Most Important College Football Game for Each Top 25 Team During 2016 Season

Sep 17, 2016; Oxford, MS, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Bo Scarbrough (9) moves past Mississippi Rebels linebacker DeMarquis Gates (3) during the fourth quarter of the game at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Alabama won 48-43. Mandatory Credit: Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports /

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How did each College Football Playoff team get in the final ranking? Click through to see the most important game each Top 25 team played during 2016.

Sometimes it is instantly evident that a game will hold significant weight for the course of the entire season. Other times it is hard to know in real time which games will prove pivotal until everything has rattled out and the regular season has come to a conclusion. Teams that seem like Top 25 fixtures early in the season inevitably tumble out of the running, while others start slowly and ramp up to Top 25 status over the course of the year.

Now that the College Football Playoff selection committee has locked in its final Top 25 rankings of 2016, it is time to look back and see which regular-season games were most important in determining where each team ended up in the hierarchy. Click ahead to see our picks for the make-or-break contests that defined the season for each Top 25 team.

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