It's all but settled...

LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, Oklahoma.... 

This is how it likely looked a couple of months back and while things ebbed and flowed throughout the year, it came back to these four teams. The only real question is whether or not LSU overtook Ohio State as the CFP number one team.

Both the media and the coaches poll have had LSU number one for several weeks, so arguments from those same voters that LSU passed up Ohio State may not be as cut and dried as they are making it out to be. Definitely LSU played a better game full game on Saturday, but Ohio States second half against a top eight team was impressive as well. A lot will depend on how close those two teams were coming into the weekend.

The trouble (if you want to use the subjective reasoning) here that there is an argument that Georgia (and especially Fromm) played a fairly poor game by Georgia standards. They had dropped passes, Fromm missed wide open receivers, they had turnovers, missed field goals, and quite frankly battled with injuries. Their best offensive player played intermittently, a key wide receiver sat out the first half, and they were forced (on the biggest of stages) to play some players that otherwise ride the bench. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where Georgia could have run up a first half lead on LSU had they just made the plays that they normally make.

On the flip side Wisconsin played out of their heads in that first half and it is always difficult to beat the same team twice (just ask Oklahoma). I don't think there can be any question that Wisconsin would have beaten Georgia had the two of them played yesterday. Wisconsin was extremely sharp and had a great game plan, while Georgia was beaten up, didn't seem to have any answers, and lacked the fire you might expect.

As a Minnesota fan, I find the home loss to Wisconsin to be much more palatable after watching the first half of the Big Ten Championship. But at the end of the day, Ohio State simply used their superior athleticism and let their raw talent take over in the second half.

The battle for number one is important because both Ohio State and Clemson would prefer to avoid Clemson till the championship game, and both would rather play closer to home in that first round. On the flip side, you have to beat the best to be the best, so maybe it really shouldn't matter.