Stanford will probably end up ranked 3rd, TCU was ranked 2nd/3rd last year, and really stupid they weren't 2nd in both polls actually. Makes sense to make it an 8 team playoff when you have teams that are clearly top 2 or 3 after bowls not involved.
Probably for another thread, but can college football afford an 11 game schedule to make room for a Top 8/not playing one more game?
Regular season ends on Thanksgiving weekend and all else follows suit.
I think the last time most teams played 11 games was 2005.
Allen Lazard