19 games that defined the four-team College Football Playoff era – ESPN

The 10th and final four-team College Football Playoff starts Monday. The two games on the docket — No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Alabama in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential and No. 2 Washington vs. No. 3 Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl — pack seemingly endless plotlines and possibilities, and we’re only beginning to talk about them in detail.
Starting in 2024, we will see an expanded, 12-team playoff field — a genuine tournament structure seen at basically every other level of football, from high school to smaller-school college to pro. With more bids, the CFP committee will have more margin for error: Had this year’s main controversy — the appalling selection of one-loss Alabama over unbeaten Florida State — happened next year, for instance, it would have involved who did and didn’t get a first-round bye, not who got a shot at the title at all. But with the 12-team era dawning, let’s look back at what we’ve seen and learned from the four-team era. Throughout these 10 seasons, specific games had an outsized impact on who did and didn’t make the cut. From Big Ten championships to a couple of Pac-12 no-shows to lots of Alabama-Georgias, here are 19 of the most impactful games of these 10 title races.
More bowl coverage:
One question for every game
Key takeaways
Play Bowl Mania
No. 5 Baylor Bears 61, No. 9 TCU Horned Frogs 58
The best game of 2014 and a downright silly track meet. Baylor gained 782 yards to TCU’s 485, but the Horned Frogs nearly stole this one with help from a second-quarter kick return score and a fourth-quarter pick-six. Baylor trailed 58-37 with 11 minutes left but scored three touchdowns in six minutes, then knocked in a game-winning field goal at the buzzer. This was obviously a huge result between top-10 teams, but it only got bigger as both teams kept winning. They reached the finish line a combined 22-2, with Baylor losing only to West Virginia the week after the TCU game.
Continue reading this article and more from top writers, for only $10.99/mo.
Already an ESPN+ subscriber? Log in here.

source