CFB Playoff: Making the case for top playoff contenders

The top two teams in the College Football Playoff Rankings were taken down over the weekend and now the field that could make playoff seems bigger. Reporters from around the Rivals.com network make the case for why the team they cover should end up in the top four of the College Football Playoff Rankings.

MORE: Best and worst from the weekend | Ranking the open coaching jobs

“Alabama shouldn’t be in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings when it is released Tuesday. However, with a little help, the Crimson Tide could be able to find itself in the top four when the final rankings shake out. Alabama will most likely need a loss from Wisconsin or Oklahoma or both to get into the final College Football Playoff rankings.

“Assuming that happens, I think Alabama has a really good case for a spot. The Crimson Tide has one of the most talented rosters, and it will only get stronger moving forward with linebackers Terrell Lewis, Christian Miller and Mack Wilson returning from injuries. Alabama could be an intriguing team a month from now.” - Tony Tsoukalas, BamaInsider.com

"As of today Clemson is deserving of a seat at the College Football Playoff table and will most certainly get in with a win over Miami in the ACC Title game. That matchup is essentially a play-in game. The Tigers are out with two losses. Unless a team is a conference champion with numerous wins over highly ranked opponents (i.e. Auburn), it's very hard to justify a two-loss team getting in.

"Clemson has now won 10 consecutive games over AP-ranked opponents with top 25 'road' wins this year over Louisville, Virginia Tech, NC State and South Carolina. Obviously its September win over No. 6-ranked Auburn stands as its most impressive accomplishment this fall.

"Clemson, owners of a top 20 offense and a top 10 defense nationally, continues to control its destiny with the Hurricanes the next obstacle." - Cris Ard, TigerIllustrated.com

“Same song. Different week. And Oklahoma continues to roll.

“Baker Mayfield picks up the Heisman Trophy in a little less than two weeks. And Oklahoma has has added -yet another- dimension offensively with the emergence of Rodney Anderson. No player in the country has scored more touchdowns (9) from scrimmage over the last three weeks.

“Oklahoma heads to Arlington this week in search of it's third consecutive conference title. With a win at Jerry World, the Sooners would almost be assured a spot in the College Football Playoff for the second time in three years.” – Eddie Radosevich, SoonerScoop.com

“Why should Wisconsin be in College Football Playoff? For starters, the 12-0 Badgers are the only remaining undefeated Power Five program in the country. That alone should guarantee Paul Chryst's program a spot in top four. Beyond that, first-year coordinator Jim Leonhard has the No. 1 defense in the nation (averaging 237 yards per game) and UW freshman sensation Jonathan Taylor is No. 3 in the country with 1,806 rushing yards. The only knock on Wisconsin is its strength of schedule, which currently ranks No. 55 in the country, according to the Sagarin Ratings. But a win over Ohio State in the Big Ten title game Saturday should put any doubters to rest.” – Jon McNamara, BadgerBlitz.com

"Miami's loss to Pittsburgh knocked it out of the top four but the Canes can get back in with a victory over Clemson. The key right now is you have to have a better argument than Alabama, which didn’t even win its division. A victory over the defending national champs and No 1 team will accomplish that. Lose and your consolation prize will likely be an Orange Bowl date against Alabama. So for Miami, it's lay it all on the line Saturday night." - Gary Ferman, CaneSport.com

“Auburn's case has become pretty straightforward over the past three weeks with wins over then-No. 1's Georgia and Alabama. Beating two No. 1 teams in one season is pretty rare, doing it in the span of three weeks may be unprecedented. Beat Georgia again in the SEC Championship game and the Tigers should be a lock for one of the four spots in the college football playoffs.

“I think the committee will look very favorably on Auburn's strength of schedule. Even losses at Clemson and LSU, the current No. 1 and No. 17 teams in the AP Top 25, look better as the season has gone forward. Some national analysts including Kirk Herbstreit are touting Auburn as the nation's best team and I think most neutral observers that watched the Auburn-Georgia and Auburn-Alabama games would conclude the Tigers were the beater team.” – Bryan Matthews, AuburnSports.com

“I don’t think Ohio State should be in the top four at this point based on who is ahead of them and what is still ahead for Ohio State. Ohio State has a chance to play an undefeated Wisconsin team that should still be highly rated and if the Buckeyes are able to win, will have a Big Ten title as well as a 13th data point with that win to go 11-2 on the season.

“That will move up the strength of schedule and several other metrics in terms of the eye test, and that is what the Buckeyes are going to need before those final rankings, that eye test look as the Big Ten champion over a second team from the SEC. But at this point, the Buckeyes don’t have any of those things in their pocket and for that reason, don’t need to be in the top four.” – Kevin Noon, BuckeyeGrove.com

“Just to be real, TCU won’t be in this week’s top four, but a win against Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game should get them there. TCU would be the champion of the only conference to send 80 percent of its teams to bowls. The Frogs would have seven wins over bowl-eligible teams and a very similar, if not better resume, than Oklahoma, who will be in the top two of this week’s poll. The two teams only losses would be to each other and to Iowa State. At least TCU’s loss to Iowa State was on the road as TCU went undefeated at home. The Frogs haven’t allowed a second-half touchdown since Oct. 7 and just two second-half field goals in that time. TCU played one really bad half of football at Oklahoma and have found ways to dominate their last two games without starters at running back, linebacker, safety, kicker and center. This is a gutty Frog team that deserves a playoff spot if it wins the best conference in football this year.” – Billy Wessels, PurpleMenace.com

“If the College Football Playoff used the old BCS rating system UCF might have had a chance, but the committee won't let the Knights anywhere near the top 10, let alone the playoff. This is the same group that last week ranked a mediocre three-loss (now four-loss) Mississippi State team ahead of undefeated UCF, citing 'quality losses,' ignoring the fact they lacked quality wins and struggled with UMass. If this were an eight-team field, which everybody seems to agree should happen at some point in the future, UCF should definitely be in. In just his second season, Scott Frost has taken an offense that ranked next-to-last prior to his arrival to one that is now No. 1 in the NCAA, scoring 48.3 points per game. No, the top-to-bottom strength of schedule in the American isn't going to compare with the other Power Five leagues, but being undefeated should count for something. That's hard to do, Nick Saban can attest to that.” – Brandon Helwig, UCFSports.com

FOR MORE ON THE KNIGHTS, VISIT UCFSPORTS.COM.