ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit released his latest edition of College Football Playoff hopefuls following a quiet week of college football. Week 11 featured numerous cancelled/postponed games including: Georgia at Missouri, Ohio State versus Maryland, and LSU versus Alabama.
In notable college football action, Florida blew out Arkansas 63-35, Miami kept their slim hopes alive with a 25-24 comeback win over Virginia Tech, Notre Dame won handily at Boston College, and Wisconsin demolished Michigan 49-11.
The race for the CFP is coming down to the wire. The Big 12 is essentially eliminated from CFP contention, although Oklahoma State could win out and finish the season with one loss. The Pac-12 needs either USC or Oregon to win out. Both programs need to look more impressive than they did in Week 11.
The SEC has only three teams with high hopes for making the playoff: Alabama, Florida, and Texas A&M. Texas A&M beat Florida, but trails Alabama by two games in the SEC West. The Aggies will hope to win out and that Alabama will defeat Florida in the SEC Championship. They’ll need more help than that. They’ll root for a two loss loser in the likely Notre Dame versus Clemson ACC Championship.
Ohio State is favored to represent the Big Ten in the College Football Playoff following the conference’s limited season. Wisconsin looks to be Ohio State’s biggest competition in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have a big game against Indiana this weekend.
How Kirk Herbstreit ranked the top teams in college football:
My top 4 after week 11
1-@AlabamaFTBL
2-@NDFootball
3-@OhioStateFB
4-@ClemsonFB
Next 2@GatorsFB @BYUfootball— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 15, 2020
Overall, Herbstreit’s rankings look pretty solid. They haven’t changed at all since last week. BYU has been impressive, but its schedule has been very easy, so it would be fair to rank Texas A&M or Wisconsin over the BYU Cougars.
Aside from that, the rankings look good. Notre Dame deserves to be ranked over Ohio State due to its body of work. The Fighting Irish are 8-0 and Ohio State is only 3-0.
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