As everyone knows this is the first season of the College Football Playoff. Four teams will make it and everyone else will have some nice parting gifts. Take note that these rankings aren’t the Top 4 teams in the country, they’re the four teams with the best chance to make the playoff.

#1 Florida State Seminoles

The Seminoles were almost derailed on Thursday night, but great teams find ways to win when they’re not playing their best football.

Is Florida State a great team?

No, not by a longshot, but neither is anyone else in college football this year. The ‘Noles will still have a couple legitimate tests as they travel to Miami and play a talented Florida team at home.

#2 Mississippi State Bulldogs

Mississippi State had a close call at home against Arkansas which signals that they are far from unbeatable. Still, they made enough plays to win and are the only team in the SEC with no losses which puts them in the pole position to win the conference. Since the selection committee takes the entire body of work of a season into account, the Bulldogs can probably afford to drop a game and still be okay.

#3 Oregon Ducks

Marcus Mariota and the Ducks exorcised some demons on Saturday night as they took down their nemesis, Stanford. Oregon will be a sizable favorite the rest of the way and they’re going to have enough wins against ranked teams to put together a very solid resume, so long as they run the table and win the Pac-12.

#4 Auburn Tigers

Auburn added to their resume with a big win on the road in Oxford as they held off Ole Miss. The Tigers only slip-up came against the top-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs and if they can run the table they will have a great case even if they don’t get a shot to play in the SEC title game.

Again, these aren’t the best four teams in the nation, they’re the teams that are most likely to make it into the national playoff. We believe that there will be a great amount of diversity in the committee’s selections and it remains to be seen how much weight they will put into conference champions.