Rivalries make college football special, and many of the premier ones take place during the final week of the regular season. Even if your school is out of the playoff race and can’t play for a conference title, they can earn bragging rights for 365 days with a win this weekend.
If you ask what the best weekend in sports is, you’ll get various answers depending on who you ask. Some will say Super Bowl weekend, others will say Masters weekend, but for me, rivalry week in college football is unmatched.
It really is the energy of a one-game season for many teams and records go out the window come Saturday.
As for the teams still in the running for the College Football Playoff, time is quickly running out to make a push for one of the coveted top four spots. While Georgia, Michigan and Ohio State are clearly the top three(order them how you wish), the fourth spot is very much up in the air.
The committee has Florida State in the fourth spot, however I ranked Washington higher last week and still feel the Huskies should be in the top four.
We’ll see tonight if the committee agrees with me after the Huskies picked up another notable win against Oregon State. Washington clearly has the better resume as it boasts rankedwins against Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona and Utah.
The Seminoles on the other hand, lack strong wins outside of the opener against LSU and are now without Jordan Travis the rest of the way.
Travis suffered a serious leg injury against North Alabama that will end his illustrious career in Tallahassee. While it shouldn’t drop in the rankings because of an injury, Florida State’s relatively weak schedule gives them no room for error.
The ‘Noles travel to “the Swamp” for a matchup against a Florida team trying to get into bowl season. While year two of the Billy Napier era hasn’t gone as well as some may have hoped, knocking a hated rival out of the playoff would be huge for a program trying to gain some footing.
I mentioned the one-game season effect earlier and it absolutely applies for Florida in this spot.
Tate Rodemaker is largely unknown and it will be interesting to see how he responds to being thrust into the starting job for an undefeated squad.
If FSU can avoid the upset Saturday night, it will still need to take care of business in the ACC Championship against a Louisville team clinging on to playoff contention.
The biggest game on rivalry weekend(and the entire season for that matter), is “The Game”. For the second year in a row, both Ohio State and Michigan enter the matchup undefeated with a spot in Indianapolis hanging in the balance.
Both sides have a massive chip on their respective shoulders for vastly different reasons. For Ohio State, it has dropped back-to-back games in a rivalry it once owned with dominance. Losing to the team up north is never acceptable and the Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is looking to avoid a 1-3 career record against the Wolverines.
On the other side, Michigan has the whole world, including its own conference, calling them cheaters. Jim Harbaugh will conclude his suspension this Saturday and is hoping to return to the sidelines for the Big Ten Championship.
If the Wolverines win despite all the grievances against them, it will make Ohio State look really bad, which Michigan’s fanbase would be more than happy with.
Michigan has dropped a couple of 40-burgers in its last two matchups vs the Buckeyes, however this is the best defense the Bucks’ have had in some time.
J.J. McCarthy hasn’t been asked to win a game for Michigan this season, I thought Penn State would provide that challenge, however McCarthy only had to throw eight times.
Regarding the playoff, Ohio State has a bit more room for error due to their win over Notre Dame. The Buckeyes made it in despite getting boat raced by Michigan a season ago, however I wouldn’t bank on that same strategy this time around.
The top of the sport is much stronger than it has been in years past, meaning a one loss Ohio State or Michigan likely won’t get in barring chaos elsewhere in the country.
Chris’ College Football Top 25 Rankings:
1.Georgia Bulldogs (11-0) W vs Tennessee 38-10, last week-1
2.Michigan Wolverines (11-0) W vs Maryland 31-24, last week-2
3.Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0) W vs Minnesota 37-3, last week-3
4.Washington Huskies (11-0) W vs Oregon State 22-20, last week-4
5.Florida State Seminoles (11-0) W vs North Alabama 58-13, last week-5
6.Texas Longhorns (10-1) W vs Iowa State 26-16, last week-6
7.Alabama Crimson Tide (10-1) W vs Chattanooga 66-10, last week-7
8.Oregon Ducks (10-1) W vs Arizona State 49-13, last week-8
9.Missouri Tigers (9-2) W vs Florida 33-31, last week-9
10.Louisville Tigers (10-1) W vs Miami(FL) 38-31, last week-11
11.Penn State Nittany Lions (9-2) W vs Rutgers 27-6, last week-12
12.Ole Miss Rebels (9-2) W vs UL-Monroe 35-3, last week-13
13.LSU Tigers (8-3) W vs Georgia State 56-14, last week-14
14.Arizona Wildcats (8-3) W vs Utah 42-18, last week-16
15.Oregon State Beavers (8-3) L vs Washington 22-20, last week-10
16.Oklahoma Sooners (9-2) W vs BYU 31-24, last week-15
17.Kansas State Wildcats (8-3) W vs Kansas 31-27, last week-18
18.Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-3) W vs Wake Forest 45-7, last week-19
19.Tulane Green Wave (10-1) W vs FAU 24-8, last week-21
20.Liberty Flames (11-0) W vs UMass 49-25, last week-22
21.Oklahoma State Cowboys (8-3) W vs Houston 43-30, last week-24
22.Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2) W vs Illinois 15-13, last week-unranked
23.Utah Utes (7-4) L vs Arizona 42-18, last week-17
24.James Madison Dukes (10-1) L vs Appalachian State 26-23, last week-20
25.Tennessee Volunteers (7-4) L vs Georgia 38-10, last week-23
Dropped out of rankings- North Carolina