I would go
1) Bama
2) OSU
3) Washington
4) Clemson
with Michigan at 5.
Everyone keeps arguing if Washington should be in, when really I think Clemson should be the team on the edge of their seat. If you look at the entire body of work Clemson lost to Pitt at home, only beat Troy by 6 at home, had to go to OT to beat NC St who missed the GW field goal at the end of regulation, and then they look unimpressive against Va Tech in the conference championship.
As for Penn St, congrats you won the Big 10 championship, you deserve to go to the Rose Bowl which the Big 10 covets anyways. Sorry, but they're not a top 4 team.
Ohio St. absolutely deserves to be in, they destroyed Oklahoma in Norman, beat Michigan, made Nebraska look like a JV team, beat Wisconsin on the road and their one loss is off a blocked field goal taken for a touchdown on the road...
As for Washington, I was impressed with their complete domination of Stanford, beat up a good football team in Washington St at Pullman and dismantled Colorado. One loss is to a USC team who a lot of people believe is one of the 5 best teams in the nation.