Ranking every College Football Playoff team of all time

College Football Playoff team No. 22: Oklahoma Sooners, 2016

Lost to Clemson in Semifinal (Orange Bowl), 37-17

A common theme for the Oklahoma Sooners began when they made their first appearance with Baker Mayfield at the helm of the offense. This was a team that, though they lost in a dogfight to rival Texas midway through the season, seemed to be hitting their stride at the right time. They finished their season with wins over No. 4 Baylor, No. 11 TCU and No. 9 Oklahoma State to win the Big 12, setting the stage for them to make some noise in the CFP.

While that may have proven the overall quality of the team, they were no match for arguably the best National Runners-up in the Playoff era. Deshaun Watson and Wayne Gallman ran all over the Sooners, so much so that Watson didn’t even need to do much through the air. To make matters worse, the prolific Sooners offense was largely stifled. They weren’t outright embarrassed but it’s clear that this iteration of OU was a cut below many other teams who made it to the final four.

College Football Playoff team No. 21: Washington Huskies, 2017

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

The Peach Bowl matchup between Washington and Alabama proved two things about the Huskies. The first is that this was a good team on both sides of the ball that wasn’t going to get blown out by anyone, not even the Crimson Tide. However, the second thing was that Washington simply wasn’t on the level they needed to be if they were really going to be in the mix to win a National Championship.

Washington’s defense, though they were run on effectively by Bama, actually performed well in this game. The real difference-maker, though, was the offense that could never get going. The Huskies were dominated in the trenches and it caused the entire attack to be shut down. Getting dominated by an Alabama defensive line is not something that’s new but it does limit how highly you can think of Washington.