The college football season is probably headed toward Bama-Clemson IV. But until then, let’s create the dumbest, most wonderful possible CFP scenarios.

Let’s face it: we probably know where things are headed.

There is a lot of silliness baked into even the most vanilla of college football cakes, and the 2018 season has some odd twists and turns. In just one week, for instance, we got to see prime-time field-stormings in West Lafayette (Purdue over Ohio State) and Pullman (Washington State over Oregon). That’s fun!

Still, it feels like the end is pre-ordained. The odds of us getting Alabama vs. Clemson in the College Football Playoff for the fourth straight year are high (which may not be as boring as it sounds), and most of the rest of the primary contenders are the bluest of blue-bloods. If you are a fan of a less dynastic team, or if you simply crave something different, then it doesn’t appear that 2018 is for you.

It’s not over yet, though!

The odds are long, but they aren’t zero. If you’re desperate for chaos, we have, with help from a friend, crafted some scenarios to root for. A couple are obvious. Others are not.

Scenario 1: Wazzu crashes the party

At 7-1 and eighth in the CFP rankings, Washington State is the Pac-12’s last hope. If the Cougars win out and get to 13-1, their résumé will include not only a Pac-12 title, but also a win over Washington and potentially two wins over surging Utah.

Granted, that’s not the most amazing résumé. But the Cougs wouldn’t need much help — they’d just need something like Oklahoma and Georgia losing again and Ohio State eking by Michigan. If the Big Ten West champion were to win that conference, all the better.

The odds of all this happening aren’t great. S&P+ gives the Cougs only a 14 percent chance of reaching 11-1, then a 50-50 shot at best of beating the Utes, if they face them, in Santa Clara.

But spoiler: the odds of anything in this post happening aren’t great. The whole point is to dream.

Scenario 2: Kentucky crashes the party

The ninth-ranked Wildcats are hanging on by a thread at the moment, having beaten Vanderbilt and Missouri by basically a combined two plays. Their defense, led by Josh Allen, is spectacular, but their offense is a big, hot mess. They haven’t scored more than 15 points in three games, and the only reason they’re 7-1 is that they haven’t allowed more than 20 in any game.

This joy ride probably ends when the Wildcats host No. 6 Georgia this weekend. BUT ... knowing your identity is a powerful thing, and if UK can slog its way past the Dawgs in front of what will probably be the best Kroger Field crowd a Kroger Field crowd can be, UK will control its own destiny. The remaining games aren’t tough, and if they go 12-1 (which would probably feature a win against No. 1 Alabama), they’re in. The odds of this are probably even worse than “Washington State wins out and gets help,” but again, never tell me the odds.

Alright, those two were obvious. Now let’s get weird.

My friend Justin Moore of Tempo-Free Gridiron creates 50,000 simulations of potential CFB outcomes each week, and he helped to craft some truly, egregiously, Halloween-worthy silliness.

Scenario 3: It’s time, UCF

Perhaps one pleasant surprise emanating from the year’s first rankings reveal was the presence of unbeaten-in-two-years UCF at No. 12. I honestly thought the Knights would start out around 17th or something.

Still, even at 12th, they’re going to need lots of help to ever creep past about seventh. While most of the teams near the top are playing heavyweights down the stretch, UCF is still in the nation’s No. 6 conference, playing out a worst-case scenario. In their last four regular season games, the Knights will face three teams that rank 41st or better in S&P+, and assuming they win their division, they’ll get a top-25 Houston in the AAC title game. Their odds of losing one of these games is pretty high — S&P+ only gives them a 33 percent chance of reaching the conference title game unscathed — and they’ll still receive minimal credit if they dominate.

So let’s find a scenario in which the committee has no choice but to put them in the top four. Like this one:

• UCF wins out.
• Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame all win out.
• Everything else falls apart into a pool of goo.
• Oklahoma and WVU each lose at least once more, and then to assure two-loss OU doesn’t sneak in, WVU beats the Sooners in the Big 12 title game.
• Ohio State loses to Michigan State, then beats Michigan. East champ Michigan, still in decent CFP shape with two losses, loses to West champion Purdue.
• Washington State falls apart, and a three- or four-loss Washington wins the Pac-12 title.
• Georgia beats Kentucky but loses to Auburn, then falls to three losses with a defeat at Alabama’s hands in the SEC title game.

Each individual step seems doable. Wazzu falling apart? Certainly! Ohio State losing to Michigan State? Of course! Auburn doing something unexpected? Totally expected! But it probably all has to happen for UCF to get a true shot.

Scenario 4: Can I interest you in Wazzu and UCF?

UCF probably falls just short in this scenario, but one can dream.

• UCF and Wazzu each win out, finishing 12-0 and 12-1, respectively.
• Clemson runs the table, too.
• The SEC runner-up takes an extra loss along the way.
• Two-loss Oklahoma beats two-loss Texas in the Big 12 title game.
• Notre Dame completely falls apart down the stretch, losing at least twice, preferably three times.

The SEC champ, Clemson, and Wazzu are in, though you probably need Oklahoma to lose a third time to get UCF in, honestly. So um, go Oklahoma State on November 10, I guess.

Okay, now lets get weird to a degree you maybe haven’t comprehended yet.

Scenario 5: Meet Virginia

Oh yes.

• Bronco Mendenhall’s Virginia Cavaliers, currently 25th in the CFP rankings, win out, taking down unbeaten Clemson in the ACC title game to finish 11-2.
• Notre Dame and Alabama win out, with Bama destroying Georgia in the SEC title game.
• UCF falls at least once.
• Two-loss Iowa takes down Ohio State in the Big Ten title game. (We’ll say the Hawkeyes win every remaining game 9-7 or something, thereby allowing the Cavaliers to pass them. Or we’ll just put a three-loss Wisconsin in there instead.)
• A three-loss Oklahoma beats West Virginia in the Big 12 title game, while a three-loss Washington or Washington State beats Utah in the Pac-12 title game.

At that point, the biggest threat to Virginia getting the No. 4 seed, behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Notre Dame, and probably No. 3 Clemson, is Iowa. And hey, Iowa getting into the CFP would be pretty weird in its own right, yeah?

Then there’s this variation, which could produce an SEC-SEC-ACC-ACC playoff:

• UVA wins out, beating Boston College in the ACC title game (the BC part might not be necessary, but it’s fun, so we’re leaving it in) and leaving Clemson at 11-1.
• A one-loss Georgia beats undefeated Alabama in the SEC title game.
• A four-loss Wisconsin wins the Big Ten title game, preferably giving Ohio State its second blowout loss.
• A three-loss Texas wins the Big 12, and a three-loss Washington wins the Pac-12.
• Notre Dame loses twice.

So you could end up with something like UGA-UVA and, of course, Clemson-Bama in the CFP semis.

Scenario 6: No SEC teams!

Here’s one that feels even less likely than “Virginia, CFP participant.” In 3.5 percent of Justin’s simulations, the SEC failed to produce at least one participant. The most common scenario involved something like Alabama losing to both LSU and Auburn, then a two-loss LSU (which fell to Texas A&M) falling to, say, a two-loss Georgia or a two-loss Kentucky, either of which suffered a pretty embarrassing second loss.

The SEC not in the CFP? Okay, that’s too far a walk down the path of imagination. We should just stop there.