Only 1 week remaining until the real,
official, important rankings come out. Until then however, I’ll continue to act
like mine actually matter!
1. Oklahoma Sooners (11-1) Oklahoma has been dominant
recently. They control their own destiny
going into the Big XII Championship Game vs TCU (12:30, FOX), but in all
honesty, I think the Sooners are deserving of a Top 4 Ranking even if they lose
Saturday afternoon.
2. Clemson Tigers (11-1) Clemson, like Oklahoma can still get
into the playoff even with a loss in the ACC Championship Game to Miami (8pm,
ABC). Clemson has conference wins over
Virginia Tech and Louisville and that week 2 win over Auburn keeps looking better
and better.
3. Auburn Tigers (10-2) Auburn is on a roll right now. They are healthy and everything is clicking
for their offense. They dominated
Alabama in the trenches last week, something that is not said very often when
talking about the Crimson Tide. Auburn
will have to beat Georgia (4pm, CBS) for the 2nd time in 4 weeks if
they want into the playoff, otherwise that midseason loss to LSU, which they
blew a 20-0 lead could come back to haunt them.
4. Georgia Bulldogs (11-1) Georgia gets Auburn in their backyard
this time, in Atlanta. If the Bulldogs
can avenge their only loss of the season, they will make their 1st
appearance in the College Football Playoff.
5. Alabama Crimson Tide (11-1) It actually pains me to put Alabama this
high because I don’t think they are actually this good. They have been vulnerable in the trenches all
year and finally played a team that could expose them on Saturday. Alabama needs help to get into the CFB
Playoff, but they are still very much alive.
I don’t like the fact that a team can go without winning their division,
let alone conference and make the playoff, but Ohio State set that precedent
last year. Then again, Ohio State had
some very nice resume wins last year, Alabama doesn’t.
6. Miami Hurricanes (11-1) As much as I enjoyed it, Miami losing
to Pitt last week really screwed things up.
Not only does it really hurt the chances of the ACC getting two teams
into the CFB Playoff (still possible, but not likely), but it also opens to
door for teams like Ohio State and Alabama to get in. Neither in my mind is deserving.
7. Wisconsin Badgers (12-0) All the Badgers have done is win every
game on their schedule. It may have been
an awful schedule, but they are the lone undefeated Power 5 football team with
1 week left before the playoff committee announces their 4 teams. If Wisconsin beats Ohio State (8pm, FOX) in
the Big Ten Championship Game, it will give them a grand total of 1 impressive
win, but that will be enough.
8. TCU Horned Frogs (10-2) I think that TCU is the most underrated
team in playoff discussion. The Horned
Frogs play defense in the Big XII. That
alone should make them stand out, but instead people point out that they don’t
have a dynamic offense like the rest of their conference. The other thing that hurts TCU is that they
don’t have a dynamic win either. Their
road win against Oklahoma State looked a lot better in September, when it
happened, then it does today. Beating OU on Saturday would be a nice
feather in their cap however.
9. Central Florida Knights (11-0) The Knights lead the
nation in scoring and have only Memphis (NOON, ABC) keeping them from an
undefeated regular season. UCF already
beat the Tigers 40-13 this season and will look to duplicate that result on
Saturday.
10. Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2) Ohio State is the odds on favorite to
win the Big Ten (6-6/5 point favorite in Vegas vs Wisconsin), but by no means
does that mean they should get into the CFB Playoff. You have to be held accountable for your
losses and the Buckeyes have 2 big ones.
They lost by 15 at home to Oklahoma, their only possible resume-building
game in the non-conference portion of their schedule. Then they went on the road THIS MONTH and
lost by 31 to an Iowa team that finished with a losing record in the Big Ten
this season. I’m sorry, but I cannot overlook
that loss in particular when selecting my Top 4 teams.
11. USC Trojans (10-2) The schedule has hurt USC repeatedly
this season. Not only did they not get a
BYE week until the very last week of the season, they also missed Washington
and Oregon on their PAC 12 schedule this season, giving them less of a chance
to accrue resume wins. Now they are
looking at a 2nd game against Stanford (8pm FRI, ESPN) in the PAC 12
Championship game instead of possibly revenging a loss to Washington State, a
loss that once again, you could blame on the schedule. USC played Washington State on a short week
as the 2nd part of 2 straight road games. Call it an excuse if you want, but someone
making the PAC12 schedule seems to have had it out for USC this season.
12. Stanford Cardinal (9-3) Stanford is out of the playoff
discussion (think they would like that Week 3 loss to San Diego State back
right now), however they could play spoiler for a 2nd straight
week. USC has a very slim chance at the
playoff already, but a Stanford win would completely eliminate that. Stanford’s win over Notre Dame, eliminated
whatever small hope the Irish had at the playoff.
13. Washington Huskies (10-2) A loss to Stanford 3 weeks ago is the only
thing keeping Washington out of the playoff conversation. Had that game gone differently, it would be
the 1-loss Huskies taking on USC on Friday night with a chance to go back to
the CFB Playoff.
14. Penn State Nittany Lions (10-2) Penn State lost to
the good teams on their schedule and beat the bad ones. That isn’t a bad thing. There are a lot of teams in the country that
wish they had beaten all the bad teams on their schedule. The problem with this is that Penn State
played a lot of bad teams. I can’t think
of a 10-2 team in recent history that was an average as Penn State is this
season.
15. Oklahoma State (9-3) This was supposed to be the year for
Oklahoma State. Mason Rudolph and James
Washington both decided to come back and play their senior years together to
finally win the Big XII. Instead, they
didn’t even make the conference championship game. There can be no other way to describe this
season for the Cowboys than saying it was a disappointment.
16. LSU Tigers (9-3) LSU started the season out
terribly. The Tigers got blown out by
Mississippi State, and then barely beat Syracuse at home, before losing to
Troy. LSU has rattled off 6 of 7 since
that point, including a win over Auburn.
17. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-3) Notre Dame had been
living off a close loss to Georgia for the 1st portion of the
season, then the Irish came out in back to back weeks and punch USC and NC
State in the mouth, with dominating wins.
Unfortunately Miami then did the mouth punching and the Irish haven’t
been the same since. They struggled with
Navy at home, then got run over by Stanford last week, knocking them out of
playoff talk.
18. Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3)
19. Northwestern Wildcats (9-3) Maybe it was their schedule or maybe it
just finally clicked for the 2017 Wildcats, but after losing 3 of their first 5
games, Northwestern has been on a tear.
Winners of 7 straight, Northwestern looks destined for a New Year’s Day
Bowl.
19. Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3) November has not been kind to the Hokies
this season. A 2-2 mark, but more
importantly the offense went into hibernation.
When you average 15 points in 2 wins, you should consider yourself
lucky.
20. Michigan State Spartans (9-3) When Sparty lost to
Notre Dame 38-18 in Week 4, I’m sure people were thinking about last season’s
3-9 season all over again. They righted
the ship however, winning 4 in a row before a 3OT road loss to Northwestern. I’m sure the folks of East Lansing never saw
a 9-3 season coming after that ND game.
21. Fresno State Bulldogs (9-3) Talk about a turnaround. Fresno State didn’t beat an FCS opponent last
year. This year their only losses are to
two teams ranked above them (Alabama and Washington on the road) and a
conference game vs UNLV. Fresno St beat
Boise State in the season finale on Saturday, but will have to beat them again
in the MW Championship Game Saturday night (7:45, ESPN) to claim the conference
title.
22. South Florida Bulls (9-2) The Bulls played right with UCF on
Saturday in the season finale, with the winner going to the AAC Championship
Game, but just fell short.
23. Memphis Tigers (10-1) Memphis will look to avenge their lone
loss of the season, a 40-13 blowout to UCF, on Saturday. If they can, they might also find themselves
in a New Year’s 6 Bowl Game.
24. Washington State Cougars (9-3) I went all in with
Washington State and got burned. The Cougars
had everything in front of them and even had a chance to sneak into the playoff.
All they had to do was win the Apple
Cup. Instead they laid an egg and
Washington won for the 5th straight season.
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