Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP

The best team in the College Football Playoff era is _______?

With the inaugural 12-team CFP getting underway this week, our team at FOX Sports set out to find the answer to that loaded question.

There was the Joe Burrow-led LSU team that averaged nearly 50 points per game on its way to a perfect 15-0 record. There was the 2014 Ohio State team, the first national champions of the CFP era, led by backup quarterback Cardale Jones. And how about the 2023 Michigan Wolverines, a dominant group on both sides of the ball and the winner of the final game of the four-team CFP?

Let's take a look at the 12 most dominant teams in the CFP era up to this point based on our research and what a hypothetical bracket would look like.

Let the debate begin.

12. 2025 Indiana
Record: 13-0
CFP results: N/A

Who would've thought that the Indiana Hoosiers would be a dominant football team? Not only did Curt Cignetti take down the reigning champions in Ohio State in the Big Ten title game, but the Hoosiers are the clear-cut No. 1 team in college football this year. Indiana ranks fifth in the country in scoring (41.9 points per game), second in scoring defense (10.8 points per game allowed), second in point differential (+404), tied for fourth in sacks (39), tied for sixth in takeaways (25) and tied for tenth in explosive plays (127). And let's not forget that the Hoosiers also have this year's Heisman winner in Fernando Mendoza, the first player to win the award in school history. They're set to take on the winner of Oklahoma and Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan 1.

Odds to win title: +290 

11. 2018 Alabama Crimson Tide
Record: 14-1
CFP results: Defeated Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, 45-34; lost to Clemson in the national championship game, 44-16

On