If you’re a fan of college football, this weekend answered a lot of questions, but opened for more. My predictions saw me pick a total of 12 games and we had some really good ones. Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame took care of business to remain the top-3 teams in the college football playoff rankings. Michigan fell big time as their rival, Ohio State made a statement in the blowout win. Georgia dominated Georgia Tech and Oklahoma edged West Virginia as they head to their conference championship games. LSU lost to Texas A&M in a historic 7OT game and Washington State was manhandled by Washington. With all of this taking place, who will be the top-10 teams when the rankings are revealed on Tuesday night? Let’s take a peep into who I think will be the top-10.
With another dominating performance by the Tide against Auburn, they are the best team in the country. Tua Tagovailoa is looking like he’ll be taking home the Heisman Trophy with another flawless performance. The defense continues to improve every week and will need to be healthy against Georgia. Will the tide continue their dominate run in the rematch of last year’s National Championship Game?
Clemson used an efficient offense and smothering defense to finally pull away from South Carolina. On the offensive side, Trevor Lawrence need to continue to run things with precision. Travis Etienne will need to control the game on the ground with his tough runs. The defense will need to improve on their performance against the Gamecocks as they head into the ACC Championship game. With Clemson battling Pittsburgh, they’ll be heavily favorite after the Panthers only mustered three points against Miami.
Notre Dame had a scare out in Los Angeles last night against USC. Anytime we have a rivalry game, anything can go, and it almost did. USC jumped out quickly on Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish fought back and eventually beat the Trojans. Notre Dame finished the season 12-0 and since they don’t belong to a particular conference, they have no championship game. Unless Alabama or Clemson lose in their title games, Notre Dame will probably hold down the 3rd spot in the final rankings.
The Georgia Bulldogs smothered the running game of Georgia Tech. Georgia won the game 45-21, but the score doesn’t show how dominate the Bulldogs defense were. The score was 45-7 before Georgia put in the reserves to finish the game. Ever since their loss to LSU, Georgia has been on a roll which is similar to what they did last year. If Georgia is going to make the playoffs, they have the huge task of having to beat Alabama.
This is where the controversy will start this week. There are already questions being asked on who should be at this spot between Oklahoma and Ohio State. Oklahoma outlasted a damn good Mountaineer team on the road. The defense is a huge liability as they’ve given up an average of over 47 points in the last four games. Kyler Murray is a Heisman candidate, but would he be able to put up crazy numbers against the best defenses in the country? Oklahoma had only one loss and that was against Texas, the team they’ll play for the Big 12 Championship. If Oklahoma avenge that loss, will they reach the top-4?
Ohio State played their best game of the season against their rival, Michigan. After the 62-39 win over the Wolverines, people started the Oklahoma-Ohio State debate. As you see, Oklahoma got the nod to be ahead of the Buckeyes because of the complete body of work. Ohio State had the most impressive win between the two with the win over Michigan. Ohio State barely edged Nebraska and Maryland as they gave up 51 points to the Terrapins. The Buckeyes losing by 29 points to a Purdue team that finished with a 6-6 record.
The UCF Knights are riding the longest winning streak in the country at 24 games. Unfortunately, they lost the heart of their team McKenzie Milton to a horrific knee injury. They still beat South Florida and head to face Memphis in the AAC Championship game. Earlier in the season, Memphis almost pulled the upset and that was with Milton in the lineup. UCF became the real deal after beating Auburn last year and Cincinnati a couple weeks ago. If UCF were to beat the Tigers and some other teams were to fall, will the committee move them up?
We can all be honest, Michigan was trampled in their game against Ohio State. At the same time, let’s not take away from their great season. Before the Ohio State game, they had one of the best defenses in the country. On Twitter, I’ve stated that Ohio State and Urban Meyer just got the number of Jim Harbaugh. During a three game stretch against ranked teams Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State, the Wolverines gave up an average of 9 points. Where will the Wolverines be playing their bowl game?
Coming into their game against rival, Washington the Cougars had hopes of crashing the playoffs. After a less than stellar game in the snow, Washington smothered the high-powered offense. Not only did the Cougars lose out on the playoffs, but also the Pac-12 Championship game. Despite their loss, Washington State should be a part of a major bowl game.
This one came down between Florida and LSU, but the Gators beat the Tigers earlier in the year. The Gators finished with the season on a 3-game winning streak after losing their previous two. After blowing out their rivals from Tallahassee, the Gators finished with nine wins. The Gators should end up in a top bowl this season and that’s great after finishing with four wins a year ago. Dan Mullen has this team headed in the right direction and they’ll only get better.
What do you think about my top-10 teams? Would you change my top-10 picks? What would your top-10 look like? Leave a comment below and give me some feedback.
