On Your Mark: Clemson at No. 1, and my stab at now and future College Football Playoff rankings

Do they come out this week? … That’s been my question every Saturday night for the past month.

And this week? Why yes, they do. Tuesday, at 7 p.m.

I’m talking, of course, about the first College Football Playoff rankings. It’s finally time for me to preview them, and even make a prediction that has an almost 100 percent chance of being wrong. But hey, you won’t remember what I guessed. Unless, that is, I get my guesses 100 percent right, and I unabashedly remind you of that fact.

If I get them wrong, well, you’ll probably never hear about it again.

My guess for the first rankings

No. 1: Clemson … Best resume, dominant wins

No. 2: Ohio State … Until the Buckeyes lose, can’t keep them out. But exactly zero quality wins this season

No. 3: LSU … Best win overall (vs. Florida), a big man named Fournette

No. 4: TCU … There is a lot to be concerned with if you’re a Big 12 school, but Trevone Boykin and the Horned Frogs will be in if they can run the table (as you’ll see, I don’t think they do)

My guess for the playoff

No. 1: Ohio State … the Buckeyes have to beat Michigan State to get in, and I think they do. Cardale Jones had the carpet yanked out from under him, but he’ll stand back up and remind everyone why he was all the rage heading into the year. Oh yea, and ZEEEEEEEK.

No. 2: Clemson … Florida State is the Tigers’ only real obstacle remaining (sorry USC fans, but it’s true), and this team has all the makings of a freight train. That’s the last feather they’ll need. That and an ACC Championship.

No. 3: Alabama …Derrick Henry, meet Leonard Fournette. I think we know who has the edge, although it’s not as steep as many might want to believe. Unfortunately for LSU, the rest of the team also has to meet Alabama, and Nick Saban’s squad just has the edge. If the Crimson Tide take the game Saturday and Ole Miss doesn’t run the table, this is a given. If Ole Miss finds a way past LSU itself and into the SEC Championship, things get a bit more complicated. Even if they don’t qualify for the SEC title, the Tide may just be too good to keep out.

No. 4: Stanford … The Cardinal may seem like an odd pick – and unless you stay up until 2 a.m. to watch the majority of their games like I do, you may not have seen them at all – but this is a legitimately good team. A lot of this will come down to a slugfest with Notre Dame in the last week of the season, and that annual showdown with Oregon is always interesting, but their only loss came at the hands of a great defense in Northwestern early in the season, and where there’s a McCaffrey, there’s a way.

But don’t worry what I think, or even what the playoff committee thinks for that matter. We don’t have a large sample size, but if you want to take a look at last year’s inaugural rankings, they weren’t exactly sparkling in their foresight.

▪ Week 10, 2014: No. 1 Mississippi State; No. 2 Florida State; No. 3 Auburn; No. 4 Ole Miss

That’s a 25 percent success rate. Jameis Winston and his then-undefeated Florida State squad was the only team to make it out of those four. So if you’re say, a Clemson fan who gets snubbed, don’t swear off college football, just wait for the other teams to drop.

Of note

It’s the last week of the regular season for many area high school football teams. Get a look at the recap from last week here. The matchup of the week will be Carolina Forest at Conway. ... There are just three races remaining in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, and things are getting interesting. This week will feature the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motorspeedway (2 p.m., NBC). ... It will be a week of dueling PGA Tour events, with the Sanderson Farms Championship at The Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi, and the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai China. Last year, Bubba Watson scored a thrilling playoff win over Tim Clark in China, holing out a bunker shot on the final regulation hole to force extras. Watson will be in the field again this season. The first rounds for both events are Thursday.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 9:23 AM with the headline "On Your Mark: Clemson at No. 1, and my stab at now and future College Football Playoff rankings."