One of the most common complaints during college football's four-team-playoff era was that the same teams were always involved and seemed to be separating themselves from the rest of the sport to a degree. By the Saturday before Thanksgiving, the number of teams with a legitimate playoff chance had gotten awfully low, and the list didn't change all that much from year to year.
Heading into Week 13 this season, 15 teams still have at least a 36% chance of making the 12-team College Football Playoff, per the Allstate Playoff Predictor, and 23 have at least a 9% chance.