College Football Playoff Rankings 2023: Official Committee Poll for Final Week

It seems only fitting that in the final year of the four-team College Football Playoff the selection committee had to make arguably its most difficult decision.

There have been other controversial calls throughout the 10 years of the current playoff format that will become a 12-team field starting next season. However, this year's battle between Texas, Florida State and Alabama for the final two spots alongside Michigan and Washington was quite contentious.

There's Alabama with its storied history of success and impressive win over previously No. 1 Georgia to go along with a head-to-head loss to the very Longhorns team it is battling as one of a number of pedestrian performances throughout the season.

Then there's Florida State with an undefeated record but question marks about its ability to compete for a championship without injured quarterback Jordan Travis.

Finally there's Texas, which defeated Alabama but also had by far the easiest matchup of the three in the conference championship games with a matchup against an Oklahoma State team that was blown out earlier this year by South Alabama.

Ultimately, the committee went with Texas and Alabama in the four-team field:

1. Michigan
2. Washington
3. Texas
4. Alabama
5. Florida State
6. Georgia
7. Ohio State
8. Oregon
9. Missouri
10. Penn State
11. Ole Miss
12. Oklahoma
13. LSU
14. Arizona
15. Louisville
16. Notre Dame
17. Iowa
18. NC State
19. Oregon State
20. Oklahoma State
21. Tennessee 
22. Clemson
23. Liberty
24. SMU
25. Kansas State

While the question of whether Alabama would make the CFP was the biggest one going into Sunday's selection show, there were at least some certainties.

Those started with Michigan and Washington, who left no doubt they would be included thanks to undefeated performances throughout the season. The Wolverines still have a sign-stealing scandal hovering over their program, but that didn't stop them from defeating Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa and everyone else that stood in their way in the Big Ten.

And the Huskies proved just how wrong it was to make Oregon a large favorite in the Pac-12 title game with their second victory of the season over the rival Ducks.

It seemed like Oregon might be the Pac-12 team in the CFP when it overcame a 20-3 deficit in Friday's game to take a 24-20 lead heading into the fourth quarter. However, Heisman Trophy candidate Michael Penix Jr. directed two late touchdown drives to give his side its biggest win of the season.

The only real question regarding Michigan and Washington was who would be No. 1, and the honor went to the Wolverines.

After Washington's win, much of the attention for the weekend of conference championship games turned to the SEC showdown between Alabama and Georgia. The Bulldogs are two-time reigning national champions and were a win away from clinching the No. 1 seed and an inside track to a third straight title.

Instead, the Crimson Tide looked nothing like the version of the team that lost to Texas, struggled with 6-6 South Florida, squeaked past 4-8 Arkansas and needed a 4th-and-goal miracle from the 31-yard line to defeat the same Auburn team that got blown out by New Mexico State.

Their head-to-head win over Georgia changed the entire narrative around a team that had an impressive record but didn't seem to be living up to the sky-high bar that is in place every year for a program as dominant as Alabama's.

Yet giving Nick Saban's squad a spot over the same Longhorns team that defeated it head-to-head would have been tantamount to ignoring the result on the field.

The question instead seemed to turn toward whether Alabama would be given the nod over Florida State as Saturday night turned into Sunday morning. An undefeated Power Five conference champion has never missed the CFP in the history of the event, but Travis' injury opened the door to question marks about how the Seminoles stack up to the other contenders.

There is precedent for a team succeeding with a backup quarterback, as 2014 Ohio State lost J.T. Barrett in the final regular season game to injury just to win the national championship with third-stringer Cardale Jones leading the way. However, those Buckeyes defeated No. 13 Wisconsin 59-0 in the Big Ten Championship Game and looked far better than Florida State did beating Florida and Louisville the past two weeks.

The committee went with Alabama this year, but it was a decision that will surely be debated until the CFP games actually start on New Year's Day.