Penn State Nittany Lions

Who should be left out of the College Football Playoff?

Published Dec. 9, 2016 12:45 p.m. ET

Zack Pierce

And when the dust settled, the favorites took care of business on Championship Weekend and left us with a much clearer playoff picture than we had a few days ago.

No. 1 Alabama certainly locked up its spot, routing Florida 54-16 to complete a 13-0 regular season and win another SEC title for Nick Saban.

No. 3 Clemson likely sewed up its berth, as well, though with a much less convincing 42-35 win over Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game.

No. 4 Washington blasted No. 8 Colorado 41-10 on Friday in the Pac-12 championship game, making just about the strongest case it could've hoped to make to stay in the top four.

Those three wins surely doused the hopes of Michigan, sitting at No. 5 behind all those teams and No. 2 Ohio State, who was idle and beat the Wolverines in their head-to-head showdown.

The only remaining intrigue lies with No. 7 Penn State, which added a quality win over No. 6 Wisconsin in Saturday's Big Ten championship game. The Nittany Lions are now 11-2 conference champs and boast a win over Ohio State that could prompt the committee — which said last week that the teams weren't close enough in the rankings to take that head-to-head result into account — to reconsider its position. Some also feel that Penn State's resume might line up nicely against either Clemson or Washington.

We're going to assume you're cool with us calling Alabama a lock. But which of the other four teams do you think should be left out? Check out their final resumes and then vote in the poll below. Rankings are the teams' current CFP rankings and not the rankings at the times games were played.

No. 2 Ohio State (11-1):

3-1 vs. Top 10 (W at No. 9 Oklahoma, W at No. 6 Wisconsin, L at No. 7 Penn State, W vs. No. 5 Michigan)

3-1 vs. Top 25

8-1 vs. .500 or better

No. 3 Clemson (12-1, ACC champions):

0-0 vs. Top 10

4-1 vs. Top 25 (W at No. 14 Auburn, W vs. No. 13 Louisville, W at No. 12 Florida State, L vs. No. 25 Pitt, W vs. No. 23 Virginia Tech)

9-1 vs. .500 or better

No. 4 Washington (12-1, Pac-12 champions):

1-1 vs. Top 10 (L vs. No. 11 USC, W vs. No. 8 Colorado)

2-1 vs. Top 25 (W vs. No. 18 Stanford)

5-1 vs. .500 or better