The final four-team College Football Playoff is poised to be the most controversial yet.
No. 8 Alabama was the agent of chaos Saturday, upsetting No. 1 Georgia for the Southeastern Conference title and ending the two-time defending national champ's 29-game winning streak.
“Georgia was No. 1, right? You beat the No. 1 team, what does that make us?” Alabama quarterback Jalen Miltoe told reporters.
If only it was so simple.
With No. 2 Michigan and No. 4 Florida State still to play their conference title games, only one spot appeared locked up: No. 3 Washington (13-0) won the Pac-12 title Friday night.
The field for the last CFP before it expands to 12 next year will be set Sunday, but sorting through this year's unusually crowded group contenders might make the selection committee wish it could fast forward to the new format.
Rarely in the nine years the national champion has been decided by a four-team playoff has the bracket failed to fall into place with little debate.
In 2014, Ohio State vaulted over Baylor and TCU and into the playoff with a Big Ten title game blowout of Wisconsin. The Big 12 teams still haven't gotten over it, but the Buckeyes proved it was a justifiable decision by winning it all.
Ohio State has been on the short end of a couple of times, too. But this year, the committee could be facing a truly vexing problem.
Texas? Alabama? Georgia? There won't be room for all of them. And Florida State could also present a unique challenge.
The first two Power Five conference title games of championship Saturday only served to provide more uncertainty.
First, No. 7 Texas routed No. 19 Oklahoma State, making an emphatic case for its first playoff berth.
“I think the intent of the College Football Playoff is putting the four best teams in that playoff. Do we think we’re one of those? For sure we do,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said.
The day got better for the Longhorns when Alabama beat Georgia. Texas knocked off the Alabama by 10 in Tuscaloosa in September and is now the team that beat the team that just beat the No. 1 team.
"It’s not a one-week analysis; it’s a full-season analysis,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, stumping for his conference on ESPN well before the games kicked off.
Sankey and the SEC are facing a potential predicament they never have before.
In nine seasons, the College Football Playoff has never been staged without at least one SEC team. No other Power Five conference has avoided being left out at least once.
With Michigan (12-0) and Florida State (12-0) trying to stay unbeaten, like Washington, and Texas holding a trump card on Alabama, the SEC getting shut out of an event its teams have won six times looks like a possibility — no matter its commissioner thinks.
“That’s not the real world of college football,” Sankey said, dismissively.
No need stump out West. Washington got to sleep without worry after becoming the first team to go 13-0 since the Pac-12 expanded to 12 in 2011.
The Huskies and Oregon — both Big Ten-bound — gave the beleaguered conference a thrilling and ironic sendoff in Las Vegas on Friday night with one of the best games in the 105-year history of Pac-12 football.
Michael Penix Jr.'s clutch play and Dillon Johnson's hard running gave the Huskies their third straight three-point victory in the rivalry.
The Pac-12's playoff drought will end after six years — in the final season of the conference as we know it — by its last school to reach the CFP.
Michigan was a 21 1/2-point favorite, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, against No. 18 Iowa in the Big Ten title game. Coach Jim Harbaugh returns to the Michigan sideline to try to secure the Wolverines' third consecutive trip to the CFP.
Florida State would usually be looking at a win-and-in situation in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game against No. 15 Louisville, but quarterback injuries have complicated the Seminoles' status.
First, they lost Heisman Trophy contender Jordan Travis to the broken lower leg two weeks ago. Then, on Saturday, Florida State was forced to start freshman Brock Glenn because Tate Rodemaker was out with a concussion.
A loss by Florida State would benefit the Longhorns and Tide. But without Travis, both will claim that they should be in over the 'Noles even if they win.
An undefeated Power Five champion has never been left out of the playoff.
"The criteria is not to put the undefeated teams in the four-team playoff,” he said.
And it comes down to the final day.
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com. Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
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Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.appodcasts.com. Get alerts on the latest AP Top 25 poll throughout the season. Sign up here
___
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
