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There was upheaval in college football on Saturday, though it wasn’t all about wins and losses on the actual playing field. However, there was one giant upset, and it came at the expense of soon-to-be former No. 2 Iowa, which succumbed to unranked Purdue at Kinnick Stadium.
While the Hawkeyes aren’t necessarily out of the College Football Playoff picture in earnest, given that it could win out and get into the good graces of the committee — which hasn’t even put out its first rankings as of yet — ESPN has been putting together something of a ballot amongst its national writers, essentially forming who they see as the current top four. Though Michigan football was just idle, sitting at 6-0, considering that fellow Big Ten brethren, Ohio State and Penn State, each have a loss, that leaves the Wolverines and rival Michigan State as potential representatives for the conference.
Of the 14 writers who placed their ballots, the maize and blue appeared on two.
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Georgia, 2. Cincinnati, 3. Alabama, 4. Michigan
Ryan McGee: 1. Georgia, 2. Cincinnati, 3. Michigan, 4. Oklahoma State
Michigan State also came in at No. 4 on one ballot, advanced analytics guru Bill Connelly.
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Of course, all of these things will be settled on the field. Though Cincinnati may have an inside track should it win out — which appears likely, given its conference — Michigan, MSU, Penn State, and Ohio State all still have to play each other. And Iowa could get redemption should it win out and then beat whoever comes out of the Big Ten East. Likewise, Georgia and Alabama appear to be on a collision course in the SEC Championship, which could ostracize yet another conference should, say, the Big Ten has a winner with multiple losses and the Big 12 also features one-loss teams in either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State.
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