By Aaron Jaffe 21’ 

The two best teams in college faced off for the fourth consecutive year on Monday as the Alabama Crimson Tide took on the Clemson Tigers at Levi Stadium for the national championship. Coming in as one of the most dominant teams of recent memory and the first-seeded team in the playoffs, Alabama was a clear favorite to take home back-to-back trophies. Unfortunately for all the gamblers who took Bama to retain their position on top of the football world, Clemson came to play. Once Bama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw a rare pick 6 in the early stages of the first quarter, Clemson never surrendered the lead and put on the most dominant performances against one of the best teams. The Tigers easily won 44-16 and became the national champs for the second time in three years.

The playoff selection slots what the playoff committee believes are the four best teams in college to play for a championship and because of recent snubs of Georgia, Ohio State and UCF, it has led to the question should the playoffs be changed to an elite eight teams instead of just four? This years’ games showed exactly why an expansion would be a mistake. The other two teams in the playoffs this year were Notre Dame and Oklahoma, both solid teams, both teams who got steamrolled by Alabama and Clemson. The powerhouses of college are so far ahead of teams that would fill out an eight-team bracket. Sure, an Alabama-UCF matchup would be fun to talk about and discuss but in the end it would surely be a blowout as outside the two best seeds in college, the other teams just cannot keep up.