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Alabama Football: Only six teams can win ’22 National Championship

By Ronald Evans

ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 31: Bo Scarbrough #9 of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs in a touchdown against the Washington Huskies during the 2016 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome on December 31, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - DECEMBER 31: Bo Scarbrough #9 of the Alabama Crimson Tide runs in a touchdown against the Washington Huskies during the 2016 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome on December 31, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Alabama Football
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In roughly three months, Alabama Football and 130 other teams will begin a season with similar goals. Certainly not all, but many of the programs and especially their fans will define a biggest goal of winning a National Championship.

As we sometimes say in the South, bless their hearts (no reference to Alabama politics intended). Bless their dreams because such anticipation is what sports are about. Bless their optimism because no team or no one ever accomplished anything without a belief it could happen.

Moving beyond goodwill to reality, a good 90-plus percent of the 131 teams with National Championship aspirations will be disappointed. A few will cry foul. More will bemoan no plan has been approved to expand the College Football Playoff.

The reality, harsh as it may be, has been evident in every season since the Playoff began. In any season, there are at most six National Championship contenders. Championship chatter about other teams can be fun, but substantively it is noise.

Since the Playoff began there have never been more than six contenders when the four teams are selected. Sometimes the real contenders are less than four.

2014 CFB Playoff (Four or Five Real Contenders)

  • Playoff teams were Alabama as the No. 1 seed, Oregon, No. 2), FSU, No. 3 and Ohio State, No. 4.
  • The only other possible contenders were Baylor and TCU, both at 12-2, with Baylor having beaten TCU in the regular season. TCU demolished Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl, 42-3 to finish 12-1 and No. 3 in the AP Poll. Baylor lost to Michigan State, 42-41 in the Cotton Bowl.
  • Ohio State was the National Champion.
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