Welcome aboard! Please, join us for the next couple of minutes as we react to the latest College Football Playoff Rankings!
7:05 PM: The back five are revealed (25 App State, 24 Virginia Tech, 23 Iowa State, 22 Southern Cal, 21 Oklahoma State)
7:07 PM: No. 16-20 are revealed (20 Boise State, 19 Cincinnati, 18 Memphis, 17 Iowa, 16 Notre Dame)
7:09 PM: No. 15-11 are revealed (15 Auburn, 14 Oregon, 13 Michigan, 12 Wisconsin, 11 Florida)
7:11 PM: No. 10-7 are revealed (10 Penn State, 9 Baylor, 8 Minnesota, 7 Oklahoma)
7:13 PM: The Top 4 are revealed (4 Georgia, 3 Clemson, 2 LSU, 1 Ohio State)
7:14 PM: No. 5 and 6 are revealed (6 Utah, 5 Alabama)
Well, that’s all of them… let’s break it down for everyone real quick.
From the top:
- Ohio State moving to No. 1 over LSU, which is due in large part to PSU remaining in the Top 10. The Buckeyes are the best football team in America in my opinion so I don’t have a problem with it. LSU might be more deserving of the top spot, but Ohio State is the more complete team and now has a top win on its resume.
- Clemson remained at No. 3 on its bye-week, which is perfectly fine.
- Georgia is still at No. 4 over Alabama, despite a close win over Texas A&M. Committee backing itself up from previous statements on conference calls that it does not watch margin of victory too closely.
- Alabama in at No. 5 before a crucial matchup with No. 15 Auburn. That’s still a quality win in the eyes of the committee if the Tide get it done on Saturday. Will it be enough to fend off a 1-loss Utah or Oklahoma conference champion?
- Personally, I think Utah hops Alabama with a conference championship IF it wins by a touchdown or more. The Utes must also thrash Colorado this weekend, however.
- Outside of the Top 6, I like Oklahoma at 7 and Minnesota at 8, that’s fair. I even get Baylor at 9 for only having 1-loss, but why move them now? Why were they so low last week? Can they now get in over Alabama with a conference championship too?
- I think it’s fair to have Penn State at 10 after a respectable loss to Ohio State, but you could also argue that Wisconsin or Florida should be above the Nittany Lions, who are trending in the wrong direction.
- I like the general consensus on teams 7 through 16, but I would move a couple of them around myself.
- Committee still showing it’s not too high on Memphis or Cincinnati, despite only having 1 loss each. They are valuing 3-loss teams with tougher strength of schedules, which makes sense.
- Not much movement behind them, but I am glad Virginia Tech is now ranked and I’m sure the Orange Bowl Committee is too.
- I would even be ok if the committee snuck Texas A&M in at No. 25, but I understand it’s hard with 4 losses and the committee wasn’t high on them before the loss to Georgia. They are a team on the rise, folks.
- That just about covers it, so let’s dive into some quick picks for this weekend. I won’t reveal my game picks, but I’ll hand out some potential upsets to keep an eye on.
Teams that could be on upset alert Saturday:
- Alabama- The Tide will face their first true test without quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in Auburn and I really don’t think they’ll be in the playoff conversation once this game concludes. I am heavily leaning towards picking Auburn and I like the Tigers to pull off the upset in this one, ending an ugly debate on college football talk shows across the nation.
- Oklahoma- The Sooners have been able to escape defeat three weeks in a row by 4 points or less against Iowa State, Baylor and TCU. I really am not convinced this is a playoff team in 2019 and I’m just waiting for someone to deal the final blow to the Sooners. Oklahoma State might just be that team in a primetime rivalry game on Saturday night in Stillwater. If the Sooners are lucky enough to survive, I also think Baylor could get its revenge a week later in Dallas.
- Minnesota- The Golden Gophers have been a Cinderella story for the past month and a half or so, but unfortunately, dropped a game to Iowa just one week ago. Though its playoff hopes are still alive, I really don’t think Minnesota is a Top 4 team and there’s not much out there that convinces me it can beat Wisconsin and Ohio State in back-to-back weeks. The Badgers will have revenge on their minds in Minneapolis this weekend and I expect them to get a win over arch-rival Minnesota. This game determines who goes to Indy for the Big Ten West and is severely underrated on a national scale. I like Wisconsin to spoil Minnesota’s unforgettable run and advance to Indy for the third time in four years.
- LSU- Before we draw some criticism here, let’s get the record set straight. I don’t think Texas A&M beats LSU. But… that doesn’t mean the Aggies can’t give the Tigers fits in Baton Rouge and cause problems ahead of the SEC Championship. I really liked what I saw from Texas A&M in Athens and believe this team is on the rise. At the same time, LSU’s atrocious defense has given up a plethora of points to sub-par opponents this season and could find itself in some trouble Saturday if it’s not careful. This one being a rivalry game before a massive matchup with Georgia makes it that much more interesting. Keep an eye on this one folks.
- Ohio State- Ok, I may have my Buckeye bias, but Ohio State is not losing this game. That being said, I’ll throw THE GAME on here because objectively speaking, I like how Michigan is finishing this season. The Wolverines are peaking at the right time to play spoiler and this one can always be unexpectedly close. Ohio State puts too much focus into Michigan to get tripped up, but this one could always get interesting, so keep an eye on it while watching Georgia demolish the Joke by Coke Saturday.
Thanks for tuning in everybody! We hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!