December 31 not only marks the eve of 2017, but also is the beginning of the NCAA football playoff between the four best college football teams in the nation. The four teams take part in two semifinal games on New Year’s Eve and the winner from each game plays in the NCAA championship on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida.

The four teams have been chosen by the College Football Playoff Selection Committee based off of criteria such as overall record, conference record, strength of schedule, and wins against Top 25 teams in the nation. The committee chose the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Ohio State University Buckeyes, the Clemson University Tigers, and the University of Washington Huskies to participate in the playoff and compete against each other for the National Championship.

Although there have been no complaints by universities as of yet, this system could prove to be a challenge in the future for the NCAAF Division 1 football.

Many analysts have complained that a four team playoff is not an effective way of deciding which university is the best at the collegiate level in football. Students at RBHS agree.

“If there were more teams in the playoff, it would allow for better competition and a better chance for other teams to win the National Championship,” said Linares.

Teams like the University of Michigan (10-2), University of Oklahoma Sooners (10-2), and the Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2), who are the Big Ten conference champions all were excluded from the playoffs based off of the fact they possessed two losses.

“It isn’t fair to eliminate a team based on one or two results, it should be based on strength of play,” said senior Patrick Goodwin.

Many college football analysts agree with this point, yet no change has been made to the system by the selection committee in charge. This makes it more difficult for teams with harder schedules to make the playoff, as well as teams that may play an easier schedule and have one bad loss.

Despite there being lots of debate on the certain criteria the committee uses to analyze each team and their chances to make the playoff, both Linares and Goodwin agree that the playoff system adds a major level of excitement to college football as well as that the current matchups will be interesting to watch.

Semifinal games start at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 31st, with number one Alabama Crimson Tide playing number four Washington Huskies in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, followed by the number two Ohio State University Buckeyes playing the number three seeded Clemson University Tigers at 6 p.m. in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Both games will be aired on ESPN.