Whatever the Hell the 'Allstate Playoff Predictor' Is, It Really Sucks at Predicting the Playoff

With the new College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday came another Allstate Playoff Predictor from ESPN. And I've looked at this over and over again and I still can't figure out for the life of me what the hell is going on here. I don't know if there are any humans involved in the creation of this bad bot or if its all some algorithm, but this thing is broken beyond repair.

So the top spot is correct. Alabama is getting in, even with an SEC Championship Game loss to Florida. But second-likeliest team to reach the Playoff is Ohio State, who — as things currently stand — will finish the regular season with just five games played and is ineligible for its conference title game? Something ain't adding up there, friends.

Notre Dame and Clemson are fine, as the Irish are probably already in barring a beatdown from Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and the Tigers would play themselves in with a payback win over ND. And then we get to No. 5. INDIANA?!

Look, I'm as big a fan of what Tom Allen and the Hoosiers have done this season as anybody. They've had a remarkable year and have absolutely earned a spot in a New Year's Sin bowl game. But anybody who thinks the Indiana Hoosiers will get within a country mile of the College Football Playoff needs to stay off the weed.

Then you have two more legitimate contenders at Nos. 6 and 7 with Texas A&M and Cincinnati — the Aggies far more so than the Bearcats, but whatever — before we get to our next egregious inclusion: USC. If you think Ohio State's five games are going to be a problem, you should take a look at the … checks notes … four wins the Trojans currently have. And those guys are tied with 8-1 Florida, who is unquestionably in with a win over Alabama in the SEC Championship Game? Sure.

And then we throw Coastal Carolina down there at the bottom because why the hell not? This thing sucks so bad I'm actually convinced it's just an elaborate native ad for Allstate. They paid ESPn to make some ridiculous formula to put on the Playoff ranking show to get their name out there. And I suppose it worked to perfection if that was the case.

Whatever. Indiana and USC fans better hope this thing gets considered in a few weeks, I guess.