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We’ve seen six weekends of games (seven for bumbling teams like Nebraska and Northwestern), so it’s not too early to start mapping out the College Football Playoff. These are projections of where I think things will end up at season’s end:
1. Ohio State — It’s harvest season in Big Ten Country, and this year, in addition to all the corn, pumpkins and whatnot, there’s been an abundant crop of juicy tomatoes that have been canned for any decent football team’s consumption. Big Ten tomato cans include: Rutgers, Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota. With little competition in conference — just at Penn State and vs Michigan before a horrible Big Ten West team in Indianapolis — it’s hard to see any solid team losing any remaining game on Ohio State’s schedule.
2. Alabama — They’re in the early stages of a brutal stretch. They’ve already valiantly vanquished Arkansas and Texas A&M without the services of Bryce Young. Now they go to Tennessee in the showdown of the SEC season. Then they get Miss State before a bye and at LSU and at Ole Miss. If anyone can stand up to this schedule, it’s Alabama. Even if they lose one, they can still be #2 by beating UGA (or Tennessee) in the SEC Title game.
3. Georgia — If they get through Florida and Tennessee in back-to-back weeks surrounding Halloween, they’ll be here even if losing the SEC Title game to Alabama.
4. Notre Dame — Had Notre Dame simply gone with Drew Pyne instead of Tyler Buchner to start the season, the Irish would likely be 5-0 and ranked #3 in the country right now. As it is, they belong in the top 20 after beating UNC soundly on the road (UNC is 5-1, by the way) and going out west to topple BYU in Vegas. The path is straightforward for the Irish: Win at #22 Syracuse at the end of October, take down unbeaten Clemson in South Bend on Nov. 5, and then win a massive end-of-season primetime national TV showdown at unbeaten USC to end the season. When all of that happens, who else besides Alabama is going to have a resume that can even touch the 5 big wins the Irish will have? I liken this team to 2002 USC when Carson Palmer won the Heisman trophy: Took a couple losses early, then put it all together and were clearly the best, most dangerous team at the end of the season. Unfortunately, that USC team was unjustly omitted from the BCS title game in favor of some Columbus clogged-toilet offense nonsense. But we as fans and I dare say as a society in general have grown smarter in the past 20 years, so hopefully we will be smart enough to not hold two early losses against an ascendant team this time around.
Others considered: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Michigan, Clemson, USC, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Texas
Not considered serious contenders: Penn State, TCU
It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
1. Ohio State — It’s harvest season in Big Ten Country, and this year, in addition to all the corn, pumpkins and whatnot, there’s been an abundant crop of juicy tomatoes that have been canned for any decent football team’s consumption. Big Ten tomato cans include: Rutgers, Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota. With little competition in conference — just at Penn State and vs Michigan before a horrible Big Ten West team in Indianapolis — it’s hard to see any solid team losing any remaining game on Ohio State’s schedule.
2. Alabama — They’re in the early stages of a brutal stretch. They’ve already valiantly vanquished Arkansas and Texas A&M without the services of Bryce Young. Now they go to Tennessee in the showdown of the SEC season. Then they get Miss State before a bye and at LSU and at Ole Miss. If anyone can stand up to this schedule, it’s Alabama. Even if they lose one, they can still be #2 by beating UGA (or Tennessee) in the SEC Title game.
3. Georgia — If they get through Florida and Tennessee in back-to-back weeks surrounding Halloween, they’ll be here even if losing the SEC Title game to Alabama.
4. Notre Dame — Had Notre Dame simply gone with Drew Pyne instead of Tyler Buchner to start the season, the Irish would likely be 5-0 and ranked #3 in the country right now. As it is, they belong in the top 20 after beating UNC soundly on the road (UNC is 5-1, by the way) and going out west to topple BYU in Vegas. The path is straightforward for the Irish: Win at #22 Syracuse at the end of October, take down unbeaten Clemson in South Bend on Nov. 5, and then win a massive end-of-season primetime national TV showdown at unbeaten USC to end the season. When all of that happens, who else besides Alabama is going to have a resume that can even touch the 5 big wins the Irish will have? I liken this team to 2002 USC when Carson Palmer won the Heisman trophy: Took a couple losses early, then put it all together and were clearly the best, most dangerous team at the end of the season. Unfortunately, that USC team was unjustly omitted from the BCS title game in favor of some Columbus clogged-toilet offense nonsense. But we as fans and I dare say as a society in general have grown smarter in the past 20 years, so hopefully we will be smart enough to not hold two early losses against an ascendant team this time around.
Others considered: Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Michigan, Clemson, USC, UCLA, Oklahoma State, Texas
Not considered serious contenders: Penn State, TCU
It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …