Photo by Robin Alam/ISI Photos/Getty Images Let’s rank the final eight teams standing in the College Football Playoff by who is most likely to win the national title. And then there were eight. The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff field has been whittled down to the final eight teams, with all eight in action this weekend in the quarterfinals. The games kick off on New Year’s Eve when No. 6 Penn State takes on No. 3 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl. Then three games come your way on New Year’s Day, starting with No. 4 Arizona State taking on No. 5 Texas in the Peach Bowl, followed by No. 1 Oregon against No. 8 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Something about those two teams squaring off in the Rose Bowl just feels right. The New Year’s Day slate concludes with No. 2 Georgia taking on No. 7 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. Here at SB Nation our staff writers each ranked the final eight teams by their chances of winning the title, and after the votes were tallied, here are how we rank the final eight team heading into the quarterfinals. 8. Arizona State Arizona State’s dream run to a Big-12 Championship — in a year they were picked to finish last in the conference — secured a No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff, and a first-round bye. That was the good news. The bad news? They now get to take on Texas, who impressed in their first-round win over Clemson. However, the Sun Devils might have found hope in that game between Clemson and Texas. Clemson QB Cade Klubnik threw for 336 yards and 3 touchdowns in that game, the first time an opposing passer threw for more than 300 yards against the Longhorns in a single game this season, and also the first time an opposing QB threw for three TDs against Texas this year. The Longhorns allowed just seven passing TDs all year, with Klubnik accounting for three of those. Arizona State passer Sam Leavitt has thrown for ten touchdowns — with just one interception — over his last four starts. Granted, Texas will be the best defense he has faced this year, but if he turns in a masterful performance, Arizona State has a shot. Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images 7. Boise State Ashton Jeanty was one of the best college football players in the nation this season. He paced the Broncos with 2,497 rushing yards and 29 touchdowns, numbers that made him the runner up in the Heisman Trophy race to Travis Hunter. Boise State’s offense runs through him, and with good reason. But that gets tougher this week, when the Broncos take on Penn State. The Nittany Lions sport one of the best defenses — and one of the best run defenses — in all of college football. If Boise State can control the line of scrimmage on offense and get Jeanty going, they have a shot in this game. But if not, watch out. 6. Penn State Penn State put in a command performance in their first-round win over SMU. The Nittany Lions held the Mustangs to just 253 total yards en route to their 38-10 win, and that performance is part of the reason Penn State is a big favorite against Boise State in the quarterfinals. The latest ESPN odds have Penn State favored by 11.5 against the Broncos. Another reason that Penn State is considered favorites in this game? As noted above the Fiesta Bowl is a true “strength versus strength” contest. While Boise State has the fifth-best rushing offense in the nation — led in large part by Heisman finalist Ashton Jeanty — Penn State has the seventh-best run defense in the nation, and the fourth-best defense in yards allowed. If Penn State can limit Jeanty, they should move on. Photo by Steve Limentani/ISI Photos/Getty Images 5. Georgia Georgia’s season sweep of the Texas Longhorns — an early-season win in Austin, and then a win in the SEC Championship Game — saw the Bulldogs enter the inaugural 12-team playoff on a high note, ranked No. 2 and holding a first-round bye. But their playoff crystal ball has clouded over since then. Carson Beck’s season-ending surgery means the Bulldogs are turning to backup quarterback Gunnar Stockton for their quarterfinal game against Notre Dame. While Stockton played the entire second half of the SEC Championship Game against Texas, and all but one play in overtime — the game-winning touchdown run where Beck returned to handoff — now he’ll take on one of the best defenses in college football in Notre Dame. With the Fighting Irish having time to prepare for him. If Georgia’s defense can create some turnovers and give Stockton some short fields, the Bulldogs can pull out a win in this game. But they will still need something special from Stockton to advance. 4. Ohio State If you tell the Buckeyes they aren’t playing Michigan under Ryan Day, they’re one of the best teams in the country. In their 42-17 drubbing of Tennessee, they felt more like the dominant Buckeyes we’re used to seeing, dominating through the air and through the ground. All world WR Jeremiah Smith had 103 receiving yards and two touchdowns and they also ran for 156 yards. When they lean into the fact that they have the best receiving core in the nation, they’re truly one of the best teams in college football. The problem is that in some of their biggest games they forget how to play within the margins. It hurt them against Michigan, and it hurt them the first time they played Oregon, a 32-31 loss that saw them literally run out of time. This is when coaching matters, these rematches like we’ll see in the Rose Bowl. For Ohio State to get past the Ducks, Ryan Day is going to have to manage a football game better than he ever has before. Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images 3. Texas When Texas can win using play action and their outside zone run game, they’re one of the best teams in the nation. With LT Kelvin Banks back healthy and the run game working really well, you have more faith in a Longhorns team that embodies the phrase “complimentary football.” They’ll also get WR Isaiah Bond back, which will help in the event that the Longhorns need to pass the ball. However, you worry about this Texas team when QB Quinn Ewers has to drop back and win you the game. Ewers operates the best using play action and without standard dropbacks, masking his inefficiency throwing the ball downfield. If Arizona State can force Ewers into standard dropbacks they can have a shot at winning this game. However, that’s only if they can get the Longhorns to that point. Texas is built for games like this, deep into the season, and that can just be enough. 2. Notre Dame Notre Dame’s impressive first-round win over Indiana is one reason they are high on this list. The other? Their pathway to the semifinals became a little easier over the past few weeks, with confirmation that Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck is out for the playoffs after undergoing surgery on his elbow. That means the Bulldogs are turning to backup quarterback Gunnar Stockton for the remainder of their playoff run. All he will have to navigate is the eighth-best defense in FBS in yards allowed per game, and the third-best scoring defense in all of the FBS. If this defense can make life difficult for Stockton, Notre Dame has a great shot at advancing. Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images 1. Oregon Everything we wrote about the Ducks prior to the first-round games remains true. Oregon has perhaps the most complete team in the field. They have speed to burn on both sides of the football, the most experienced quarterback left in the field in Heisman finalist Dillon Gabriel, and they are coming off not just a bye week, but extra time to prepare for a rematch against a team they have already defeated this season. While their victory back in October was a one-point win at home, and Ohio State was able to move the football both on the ground and in the air, the Ducks are in a very strong position heading into the Rose Bowl.

Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images Meaningless wins for several teams has completely changed the face of the draft. The NFL should be largely set by Week 17. We know the elite teams, the playoff-likely, as well as those on the bubble. We know who is good, and who is bad — and we have a pretty good idea of what the draft order will be for April. Well, that’s what normally happens. The final week of NFL football for 2024 threw everything into absolute chaos when it comes to the 2025 NFL Draft picture. Largely meaningless wins by the Giants, Jaguars and Raiders caused a cataclysmic shift in the Top 10, and now have a draft order that is monumentally different than it was a week ago. The New England Patriots now have the keys to the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, and here’s a comparison of the changes that took place on Sunday. As it pertains strictly to the Top 5: Patriots move from No. 2 to No. 1 Titans move from No. 4 to No. 2 Browns move from No. 5 to No. 3 Giants move from No. 1 to No. 4 Jaguars move from No. 3 to No. 5 Of course there’s some value to winning meaningless games when you’ve been eliminated from playoff contention. Victories on Sunday could very well have saved the jobs of Brian Daboll, Doug Pederson, and Antonio Pierce — but while it’s nice for coaches to keep their jobs, from 30,000 feet these wins unquestionably damaged the organizations. There is a substantial difference moving down a pick or two inside the Top 5, especially when it comes to future plans. Nobody was more disrupted on Sunday than the New York Giants. Within the span of three days this team went from fans photoshopping Shedeur Sanders into Big Blue, to now being forced to wonder if they’ll be able to take a quarterback at all in April. That is a very real scenario, and one Giants fans will need to cope with now. Obviously the Patriots won’t take a QB at No. 1 after taking Drake Maye a year ago, but this now gives them option to trade out to a QB-desperate team, or the more-intriguing prospect of taking Colorado CB/WR Travis Hunter. Even if we assume Hunter’s snap count will be down in the NFL over college, the idea of him being an occasional deep threat on offense while beefing up the New England secondary across from Christian Gonzalez is too great to pass up. Now we get to the back-to-back quarterback teams. Surely the Titans have to see the writing on the wall when it comes to Will Levis. They took a flier on him in 2023, and it didn’t pan out. All things considered the 2nd round pick risk was minimal considering the upside, and Levis has simply been too inconsistent to have any faith in moving forward. That would potentially open the door for someone like Miami QB Cam Ward with the No. 2 overall pick — yes, jumping Sanders who is the presumptive QB1 in many eyes. A young offensive coach like Brian Callahan will likely value a more consistent signal caller who can follow his script over Sanders’ more improvisational, boom-or-bust play style. Then we have the Browns, who crave someone with Sanders’ playmaking ability under center. With an established offense and a solid coach at the helm in Kevin Stefanski this team could absolutely harness that potential and nurture him into being a special player. Now we’ve reached the Giants. Without a QB on the board they’re likely pressured into taking a really good player like WR Tetairoa McMillan or CB Will Johnson — but neither will transform the organization. It would take a future 1st and more to move the Patriots off the No. 1 pick in a potential trade, meaning this one sad win in late December either costs New York from finding their future QB, or rolling the dice in a less-than-stellar class on a player who might not be worth trading up for. Make no mistake, the fall hurts a little for the Raiders and Jaguars as well, but not nearly to the same level. The Raiders had fallen outside of the QB picture anyway without a trade, while the Jaguars saw their Travis Hunter dreams evaporate before Week 17 anyway, and they’ll likely bolster their defensive line, which is wide open inside the Top 10. If you’re a fan of Pyrrhic victories then there’s probably a positive you can pull out of the Giants blowing up their draft position to knock out the Colts. It might feel good right now, but the damage of this win will echo for several years in New York and beyond. Now let’s spin around the rest of the NFL to check out the winners and losers from Week 17. Winner: The 2020 Carolina Panthers’ quarterback room It was a big old day for two guys who appeared to be washed up in Carolina. Baker Mayfield demolished his former team and keep the Buccaneers in playoff contention, while Sam Darnold’s heroics led the Vikings to a season-affirming win over the Packers. It’s nice to see good things happen to good people. Both Darnold and Mayfield handled their disastrous time in Carolina under Matt Rhule with the utmost professionalism in impossible circumstances. A bad team, a horrible coach, horrific weapons. Nothing was right on that Panthers team. Now these guys are showing the potential they displayed leading up to the 2018 NFL Draft when they were taken with the No. 1 and No. 3 picks respectively. There’s never been a greater example of why fit is often more important than ability than Mayfield and Darnold being cast off by multiple teams to now find their footing on elite teams that a thriving because of them. Winner: Saquon Barkley and his 101 yards to history All that’s standing between Saquon Barkley and an immortal season is the woeful Giants defense and coach Nick Sirianni potentially resting him. Barkley had another mammoth day on Sunday, rushing for 167 yards in another Eagles win. A big day against the Cowboys was his biggest stumbling block towards Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record, and now he’s poised to break the mark, which has stood for 40 years. Hitting that goal wouldn’t just be monumental in terms of the NFL, but could also be the kind of eye-popping record which could lead to a running back winning the MVP award for the 2024 season. Winner: Mac Jones This is purely for selfish Mac Jones purposes. Someone out there is going to see Jones perform well in Jacksonville and wonder if he could be the next Mayfield or Darnold. It’s enough to save his career and take him to be something more than a backup. With a dearth of QB talent in this draft watch someone roll the dice on him. Loser: Aaron Rodgers I don’t care if Aaron Rodgers wants to come back to New York — do the Jets even want him? It was another haphazard, crummy performance from the Jets’ ‘savior,’ who has been given absolutely everything he wanted and can’t do a thing with it. Sure, you can bend over backwards to handwave this away as “it was against the Bills,” but here’s a list of the QBs who have performed better against Buffalo this season than Aaron Rodgers: Kyler Murray Trevor Lawrence Lamar Jackson C.J. Stroud Mason Rudolph Geno Smith Tua Tagovailoa Patrick Mahomes Matthew Stafford Jared Goff Drake Maye If you want a guy who’s worse that that list of guys, Aaron Rodgers has got you covered. Loser: Shane Steichen Steichen came to the Colts with a weight of expectation that he would get the team over the hump and become a consistent playoff squad. On paper a 9-7 season followed by a 7-9 record shouldn’t be enough to lose a head coaching job — but blowing your playoff hopes against the hapless Giants will turn heads. Now Steichen is having to answer questions about his future and his seat is hot when it never seemed it could go that way.

Tiger Woods during the final round of the 2023 PNC Championship. | Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images In honor of Tiger Woods’ 49th birthday on Dec. 30, SB Nation’s Playing Through ranked his five best seasons all-time. Tiger Woods has had an incredible career. He has won 15 major championships, triumphed 82 times on the PGA Tour, and won professionally 110 times overall. Consequently, Woods is regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He has the resume to make that case, although Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors during his illustrious career. Nevertheless, in honor of Woods’ 49th birthday on Dec. 30, Playing Through decided to rank the best five seasons from his remarkable career: 5. 2008 Getty Images Tiger Woods reacts to his birdie make on the 72nd hole at the 2008 U.S. Open. Tournaments Won: 5 Majors Won: U.S. Open The beginning of his 2008 season was nothing short of amazing. He began the year at Torrey Pines in late January and won the Buick Invitational for a sixth time. Two weeks later, he arrived at the Dubai Desert Classic and showed the world why he was the best. He won that event, too—one of the marquee events on the DP World Tour. Then, in a completely different format, Woods won the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona. He crushed Stewart Cink 8 & 7 in the final round for his third straight title. But he was not done. At Bay Hill in March, Woods famously sank a 25-foot birdie putt to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It would mark his fifth straight victory. Woods then finished runner-up to Trevor Immelman at the 2008 Masters. After his trip to Augusta National, Woods announced he needed surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee. But he wanted to win the U.S. Open, which was scheduled to be held at Torrey Pines for the first time that June. Alas, Woods arrived in Southern California with a torn ACL and a stress fracture—and won. In perhaps the greatest U.S. Open ever, Woods holed a 12-footer on 18 to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate. He won the title the next day. He spent the rest of the year recuperating his leg, thus foregoing the rest of the season. 4. 2005 Getty Images Tiger Woods and his caddie Steve Williams celebrate after he chipped in on the 16th hole at the Masters. Tournaments Won: 7 Majors Won: Masters, Open Championship The 2005 Masters tournament marked Woods’ return to major championship lore. His third victory at Augusta National was his first major triumph in almost three years, which, at the time, seemed like an eternity for him. This tournament is best remembered by his second shot on the par-3 16th hole, which trickled down the slope and just fell in the hole for a birdie. “In your life! Have you ever seen anything like that!?” Verne Lundquist, veteran CBS Sports announcer, famously exclaimed after this shot. Woods went on to defeat Chris DiMarco in a playoff. He also won The Open at St. Andrews later that year by five strokes. Woods has called The Old Course his favorite in the world, as he triumphed there for a second time. On top of his two major victories, Woods won four other times on the PGA Tour, three of which came on courses he has historically dominated: Torrey Pines, Doral in Miami, and Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. Then, in October, Woods won a World Golf Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, defeating John Daly in a playoff. He then won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan the following month. The former Stanford Cardinal also recorded 13 top-10 finishes in 2005, which included a solo second finish at the U.S. Open. Pinehurst No. 2 hosted that year and will do so again in 2024. 3. 2002 Getty Images Tiger Woods emerged victorious at Bethpage Black, site of the 2002 U.S. Open. Tournaments Won: 6 Majors Won: Masters, U.S. Open Another year, another set of major championships. Tiger won the Masters for a second consecutive year in 2002, thus becoming the first player since Nick Faldo in 1989 and 1990 to win back-to-back green jackets. He easily won at Augusta National, cruising to a three-shot victory over Retief Goosen. Later that year, he won at Bethpage Black by three shots over Phil Mickelson, thus giving the left-hander another runner-up finish at the U.S. Open. Woods, incredibly, was the only player under par. But in between the Masters and the U.S. Open, Woods took a trip across the pond to Germany, where the Deutsche Bank Players Championship of Europe awaited him. He went on to defeat Colin Montgomerie in a playoff at the Gut Kaden Golf Club. Woods began the year with back-to-back made cuts. He did not fare well at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship but bounced back with a solo second at Doral. Two weeks later, he finally emerged victorious at Bay Hill. He went on to win again later that year at the Buick Open in August, a tournament held the week before the PGA Championship. Then, Woods finished one stroke behind Rich Beem at Hazeltine in the season’s final major. But he would emerge victorious again in 2002, at the WGC-American Express Championship in Ireland. Woods finished at 25-under par to finish one stroke ahead of Retief Goosen. 2. 2006 Photo by John Walton/Getty Images Tiger Woods lifts the Claret Jug after winning the 135th Open Championship. Tournaments Won: 9 Majors Won: The Open, PGA Championship Only one word can describe Tiger’s 2006 season: dominant. He began the season by defeating José María Olazábal and Nathan Green in a playoff at Torrey Pines. One week later, he flew across 13 time zones to Dubai, where he defeated Ernie Els in a playoff at the Dubai Desert Classic. Jet lag did not affect Woods then. He emerged victorious again at Doral, notching his third professional victory in as many months. But after finishing in a tie for third at the Masters, Woods took a hiatus from golf due to his father’s deteriorating health. Earl Woods, the man who taught his son the game and who served as his mentor, passed away on May 6, 2006, at the age of 74. His son did not make a start anywhere until mid-June. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, marking his first missed cut at a major as a professional. But he stormed back with a vengeance at Royal Liverpool, relying on his brilliant iron play to strategically avoid all of Hoylake’s pot bunkers. He went on to win The Open for a second straight year. After the final putt dropped, he buried his head into his caddy Steve Williams’ arms, pouring out waves of emotions, knowing that this was his first major win without his father there. Woods went on to win five more times that year, including the PGA Championship at Medinah. 1. 2000 John G. Mabanglo/Getty Images Tiger Woods putts during the final round of the 2000 U.S. Open. Tournaments Won: 10 Majors Won: U.S. Open, The Open, PGA Championship Woods’ performance in 2000 was the most remarkable season in golf history. He started by winning the Tournament of Champions in Maui, then the AT&T Pebble Peach Pro-Am, which served as a harbinger of things to come. In March, Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the first time at Bay Hill. He would go on to win Arnie’s event seven more times, with his last victory there coming in 2013. He then finished fifth at the Masters, won by Vijay Singh. That would mark the only major Woods did not win in 2000. But before his historic performance at the U.S. Open, Woods won again—this time at Jack’s Place. He won the Memorial Tournament for a second straight year. Following his win in Ohio, Woods went back to Pebble Beach, where he put on a performance for the ages. He won by 15 strokes—the most dominant performance in major championship history. Tiger finished at 12-under. His next closest pursuers, Ernie Els and Miguel Ángel Jiménez, finished at 3-over. “I can’t say I foresaw him winning by 15,” veteran NBC announcer Roger Maltbie told Golfweek in 2019. “It was probably the greatest performance in a major championship of all time.” Tiger did not stop there. He dominated St. Andrews en route to winning his first Claret Jug. He won golf’s oldest major by eight strokes that July, with Els again finishing runner-up. Less than a month later, Woods won the PGA Championship at Valhalla. But this time, he needed to win in thrilling fashion. He finished the final 12 holes in 7-under to force a playoff with Bob May, which was nothing short of epic. But Woods emerged victorious, thus becoming the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one calendar year. And yet, he was not done. He went on to win at Firestone the following week by 11 strokes. Then, he won the Canadian Open in September. To finish the season, Woods captured the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand, where his mother hails from. There is no doubt that golf will never see a performance like this ever again. Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images The New England Patriots are on the verge of clinching the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft There is a new clubhouse leader in the race for the first-overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. The New England Patriots. Saturday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers dropped the Patriots to just 3-13 on the season, the first result New England needed to slide to the top of the draft board. The Patriots got two more results to break their way in the race for the first pick when both the New York Giants and the Las Vegas Raiders won games on Sunday. At the moment four teams — the Patriots, the Tennessee Titans, the Cleveland Browns, and the Giants — have matching 3-13 records. But by their strength of schedule, which at .465 is the lowest of those four teams, the Patriots are now holding the first-overall pick. The highest their strength of schedule could rise after next week is .481, which would still be lower than the Titans’ strength of schedule (.513 right now), the Giants’ strength of schedule (.551 right now), and the Browns’ strength of schedule (.540). While Giants fans might be frustrated with Sunday’s win, which moved them out of the top spot, New York is still in line for a pick at the top of the draft. The Raiders’ win, however, dropped them down to No. 8 in the first round. A loss in Week 18 would clinch the first-overall pick for New England. However, they are facing a Buffalo Bills team that has clinched the No. 2 seed in the AFC, and may decide to rest their starters for the playoffs. Here is the current draft order for the 2025 NFL Draft:

Think you can figure out what NFL player we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out. We’re back for another day of the SB Nation in-5 daily trivia game, and we’re returning to our system of a new article each day for the game. We tried using a single article for the game, updated with the latest game each day, but it was creating a bit of an unwieldy experience in the comments. So, we’ll have the current day’s game plus the previous three days in each new article. That way, you can catch up if you miss a day. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! What we need from you Play the game Share your result in the comments and on social media Provide feedback (Google Form or in comments below) See SB Nation in-5 game instructions below the game. Today’s SB Nation in-5 game Sunday’s SB Nation in-5 game Saturday’s SB Nation in-5 game Friday’s SB Nation in-5 game SB Nation in-5 instructions The goal of the game is to guess the correct random NFL player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED PLAYERS this week. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the SB Nation layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day. After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media. We won’t go into other details about the game as we’d like your feedback on it. How it plays, what you think of it, the difficulty level, and anything else you can think of that will let us know what you think and how we can improve the game. You can provide feedback in the comments of this article, or you can fill out this Google Form. Enjoy!