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Which was the best national championship team of the CFP era? We ranked all 10.
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- Which was the best national championship team of the CFP era? We ranked all 10.
The four-team College Football Playoff era ended as it began: with a Big Ten team winning the national championship.
Michigan beat Washington 34-13 to take the program's first unshared title since 1948. With Monday night's game in the books, the Bowl Subdivision makes the official transition to the 12-team format , set to debut in 2024.
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The four-team period featured its share of controversy, from the inclusion of Ohio State in the debut field in 2014 to this year's exclusion of unbeaten Florida State . But by nearly every metric, the playoff has been a resounding success and one of the great advancements in the history of the sport.
On the field, the past decade has been defined by SEC dominance. Monday night marked the first time since 2014 that no SEC team had at least played for the national title. The conference won six during the four-team playoff: Alabama in 2015, 2017 and 2020, LSU in 2019, and Georgia in 2021 and 2022.
This era also saw the dramatic rise of Clemson, which unseated the Crimson Tide in 2016 and 2018. The 2018 team was the first in more than a century to go 15-0.
The 12-team format will take the title race in a new and unpredictable direction. In one last look back at the past 10 years, here's how the champs of the four-team era rank among their peers:
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1. 2020 Alabama (13-0)
By dominating the FBS with an unstoppable offense led by Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith , the 2020 Crimson Tide have an argument for being counted among the top teams in modern history. Against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic, Alabama went unbeaten in games against 11 SEC teams, Notre Dame and Ohio State, scoring at least 31 points in every game, at least 41 points in every game but two and winning every game by at least 15 points. This was a dominant group and coach Nick Saban's best team.
Alabama coach Nick Saban and offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood (70) celebrates with the College Football Playoff championship trophy after beating Ohio State to win the 2020 national title.
2. 2022 Georgia (15-0)
Close behind are the 2022 Bulldogs, the second of back-to-back champs and the program's first since 1980 to run the table. A suffocating defense was joined by an improved offense that ranked fourth nationally in yards per play. Georgia beat five teams ranked in the top 15 and put a cap on things with a 58-point destruction of TCU to become the first repeat champs of the playoff era.
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3. 2019 LSU (15-0)
The offense will live in FBS history. Joe Burrow , Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson , Clyde Edwards-Helaire and others formed one of the most intimidating and explosive offenses in Power Five history. Burrow threw for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns and won the Heisman. LSU beat seven ranked teams, including Alabama and Georgia, but the Tigers didn't really take off until getting past Auburn on Oct. 26. From there, though, this team was an all-timer.
4. 2018 Clemson (15-0)
Until LSU matched or even exceeded the feat a year later, the 2018 Tigers put together the most dominant two-game run in playoff history, beating Notre Dame 30-3 and Alabama 44-16. And neither game was that close. Freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence put himself on the map with an epic game against the Crimson Tide, throwing for 347 yards and three touchdowns. The Christian Wilkins-led defensive line is one of the most memorable in history. Overall, Clemson beat 12 bowl teams but didn't face the same strength of schedule as the other undefeated teams on this list.
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5. 2021 Georgia (14-1)
The Bulldogs did have the one blemish against Alabama in the SEC championship game but avenged that loss by topping the Tide 33-18 in the playoff title game. Moreso than the 2022 squad, the Bulldogs were defined by a suffocating defense. Georgia allowed 10.2 points per game to lead the FBS and gave up just 16 touchdowns all season. The offense, however, didn't have the explosiveness it did with Stetson Bennett 's improvement the following season.
6. 2023 Michigan (15-0)
A pretty flimsy regular-season schedule that featured two legitimate contenders (Penn State and Ohio State) and many of the worst offenses in college football docks Michigan a bit, though there's no doubt the Wolverines were a deserving national champion and one of the best teams in program history . The offense never received much credit but married physicality with extremely strong play from quarterback J.J. McCarthy . Defensively, Michigan took care of business in Big Ten play and proved itself by shutting down Michael Penix in the title game against Washington.
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7. 2016 Clemson (14-1)
Clemson played a run of solid-to-very-good teams, with 13 of 15 opponents advancing to the postseason. The Tigers played single-possession games against Auburn, Troy, Louisville, North Carolina State, Florida State and Virginia Tech while losing to Pittsburgh, so it wasn't always pretty. But the Tigers are boosted by winning a classic against Alabama in the playoff championship game with Deshaun Watson 's memorable last-second touchdown to Hunter Renfrow .
8. 2015 Alabama (14-1)
The 2015 Tide finished by beating teams then-ranked No. 1 (Clemson), No. 2 (LSU) and No. 3 (Michigan State), and there's something to be said for that. But Alabama also lost to Mississippi in September and weren't always the most consistent bunch on offense, ending the year 49th nationally in yards per play and 46th in yards per carry. But this group stepped up when it mattered to get past Clemson 45-40 in the title game.
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9. 2014 Ohio State (14-1)
The first champion of the playoff era rocketed into the top four by demolishing Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship and then beat Alabama and Oregon. Ohio State gets credit for winning it all despite losing two starting quarterbacks ( Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett ) and taking the final three games behind third-stringer Cardale Jones . But the Buckeyes lost to Virginia Tech in non-conference play, needed double overtime to top Penn State and weren't always reliable on defense.
10. 2017 Alabama (13-1)
The 2017 team comes in last as the only champion of the playoff era to not even win its own division. Despite losing the Iron Bowl and the SEC West to Auburn, the Tide reached the playoff as the No. 4 seed, beat Clemson in the semifinals and then topped Georgia 26-23 in overtime after making a halftime quarterback change from Jalen Hurts to Tua Tagovailoa .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Which was the best CFP national championship team? We ranked all 10.
