With one month of College Football in the books, teams have started building the resume by now. They are all trying to get into the College Football Playoffs. The basis behind the new College Football Playoff committee is to find the 4 BEST teams in College Football. That means we have to actually look at what the teams have proven: Who they’ve beaten, how good the teams are that they have beaten, how they beat them, etc. We can’t just look at record, popularity, and preseason rankings from the Coaches poll. Does anyone actually even believe the coaches watch football that doesn’t include scouting?
So here is an unbiased look at how teams would be ranked today if there were no such thing as preseason rankings.
- Ole Miss
- Utah
- UCLA
- Northwestern
You Better Explain Yourself!
Holy Moly! Did he just say NorthWestern? He’s insane, Ohio State is way better than them! Well, my counter to that is simply, “Why?” Ohio State has struggled against inferior competition. They share the same undefeated record, as do many teams in the country. Their best win, Virginia Tech just lost to Eastern Carolina. NorthWestern beat a ranked Stanford team and a good Duke team. They’ve simply proved more. Regardless, Michigan State was closer to taking the #4 spot than Ohio State was.
Ole Miss beat a good Alabama team. That gives them a little equity for struggling against Vanderbilt. Remember, this is assuming there were no preseason rankings. I still think Alabama is a top 15 school, which would qualify as the best win from any of the top teams on this list. Besides, Ole Miss just looks like a better team.
Utah beat a Michigan team that just stomped every team they’ve played since, including a top 25 BYU team. They handed an Oregon team their worse loss since they’ve been relevant. That happened in Oregon too. The same Oregon team that lost by just 3 to Michigan St. in Spartan Country. I almost made them my Number 1.
UCLA just beat a good Arizona team by 26 points in a big game. Last week, they pulled out a win against a good BYU team. They will eventually fall off this list as I believe their injuries will be too much to overcome against the better teams on their schedule. Especially when they play Utah and USC back to back. That’s not a statement many Big 10 schools have to worry about.
Who Did You Leave Out?
Texas Christian, Ohio State, LSU, UGA, and Michigan State were all left off my list. LSU was almost #4, with conference wins over Miss St and Auburn, but they need a real signature win. You can include Georgia in that category also. Ohio State and Michigan st only have one chance at a signature win, and that’s each other. Although, MSU gets a slight edge for beating their bad competition better than OSU has beaten their bad competition. Also their signature win is better than OSU’s signature win. Even though they both had very embarrassing losses yesterday. TCU just hasn’t looked good. They’re lucky to even be ranked right now.
A lot is going to change as the weeks go forward. I don’t believe NorthWestern is real despite some nice wins. They will have a good record this year due to a bad Big 10. Utah and UCLA have to play each other late in the season, and Southern Cal has the talent to beat either of them. Ole Miss and LSU still have to play each other and Texas A&M too. If the Michigan Wolverines keep improving, they may become a good opportunity for a good win for MSU and OSU, especially if Michigan beats NW in week 7. UGA probably won’t get a good win until the SECCG, unless the Vols trip them up. Just kidding.
Feel free to visit our Community to discuss how right I am about this list.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.