huskies went 12-1 on the season and actually played a solid game against Nick Saban’s group, even limiting Jalen Hurts to only 57 passing yards.

Unfortunately for Washington, they just didn’t have the hog-mollies up front needed to compete with the guys that Alabama put them up against. The Crimson Tide offense dominated in the run game as Hurts, Damien Harris and Bo Scarbrough combined for 260 rushing yards. Meanwhile, Bama’s front seven got after Browning consistently and bottled up Myles Gaskin, severely limiting the Huskies offense. Thus, they weren’t blown out but still never stood much of a chance against Alabama.

17. Clemson Tigers – 2018

Lost to Alabama in Semifinal (Sugar Bowl), 24-6

Armed with a defense that dominantly won a National Championship the following season, it’s plain to see in hindsight that Kelly Bryant was the X-factor for the Clemson Tigers in the 2017-18 College Football Playoff and not in the way you want to be. The defense did their job in limiting Jalen Hurts and Alabama to only 17 points but the Crimson Tide defense completely shut down any hope of Bryant having success against them.

Bryant managed only 19 rushing yards on as many carries and threw for only 124 yards with two interceptions. This wasn’t due to a lack of weapons but merely the shortcomings of him as a quarterback, which Trevor Lawrence made abundantly clear the following year.

Regardless, this version of the Tigers gets a slight bump into the top 20 due to the strength of their defense, even if a Bryant-led offense put a very defined ceiling on what this team could accomplish.