Cover photo taken from Tennessee Athletics.
We’ve reached November, which means college football is entering its home stretch, and the College Football Rankings will be released every Tuesday from now until Selection Sunday. The first iteration brought some storylines, both expected and unexpected, as we head into the biggest weekend of the season thus far. Here are some of my thoughts on Tuesday night’s rankings.
Expected Top 3, Unexpected Order
We all know that Tennessee, Ohio State, and Georgia are the top three teams in the country. The order of those three has been debated for several weeks now. A lot of people love Ohio State’s offensive talent and improved defense and have them on top. CJ Stroud is playing like a Heisman favorite and Marvin Harrison Jr. has emerged as perhaps the best WR in the nation. Many continue to ride Georgia’s excellence despite some struggles. They have played the best defense of anyone in college football and deserve their flowers on both sides of the ball. And Tennessee has taken the world by storm with their top ranked offense led by Heisman favorite QB Hendon Hooker. I personally think the balance of the Buckeyes makes them the #1 team, but the committee went Vols, Bucks, Dawgs, and I honestly understand. I’m not upset at all; the Volunteers have been incredible all year long and boast the country’s best win in their 52-49 thriller over Alabama, who clocked in tonight at #6 in the rankings. Georgia being ranked 3rd was a bit surprising, but felt warranted thanks to some unnecessary tough wins against Missouri and Kent State. Most of the debate over this top 3 is pointless, seeing as though Tennessee travels to Athens to take on Georgia this Saturday (3:30 PM EST, CBS), and the winner of that game will likely be ranked #1 until the SEC Championship Game. I think the loser of that game will still rest in the top 5 or so (if Tennessee loses I don’t see how they fall below Alabama) unless it’s a complete blowout, which itself feels unlikely. Ohio State needs to win out and they’ll be just fine, although I feel like them being ranked #1 at any point feels unlikely for the reason I just mentioned. We all know the game that matters the most for them.
Clemson vs. Michigan vs. TCU
The other three unbeatens have had very interesting seasons up to this point. Clemson has put together a solid resume over wins against currently ranked teams like Wake Forest, NC State, and Syracuse. But, they’ve also had a ton of offensive struggles and have a weird situation going on at QB right now with DJ Uiagalelei and Cade Klubnik. The committee is valuing their resume apparently and slotting them in the 4 spot, and considering how awful their remaining schedule is, it’s hard to see them missing out on the Playoff. Michigan has looked the part after a CFP appearance last year, running all over opponents with Heisman candidate RB Blake Corum, but have an incredibly weak strength of schedule weighed down by one of the worst non-conference schedules you’ll ever see. However, the committee thinks they pass the eye test, which is fair. Their offense has been great and their defense is somehow better than last year. They only have two real tests left with a home matchup against Illinois and The Game. Both of those matchups will tell us what we need to know about the Wolverines. TCU has emerged out of the blue with their incredible offense led by QB Max Duggan and boast perhaps the best overall resume in the sport with 4 wins over then-ranked teams and the 3rd ranked strength of record in football. But, they was ranked 7th behind Alabama, who has a loss and has struggled mightily against vastly inferior competition. I do have TCU ranked 6th out of the 6 unbeatens in football, but if I were on this committee, I might have put them at 4. Their resume is too strong to be ignored, and they certainly should not be behind a team with a loss, even if that team is Alabama. Based on this precedent, it’s hard to say that the Horned Frogs control their own destiny, even if they go unbeaten and win the Big 12 at 13-0.
A Flawed Logic
The committee has LSU ranked at #10, one spot above #11 Ole Miss, who they thrashed at home two weeks ago. I think ranking the Tigers above the Rebels is totally fair and believed AP voters should have done the same, but #10 feels a bit high. However, that is not my concern. My concern is that the committee is once again picking and choosing when and where to apply their alleged value for head-to-head wins. If you’re going to put 2-loss LSU above 1-loss Ole Miss because of how that game went, then why is 2-loss Utah five spots below 1-loss USC? Why is 2-loss Kansas State six spots ahead of 1-loss Tulane? That last one is a bit more acceptable, seeing as though the Wildcats have looked sensational since that game. But the other one, not so much. USC is vastly overrated in my opinion, which brings me to my next point.
Benefit Of The Doubt
USC is getting the benefit of the doubt from the committee simply because they’re USC. This is a great team, don’t get me wrong, but they do not belong in the top 10. They were in dogfights against Oregon State and Arizona and lost to Utah, who is inexplicably five spots below them. They have a great offense, but a very subpar defense who got gashed by the Utes and most recently the Wildcats in Tuscon. UCLA has certainly looked like the better team, but they’re ranked all the way down at #13. The only reason I can think of for that is the logo on the helmet. This also applies to Alabama, who has no business being ranked in the top six. If there are six unbeaten teams, each with solid resumes, then what is a 1-loss team doing in the top six? I know they’re the Crimson Tide and have two of the best players in the sport in Bryce Young and Will Anderson. But they lost to Tennessee fair and square and honestly should have lost to both Texas and Texas A&M. They realistically control their own destiny to get to the CFP, but that doesn’t mean they should be slotted so high right now. The other teams need to get their respect for what they’ve done (namely TCU). Saturday’s mammoth clash against #10 LSU (7:00 PM EST, ESPN) will show us just how deserving the Tide are of their ranking.
Big Brand Tax
Finally, we have to stop favoring the big brands simply because of who they are. I said it above with the likes of Alabama and USC being ranked above TCU, UCLA, Utah, and others, but it’s also apparent on the backend of the rankings. Are we sure Penn State should be above Illinois? And are we absolutely positively sure that Texas deserves to be ranked at all? The Longhorns have three close losses, but two of them are against okay to bad teams in Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. Meanwhile, Florida State is on the outside looking in despite their three close losses all coming against ranked opponents and having a win against a top 10 team in LSU. Feels a bit strange, don’t you think?
My Top 10
1 – Ohio State
2 – Georgia
3 – Tennessee
4 – Michigan
5 – Clemson
6 – TCU
7 – Alabama
8 – Oregon
9 – UCLA
10 – Utah
I update this every week as the season progresses. Georgia and Tennessee are so close in my mind, I just trust UGA’s defense infinitely more than the Vols’. I’ve advocated for TCU, and I think they could feasibly be above Clemson, but I’d love to see them play more complete games in the next couple of weeks. Oregon is a team to look out for as they continue to play like one of the best teams in the country after their Week 1 thrashing at the hands of Georgia. UCLA and Utah are being vastly underrated and undervalued by the committee and AP voters, and I would love to understand why.
It’s safe to say this weekend is going to bring about a lot of turmoil in next Tuesday’s rankings. I’ll be right back here to break that all down when they are unveiled. Until then.
All stats taken from ESPN.
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