Of the 12 or so teams still in the mix

[HI Cock1]

How many have a legitimate shot to win the NC? And who are they?

 

[Uscg1984]

Honestly, they probably all do. It's not like a team has to be good enough to beat 4 top 12 teams in a row to win the title. Somebody is going to come out of the first round and face a Clemson or Boise State on a neutral site in round 2. While those teams aren't chopped liver, you don't exactly have to be the '72 Dolphins to beat them. And then if an upset or two happens on the other side of the bracket, you may end up playing somebody like a Penn State or an Indiana in the Final Four.

They have introduced enough randomness into the playoff structure that anybody who gets in has a decent chance of winning it all. It will depend a lot of who gets the byes, who is in who's bracket, and the locations of those neutral site games.

 

[18IsTheMan]

I would say 3-4: UGA, Texas, Oregon. Maybe OSU.

BSU, SMU, Big 12 champ, ND, Bama, IU, UT and PSU are not threats to win it all.

 

[PrestonyteParrot]

Honestly, they probably all do. It's not like a team has to be good enough to beat 4 top 12 teams in a row to win the title. Somebody is going to come out of the first round and face a Clemson or Boise State on a neutral site in round 2. While those teams aren't chopped liver, you don't exactly have to be the '72 Dolphins to beat them. And then if an upset or two happens on the other side of the bracket, you may end up playing somebody like a Penn State or an Indiana in the Final Four.

They have introduced enough randomness into the playoff structure that anybody who gets in has a decent chance of winning it all. It will depend a lot of who gets the byes, who is in who's bracket, and the locations of those neutral site games.

This exactly why a team like SC needed to be included in the CFP. Underdog excitement similar to Martin's run to the Final Four.
Even with all the ''hottest team in America'' publicity, I bet the majority of the committee have no clue and have never watched a SC game to find out if the publicity is true and relevant for ranking SC higher.