Another Saturday of action is in the books, and we are one week close to determining the four teams that will ultimately compete for the National Championship.
Some of the best weekends in all of football are approaching with rivalry weekend and conference championship weekend right around the corner. This past weekend saw several hopefuls see their playoff hopes vanish, while others narrowly escaped disaster. The most eye-opening matchup from last Saturday was the upset that took place in West Lafayette.
One week after their thrilling comeback victory against in-state rival Michigan, the Michigan State Spartans laid an egg and were thoroughly outplayed all afternoon by Purdue. This had trap game written all over it, Michigan State was coming off of their biggest win by far this season, and Purdue has a tendency to ruin perfect seasons for the Big Ten’s elite. This loss by no means eliminates the Spartans from playoff contention, and Mel Tucker’s squad still controls its destiny to the Big Ten title game. Michigan State can easily make up for this loss with opportunities for big wins against Ohio State, Penn State, and a ranked Big Ten West Champion in Indianapolis. The big decision the College Playoff Selection Committee had to make this week was how far to drop Sparty. I figured they would drop to six right in front of Michigan because they beat the Wolverines head-to-head, and this committee has placed a ton of importance on head-to-head results.
That didn’t apply to the Spartans, who were slotted behind Michigan despite the win over their in-state rival just last week. I don’t have a problem with Michigan being ranked over Michigan State as you will see with my rankings this week; the Spartans lost to an unranked Purdue and Michigan hasn’t suffered a loss that ugly all season. My issue is that the same logic isn’t applied to Ohio State and Oregon, as the Ducks remain ahead of the Buckeyes in the second playoff rankings. The committee ranked Michigan over Michigan State despite a head-to-head loss despite Michigan losing to the Spartans because Michigan State suffered a loss to an unranked team. Likewise, Oregon beat Ohio State but lost to a 3-6 Stanford, and the Buckeyes have looked much better since losing to the Ducks.
My biggest issue with the current way we decide who makes the playoff is the inconsistencies of the committee, and this has been an issue for several years. Michigan State is being punished more for losing to a solid Purdue team that the committee ranked 19th than Oregon is for losing to a lousy Stanford team. Sure, you can argue that Ohio State doesn’t have the quality wins to pass Oregon, but I’d argue Michigan doesn’t have the quality wins to pass the Spartans. One thing has remained true throughout this season: there isn’t a particularly good choice for the second best team in the nation.
While Georgia remains the clear-cut top team in the nation, no one can establish themselves as the second-best team in college football. Alabama, Oregon, Cincinnati, and Ohio State all won ugly last weekend and Oklahoma was on bye. All of these teams are flawed; the Sooners and Bearcats may be undefeated but Oklahoma has struggled with unranked competition all year, and the Bearcats have struggled as of late with below average AAC competition. Alabama and Ohio State have quality losses, however neither have great wins and have looked off at various points this season while Oregon lost to Stanford as previously mentioned. Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma all have the opportunity to build their resume with quality wins down the stretch, while Cincinnati and Oregon need to avoid a slip up down the stretch.
College Football Top 25 Rankings
Georgia Bulldogs (9-0) W vs Missouri 43-6, last week – 1 Oklahoma Sooners (9-0) Bye Week, last week – 4 Cincinnati Bearcats (9-0) W vs Tulsa 28-20, last week – 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (8-1) W vs Nebraska 26-17, last week – 5 Alabama Crimson Tide (8-1) W vs LSU 20-14, last week – 6 Michigan Wolverines (8-1) W vs Indiana 29-7, last week – 7 Michigan State Spartans (8-1) L vs Purdue 40-29, last week – 2 Oregon Ducks (8-1) W vs Washington 26-16, last week – 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1) W vs Navy 34-6, last week – 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-1) W vs West Virginia 24-3, last week – 11 Texas A&M Aggies (7-2) W vs Auburn 20-3, last week – 13 Ole Miss Rebels (7-2) W vs Liberty 27-14, last week – 15 UTSA Roadrunners (9-0) W vs UTEP 44-23, last week – 16 Wake Forest Demon Deacons (8-1) L vs North Carolina 58-55, last week – 10 Auburn Tigers (6-3) L vs Texas A&M 20-3, last week – 12 Iowa Hawkeyes (7-2) W vs Northwestern 17-12, last week – 17 Houston Cougars (8-1) W vs USF 54-42, last week – 19 Baylor Bears (7-2) L vs TCU 30-28, last week – 14 Penn State Nittany Lions (6-3) W vs Maryland 31-14, last week – 21 Arkansas Razorbacks (6-3) W vs Mississippi State 31-28, last week – 22 Wisconsin Badgers (6-3) W vs Rutgers 52-3, last week – 23 Purdue Boilermakers (6-3) W vs Michigan State 40-29, last week – unranked Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (8-1) W vs Georgia Southern 28-8, last week – unranked Iowa State Cyclones (6-3) W vs Texas 30-7, last week – unranked BYU Cougars (8-2) W vs Idaho State 59-14, last week – unranked
Dropped out of rankings – Kentucky, SMU, Fresno State, Louisiana-Lafayette