AEW Champion’s Power Rankings and Playoff Predictions

Just asking.

Oregon and Ohio State are considered "elite"

What other three teams in the B1G are considered in the "very good" category and do any of them have wins vs. a current ranked opponent? I think it's an extremely fair question.
 
Quebec said:
Just asking.

Oregon and Ohio State are considered "elite"

What other three teams in the B1G are considered in the "very good" category and do any of them have wins vs. a current ranked opponent? I think it's an extremely fair question.
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This year I would say 2 other very good teams - Penn State and Indiana. PSU is legit. Lots of NFL guys on that roster. Time will tell on the Hoosiers; they could only beat the teams on their schedule, but they have done so handily. Beating Michigan for the first time in forever was no small feat, although the UM team is obviously down this year. Normally Michigan is the 3rd very good team. Just not this year.
 
Updated list:

Byes:

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Miami
4. Colorado

12. Indiana at 5. Oregon
11. Boise State at 6. Georgia
10. Penn State at 7. Alabama
9. Ole Miss at 8. Notre Dame

First out:
13. Tennessee
14. Texas A&M
15. BYU
16. South Carolina
17. Clemson
 
AEW Champion said:
Updated list:

Byes:

1. Ohio State
2. Texas
3. Miami
4. Colorado

12. Indiana at 5. Oregon
11. Boise State at 6. Georgia
10. Penn State at 7. Alabama
9. Ole Miss at 8. Notre Dame

First out:
13. Tennessee
14. Texas A&M
15. BYU
16. South Carolina
17. Clemson
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Big games coming up

Ohio State / Indiana will impact seeding, not so much qualification IMO
Texas / Texas A&M (seeding and qualification if A&M wins)
BYU / Arizona State (an ASU win makes the B12 title game all that more interesting)

Side Notes:
Clemson is out of ACC games left to play BUT if SMU and or Miami slip up they could slide into the ACC title game and as a result could still find their way into the CFP
IMO the committee really wants / needs ND to beat Army. An undefeated / AAC champ West Point gets interesting. Does the committee leave an undefeated service academy out?
What if Auburn pulls the Iron Bowl upset?
What if Ga. Tech takes down UGA?
What if Vandy takes out Tenn?
Can Kansas take down the Buffs?
Do the Golden bears beat SMU in the final week?

If these last two weeks weren't entertaining enough, these next two weeks will be even more so.
 
scbuckeye99 said:
Big games coming up

Ohio State / Indiana will impact seeding, not so much qualification IMO
Texas / Texas A&M (seeding and qualification if A&M wins)
BYU / Arizona State (an ASU win makes the B12 title game all that more interesting)

Side Notes:
Clemson is out of ACC games left to play BUT if SMU and or Miami slip up they could slide into the ACC title game and as a result could still find their way into the CFP
IMO the committee really wants / needs ND to beat Army. An undefeated / AAC champ West Point gets interesting. Does the committee leave an undefeated service academy out?
What if Auburn pulls the Iron Bowl upset?
What if Ga. Tech takes down UGA?
What if Vandy takes out Tenn?
Can Kansas take down the Buffs?
Do the Golden bears beat SMU in the final week?

If these last two weeks weren't entertaining enough, these next two weeks will be even more so.
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I think there’s a chance Texas is out if they don’t beat Texas A&M. 1 quality win against Vandy at home who may end up 6-6 by the end of the year. The committee has been adamant for 10 years who you beat matters more than who you lose to. A loss to Texas A&M means they haven’t beaten anyone worth a damn.

Edit: I type that all out and hit post and then came to a realization lol but no way they drop Texas 10+ spots over 2 weeks with a loss to ATM. If that was a possibility, they would have ranked Texas lower than 3.
 
Orin Swift said:
I think there’s a chance Texas is out if they don’t beat Texas A&M. 1 quality win against Vandy at home who may end up 6-6 by the end of the year. The committee has been adamant for 10 years who you beat matters more than who you lose to. A loss to Texas A&M means they haven’t beaten anyone worth a damn.

Edit: I type that all out and hit post and then came to a realization lol but no way they drop Texas 10+ spots over 2 weeks with a loss to ATM. If that was a possibility, they would have ranked Texas lower than 3.
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Add in the fact that we do not know just how much pull the SEC has, they will be pushing for more than 4 teams for sure, And texas is a much bigger draw than say South Carolina or Ole Miss. Lots of factors at play here.
 
Texas will be in at 10-2, if they were to lose to Texas A&M.

At the same time, if Texas is comfortably the #7 or #8 seed with their best wins being @ Vanderbilt and at home against Florida…I have zero interest in hearing the predictable whiners and cryers complaining about an 11-1 Penn State or Indiana being in over a 9-3 SEC team on the basis of “they didn’t beat anybody.”
 
Hammerdrill said:
lol, oh please. That is complete nonsense. Plus one of those Big teams has to lose, none of the SEC is going to lose. Gee, I guess if you think a guarantee that you won’t lose is the same as a guarantee one team will lose is the same.
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So what's the difference between Alabama playing Mercer and Ohio State playing Northwestern? Not much at all.
 
14Red said:
So what's the difference between Alabama playing Mercer and Ohio State playing Northwestern? Not much at all.
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More nonsense. Half of the Big will record a loss, none of the SEC will. Seems like that alone is a pretty big deal given the relative slim margin allowed to get into the playoffs.
 
Just a little secret folks, the Big Ten is right in the middle of America, where ALOT of the TV ratings are. So you HAVE to keep Ohio State/ Penn State/ Michigan in the mix. Heck Michigan was in the top 10 at the beginning of the season.
 
Army and TUlane deserve their fair chance. They don't play each other until the championship game? If Army plays close to ND and ND otherwise finishes out all win, winner of Tulane-Army deserves a bid.
 
eastisbest said:
Army and TUlane deserve their fair chance. They don't play each other until the championship game? If Army plays close to ND and ND otherwise finishes out all win, winner of Tulane-Army deserves a bid.
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Deserves? We're always going to have the same gripes with college football because there are so few head to head matchups.
 
I'm pretty excited for Indiana football this year. This turn in unprecedented, and really shows the power of the transfer portal and NIL. Now IU caught a break this in how the schedule shook out by missing Oregon and Penn State, but they've really dominated everyone they played except Michigan. The ray of hope I have is that Nebraska / Ohio State near upset was real and Indiana can go into the horseshoe and hang around with the Buckeyes. I thought Northwestern moved the ball in Ohio State early on, although NWestern's QB is more mobile than Roarke. But guys were getting open in the secondary. The line is 12 1/2 right now which seems a little much when you just compare the seasons.
The IU defense will be tested the most this season with Ohio State's receivers. They'll need to get pressure on Will Howard and hopefully force some mistakes. Fascinated to see how it turns out.
 
14Red said:
I'm pretty excited for Indiana football this year. This turn in unprecedented, and really shows the power of the transfer portal and NIL. Now IU caught a break this in how the schedule shook out by missing Oregon and Penn State, but they've really dominated everyone they played except Michigan. The ray of hope I have is that Nebraska / Ohio State near upset was real and Indiana can go into the horseshoe and hang around with the Buckeyes. I thought Northwestern moved the ball in Ohio State early on, although NWestern's QB is more mobile than Roarke. But guys were getting open in the secondary. The line is 12 1/2 right now which seems a little much when you just compare the seasons.
The IU defense will be tested the most this season with Ohio State's receivers. They'll need to get pressure on Will Howard and hopefully force some mistakes. Fascinated to see how it turns out.
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Cignetti has done a great job, but in addition to missing Penn State and Oregon, Indiana has not played Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois or Wisconsin, who are in the top half of the standings. The only team in the top half of the league that they played is Washington. It is impossible to find an easier schedule. Reality sets in this week.

The guys setting the line at 12.5 know what they are doing. I think it will be much more. I'd say OSU 41-21 seems about right. Only chance IU has is turnovers - they need to be +2 to have a chance.
 
AEW Champion said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/1858617174514081916

Russillo hits the nail on the head.
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While I don't disagree with Rusillo, can you penalize a team because of their league and schedule? The thing that people seem to be missing is that while IU had a kind of clunker vs. Michigan, they've pretty much dominated everyone else, including a Nebraska team that nearly upset Ohio State in Columbus a week later.
And it's been said all along that the playoff isn't necessarily the 12 best teams in college football, it's conference champs vs. the top 8 other teams.
 
Indiana has played a bunch of tomato cans, but by and large has been obliterating them consistently. I find it hard to fault dominating a schedule that by the luck of the draw has turned out to be very weak. They’ve been doing what a good team would be expected to do given their circumstances.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
Indiana has played a bunch of tomato cans, but by and large has been obliterating them consistently. I find it hard to fault dominating a schedule that by the luck of the draw has turned out to be very weak. They’ve been doing what a good team would be expected to do given their circumstances.
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Acutally the weakest league game is yet to come with Purdue. They've played the middle of the pack, and other than Michigan dominated.
 
14Red said:
While I don't disagree with Rusillo, can you penalize a team because of their league and schedule? The thing that people seem to be missing is that while IU had a kind of clunker vs. Michigan, they've pretty much dominated everyone else, including a Nebraska team that nearly upset Ohio State in Columbus a week later.
And it's been said all along that the playoff isn't necessarily the 12 best teams in college football, it's conference champs vs. the top 8 other teams.
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Nebraska turned the ball over 5 times in their loss to IU. That was an outlier.
 
AEW Champion said:
Congrats to Indiana!

With Washington’s win tonight, the Hoosiers now hold a win over one (1) bowl-eligible team.
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Could you imagine being in a coma say in July, and waking up today and seeing Indiana unbeaten and #5 in the country? It's absurd. IU has been the doormat of the big ten for decades. Only occasionally are they even bowl eligible with 6 wins.
 
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