With Michigan’s win over Washington last night, the four-team era of the College Football Playoff officially comes to an end. 40 teams competed between the 2014 and 2023 seasons, 20 of them played in the national title game and 10 emerged as champions.
Let’s rank the 10 champions of the four-team era:
10. 2016 Clemson
Perhaps the only team on this list that has no argument for being an all-time great team, the 2016 Tigers saw nearly half of their games decided by one score.
That doesn’t diminish the greatness that was on this team. Between Deshaun Watson on offense and Dexter Lawrence on defense, the 2016 Tigers were the total package and treated us to one of the most thrilling national title game endings of all-time when they beat Alabama.
Speaking of which…
9. 2015 Alabama
The 2015 Crimson Tide were an offensive machine that were held under 30 points only four times and held under 27 points only once all year.
The one blemish on their season was a September loss to Ole Miss. After that, only Tennessee and Clemson finished a game within a touchdown.
8. 2017 Alabama
A somewhat controversial pick for the College Football Playoff after going 11-1 and missing the SEC Championship Game, the 2017 Crimson Tide were nevertheless a juggernaut that allowed only five teams to score more than 10 points.
They trounced Clemson in the Sugar Bowl in a rematch of the previous year’s national title game before a close game against Georgia that saw Nick Saban make the gutsy decision to make a halftime quarterback change from Jalen Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa, followed by an overtime victory.
7. 2021 Georgia
For years Georgia had played second fiddle to almighty Alabama and in 12 regular season games in 2021 not a single team could score 20 points on them. But once again Alabama beat the doors off them in the SEC Championship Game, raising questions about whether head coach Kirby Smart physically could beat his former mentor.
After easily beating Michigan in the Orange Bowl, Smart’s Bulldogs finally got that cathartic win over Alabama in a dominating 33-18 national title game victory. It would be the first of consecutive national titles wins for Smart and the Bulldogs and while this was a great season, it wasn’t even their best.
6. 2014 Ohio State
The 2014 Buckeyes played 15 games and scored at least 40 points in 11 of them, including their final five. Few teams in recent history have had as many players who turned into NFL superstars as this team did: Ezekiel Elliott, Curtis Samuel, Terry McLaurin, Parris Campbell and Michael Thomas on offense. Joey Bosa, Marshon Lattimore and Vonn Bell on the defense.
The first-ever College Football Playoff saw one of the most fascinating stories in college football history come to life as Cardale Jones took over after a late-season injury to J.T. Barrett and lead the Buckeyes on a tear for the three biggest games the team had played in several years.
They obliterated Wisconsin, upset No. 1 Alabama and then crushed Oregon and Heisman trophy winner Marcus Mariota to win the first national title of the four-game era.
5. 2018 Clemson
The first team in college football history to finish a season 15-0 got off to a slow start that was marred by a quarterback controversy. Head coach Dabo Swinney made the call to switch from Kelly Bryant to Trevor Lawrence after just a few weeks and was promptly rewarded with offensive dominance that lasted all the way to the end of the season.
In the national championship game, the Tigers became the first team to beat Alabama by double digits in a College Football Playoff game.
4. 2022 Georgia
One year after winning a national title, the Bulldogs ran it back with a vengeance, easily beating all of their regular season opposition by double digits while never allowing more than 22 points.
They then beat LSU handily in the SEC Championship Game but only narrowly beat Ohio State in the Peach Bowl – winning that game on a missed Buckeyes field goal.
They more than made up for the close win over Ohio State by beating TCU for the national title in the most lopsided title game in history, a 65-7 victory that set records en route to their 15-0 season and second straight national title.
3. 2023 Michigan
Of all the teams that won titles during the four-team era, perhaps none had to deal with more internal issues than the 2023 Michigan Wolverines.
A three-game suspension for Jim Harbaugh early in the season for a recruiting violation, followed by a three-game suspension for Harbaugh at the end of the season over the sign-stealing scandal didn’t mean a thing to the Wolverines as they beat all comers thanks to their smashmouth running backs, some superb quarterback play from J.J. McCarthy and a dominant defense.
2. 2020 Alabama
The 2020 season was a weird one due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a ton of changes to the national schedule, players missing games and all sorts of craziness. Through it all, Alabama dominated their opposition, going 14-0 and beating all of their opposition in very convincing fashion.
Perhaps the only reason that they aren’t No. 1 is that the year was so crazy that it’s truly difficult to even count it as a real year of college football. The Ohio State Buckeyes team they beat in the national title game had played just five regular season games.
1. 2019 LSU
Mike Greenberg summed it up best in this superb breakdown of what made the 2019 LSU Tigers so special. To sum it up though, the 2019 Tigers destroyed just about every record for offense, won just about every award, never trailed in the fourth quarter once, beat a record seven top-10 teams, beat the entire preseason top-four and beat their five toughest opponents by an average of 20 points.
But what’s extra special about the 2019 LSU team is that they actually beat several of the other teams on this ranking:
- They beat what would be the core of the 2020 Alabama team in the regular season.
- They beat the 2018 Clemson team to win the national title
- They beat a Georgia team with a lineup on par with what would win national titles in 2021 and 2022
That’s four past or future national champions that the 2019 LSU Tigers beat – two of them by double digits.
This team is not only the best team of the four-team era, it deserves to go down in the history books as one of the greatest in the 150-plus-year history of the sport.