The College Football Playoff Selection Committee can do whatever it wants.
Remember that this weekend when your team does or doesn't make the Football Four. Remember that with the potential for three Big Ten teams playing for the national championship.
Remember that when you read this CFP selection document. It is essentially the playoff's Book of Genesis.
"How to select the four best teams," it says at the top of Page 1. But the doc itself is merely "protocol" containing "guidelines," which are meant to be vague enough to remind you the committee can do whatever it wants. Significantly, the word "rule" does not appear in it.
So, how the committee arrives at those four best teams remains an interesting, tantalizing, confounding moving target as we head into the season's final weekend.
"Nuanced mathematical formulas," the doc declares, "ignore some teams who 'deserve' to be selected."
Deserve? Consider a can of worms opened.
What's "deserving" when it's possible for a third-place team from the Big Ten East (Michigan) to get in over the Pac-12 champion (if it's Colorado)?
What's "deserving" when a team that has lost two of its past three (Michigan) would be in over another (Colorado) that would have won seven in a row and beaten three straight ranked teams -- one of them (Washington) in the top five?
Oh yeah, there's that head-to-head. The Wolverines beat the Buffaloes 2½ months ago.
Remember "deserving" if Ohio State is able to celebrate a CFP berth from its couch. The Buckeyes' regular season is complete.
Remember that the New Year's Six field might not even be complete by Sunday.
Remember, again, the committee can do whatever it wants in deciding the four best teams to play for the 2016 national championship.
To them, there is no right or wrong. It's selling the process. Will we accept it?
Eight things to know ahead of the final week of the regular season ...
1. Ohio State and Alabama are in: Right? The committee hasn't ranked the Buckeyes at No. 2 for three straight weeks to leave them out now. Sorry, Nick. Alabama can afford to lose to Florida. That makes the SEC Championship Game as close to an exhibition as there is.
The CFP folks are saying it without saying it: Ohio State is not only the best team in the Big Ten (without winning it) but the second-best team in the country.
What will change Sunday when it will be eight days since the Buckeyes have played? Ohio State will make the CFP for the second time in three years.
2. Chalk bracket possible: If the three teams in the top four playing this week all win, you already may be looking at the bracket. Let's get ahead of ourselves, then.
No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Washington on Dec. 31 in Atlanta; No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Clemson on Dec. 31 in Glendale, Arizona.
3. Big Ten toss up: Either the winner of the Big Ten Championship Game gets a hearty handshake and a trip to the Rose Bowl or all hell breaks loose in Indianapolis.
The Penn State-Wisconsin winner needs at least Clemson or Washington to lose to have a chance. And that's all it would be -- a chance.
Michigan owns regular-season wins over both teams. But how fair would it be if the Wolverines get in over the Big Ten champ that put its season on the line by playing the game while Michigan sits at home?
If a spot opens in the top four, Wisconsin has at least as good a case as Penn State. If the Badgers beat the Nittany Lions, they will have played six top-10 teams (at the time of kickoff) and beaten four of them.
The only losses are to Ohio State and Michigan. Meanwhile, Penn State has beaten Ohio State and lost to Michigan (by 39). My brain is starting to hurt.
4. Set your VCRs to Pac-12: What says prime-time football like a 9 p.m. ET Friday start for the Pac-12 Championship Game? Still, Colorado-Washington is emerging as potentially the sexiest of the championship games this weekend.
The Buffs are more than a touchdown underdog but remain potentially the best story of the weekend.
If CU can pull off the upset, the Armageddon scenario begins to unfold. The Big Ten champion, Michigan, the Big 12 winner and Colorado would all at least be in the discussion.
Washington coach Chris Petersen seldom lets anyone really know his program whether at Boise State or U-Dub. What's left is the Pac-12 coach of the year (CU's Mike MacIntyre) vs. the Pac-12's team of the year.
The committee hasn't valued the Pac-12 all season. Worst-case Pac-12 scenario: If Colorado wins, it's possible the conference misses the CFP for the second straight year.
5. SEC implications? What SEC implications? Jim McElwain is feeling underappreciated. He should be. Despite the SEC being at a modern-day low, Florida's coach has won the East in each of his first two seasons. There is something to be said for that. Mainly, Florida and the SEC East both have to get better.
Atlanta is not the place to get well. The Gators come to the Georgia Dome with the equivalent of an NCAA probation's worth of injuries -- 12 scholarship players out, including as many as seven starters. The task of upsetting No. 1 was daunting enough. It seems near impossible with the injuries.
As much as Nick Saban wants to admonish reporters, his biggest task Saturday is keeping everyone healthy and collecting SEC ring No. 7.
6. The opposite of Clemsoning: A Clemson win in the ACC Championship Game could put the Tigers and Crimson Tide on the field together for the second consecutive year.
The problem for Deshaun Watson in 2016 is being compared to the Deshaun Watson of 2015. Watson hasn't been as good, but he's getting there. The Clemson quarterback had a monster November -- 1,300 passing yards, 76 percent completion rate.
Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente is going to need a monster game out of his quarterback, Jerod Evans. His November included a loss to Georgia Tech, but that's the Hokies' only defeat in their past six games.
7. Bedlam is still Bedlam: It's going to take a near-impossible series of events for the Oklahoma-Oklahoma State winner to get to the Promised Land.
Why? The conversation for the winner getting to the playoff doesn't even begin unless Clemson and Washington lose. Even then, either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State would be compared to Colorado, Michigan and either Wisconsin or Penn State for a spot.
The Cowboys own the Big 12's best nonconference win, Sept. 17 over Pittsburgh. They also own one of the season's most controversial losses -- Sept. 10 vs. Central Michigan.
Oklahoma scheduled up but also lost those games to Houston and Ohio State. Since then, the Sooners have won eight in a row while playing only one currently ranked team (West Virginia).
Bob Stoops goes after his 11th Big 12 title in 18 years. Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield goes after a Heisman Trophy invite.
8. Group of Five battle is on: The season doesn't necessarily end this weekend for Cotton Bowl hopefuls Navy and Western Michigan. Both have to win to most likely extend the CFP's decision to after the Army-Navy game on Dec. 10.
The important question: Will this be P.J. Fleck's last game for the Broncos if he has a new job by next week?
