The 2016 College Football Playoffs are here. Four teams have battled it out to be the best of the best in college football with Alabama looking to defeat Clemson in the national title game two years in a row. This is the third year of the college football playoffs with the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the first ever college football playoffs by defeating the Oregon Ducks 42-20. Then the aforementioned Alabama Crimson Tide went on to win the next year defeating the Clemson Tigers 45-40. With the first two years being won by two different schools we wonder who will win the third year of the college football playoffs.

With both Alabama and Ohio State making another appearance to the college football playoffs, Ohio St. was looking to reassert Big 10 dominance over the SEC. We also can’t forget about the two other teams that were in the hunt to win their first ever National Championship. Clemson is making a comeback in the college football playoffs after losing a heart-breaker last year to Alabama in the National Championship. The Pac 12 champion Washington Huskies were also looking to make some noise after qualifying for their first ever College Football Playoff appearance. The Madisonian recently polled 60 students and faculty for their expectations on the outcome of the playoff. Here are the results:

Alabama cruised their way to the no. 1 seed in the college football playoffs and MCHS has chosen Alabama as the favorite to win getting 36.7% of the votes. Bama’s dominance is a surprise to many of our eyes because of the type of year Alabama had with spectacular freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts orchestrating the offense. On the other side of the ball, they have an elite defense that hasn’t been seen in college football for years. Alabama is the clear cut favorite to take home the National Championship trophy.

Sitting at the no. 2 spot is the Clemson Tigers. Clemson has had a spectacular year with Heisman Quarterback finalist Deshaun Watson. While excelling on the offensive side of the ball, they have had some trouble on the defensive side. Hardnosed, physical linebacker Ben Boulware has been the heart and soul of this defense, and for them to compete with the Crimson Tide, they will need him to be at the top of his game.

Ohio State crept on Clemson’s door in our poll at the no. 3 spot and had a very good year. After losing a tough game to Penn State 24-21, they picked up the slack and played much better on both sides of the ball. With J.T. Barrett at quarterback and a top receiving corps led by Curtis Samuel, they had no worries on the offensive side of the ball. Their defense played much better down the stretch, but Clemson was too much for them to handle in their match-up. The Buckeyes put up a stinker losing 31-0.

Washington surprised many college football fans sneaking in at no. 4.  Although Washington has taken on the underdog role much of the season, that hasn’t stopped their high powered offense from keeping them rolling. A big reason for their success was quarterback Jake Browning who won the Pac-12 player of the year and was one of the top passing quarterbacks in the nation. He’s arguably the best quarterback Bama faced all year, but the Tide juggernaut was too much for Washington, defeating them handily 24-7.

Peanut’s Picks before the playoff:

Predictions: Alabama-35, Washington-6

                       Clemson-24, Ohio State-17

Final Game:   Alabama-24, Clemson-14
      Alabama Crimson Tide will be your 2016-2017 FBS National Champions