The Brief
The First Playoff.
2014: One Seat, Three Champions
The first College Football Playoff. Three seats are set. One remains — and three one-loss teams are fighting for it.
The first three seats — secured
No. 1 Alabama12–1No. 2 Oregon12–1No. 3 Florida State13–0
One seat remains · three contenders
Ohio State
12–1
Baylor
11–1
TCU
11–1
The central tensions
- Baylor beat TCU head-to-head, 61–58 — but both were named Big 12 co-champions.
- TCU was the committee's own No. 3 a week earlier, then dropped to No. 6 after winning 55–3.
- Ohio State closed with a 59–0 statement in its conference title game — a game the Big 12 co-champs never got to play.
- The Big 12 had no championship game, so neither co-champion could make a final case.
- A dominant late statement and a season-long body of work can point to different teams.
You are deciding this case using only information available on December 7, 2014 — selection day for the first College Football Playoff. Future results are locked — you cannot see what happens after selection day.