ATLANTA–11Alive Sports serves up five super-fun facts to ponder about the College Football Playoff, as we celebrate five years of rankings and TV-ratings gold:
1. In the four-year history of the College Football Playoff (2014-17), the original No. 3 seed never qualified for the four-team semifinals:
2014: Auburn
2015: Ohio State
2016: Michigan
2017: Notre Dame
2. Alabama (top-ranked in the current AP poll) has made the Playoff on every occurrence.
Along those lines, the Crimson Tide have advanced to three CFP championship games, with two national titles (2015, 2017) and one last-second defeat to Clemson (2016).
The lone setback in the national semifinals? Ohio State rallied from an early 21-6 deficit to upend Alabama in the 2014-15 Sugar Bowl (first year of the Playoff).
3. The College Football Playoff rankings officially launched on Oct. 28, 2014 and featured three SEC teams in the original Big Four.
Can you name the SEC schools commandeering three of the four CFP spots?
Here's a hint: Two of the SEC schools likely wouldn't be characterized as traditional superpowers.
The answer: Mississippi State, Auburn and Ole Miss.
Speaking of that original Big Four ...
**Mississippi State, led by quarterback Dak Prescott, owned the No. 1 ranking for the first three weeks.
However, everything went down the tubes after a narrow loss to Alabama.
From there, the Bulldogs dropped their final two games to Ole Miss ... and Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
**Florida State became the only First Four representative to reach the Playoff. But the Seminoles' fate would eventually be sealed in the Rose Bowl, getting crushed by 39 points to Oregon.
(Cue the classic post-game clip of Ohio State coach Urban Meyer wondering aloud in awe, 'Oregon won by 40?')
**No. 3 Auburn had been dealt a similarly cruel fate for November/December, losing their final four games to Power 5 programs: Texas A&M, Georgia, Alabama and Wisconsin (Outback Bowl).
**Strangely, Ole Miss earned a spot in the initial Big Four, despite losing to LSU the previous weekend.
However, there would be no subsequent rally from the Rebels, who incurred a close defeat to Auburn ... and then fell off the wagon with two blowout defeats versus Arkansas (30-0) and TCU in the Peach Bowl (42-3).
4. Charting the four initial incarnations of the Playoff rankings, the first No. 1 seed never went on to capture the national championship (for that season):
2014: Mississippi State
2015: Clemson
2016: Alabama
2017: Georgia
5. Some eventual national champions of the previous four seasons endured humble beginnings with the initial Playoff rankings:
2014: Ohio State ... started No. 16 overall (lagging behind Nebraska, Kansas State, Arizona, Arizona State).
2015: Alabama ... opened at No. 4 overall, but initially stood as the SEC's second-best team (trailing LSU).
2016: Clemson ... started with a stress-free spot of No. 2 overall.
2017: Alabama ... opened at No. 2 and improved to No. 1; but eventually, the Crimson Tide had to desperately claw their way back into the Big Four on the season's final week.
In fact, if undefeated Wisconsin had beaten Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, Alabama would never have qualified for the semifinals.
Consequently, coaching icon Nick Saban would possess only five national title rings ... instead of six.
