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A major shakeup took place in the College Football Playoff rankings following four teams in the top 10 suffering losses last week. Who are the hottest college football teams in America heading into the penultimate week of the regular season, and which teams could use a boost to their overall resume for a late-season College Football Playoff push?
10 - Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-2)
Notre Dame is the lone non-Power Five conference team in these rankings, and rightfully so. While they did just get obliterated by 33 points at the hand of the Miami Hurricanes in a game in which they were favored, they have had a great bounce-back season as a whole following their 4-8 season last year. Their only other loss was a 1-point loss to the Georgia Bulldogs early in the season, and Georgia was previously ranked #1 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Notre Dame has destroyed plenty of quality teams this season, so they deserve to be in the top 10 in these rankings even with just two games remaining and no conference championship game to play, thus meaning they are pretty much eliminated from College Football Playoff contention. They beat the Michigan State Spartans by 20, the USC Trojans by 35, and the North Carolina State Wolfpack by 21. All three of those teams are currently ranked in the top 19.
9 - Penn State Nittany Lions (8-2)
Among the other nine teams these rankings, there are a total of nine losses. The average margin of defeat in those nine games for those teams is 13.9 points. Penn State's two losses have come by a combined 4-point margin of defeat, and both were road losses against Big Ten conference opponents who are currently ranked in the top 17.
Sure, Penn State's chances at making the College Football Playoff are extremely slim if not totally nonexistent, as they will need a miracle to even made it to the Big Ten conference championship game. But that doesn't mean they have stopped competing at the level they were playing when they were ranked at #2 in the country.
8 - Ohio State Buckeyes (8-2)
Ohio State eliminated from College Football Playoff contention after a 31-point loss to the unranked Iowa Hawkeyes? Not so fast. The Buckeyes bounced back with a 45-point victory of their own against the Michigan State Spartans, who were actually ranked higher than the Buckeyes at the time of the game.
With wins against the next two best teams in the Big Ten East division, Ohio State has proven that they can beat anyone. If they can beat the Michigan Wolverines on the road and then defeat the likely undefeated Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten conference championship game, the Buckeyes could be headed to the College Football Playoff for the third time in its four-year existence. There is no doubt that they are a top 8 team right now.
7 - Georgia Bulldogs (9-1)
Live by the running game, die by the running game. While Georgia is definitely still in the mix for a College Football Playoff spot, they found that lesson out the hard way in a blowout road loss against the Auburn Tigers when they were able to muster up just 46 yards on 32 carries despite being ranked at #1 heading into the game.
As an unbeaten team prior to the loss, Georgia got to the #1 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings by hammering teams and beating quality opponents such as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. But they did so on the strength and utter dominance of their running game. Their game against Auburn was a test to see how well they would perform against a team that has the potential to stop the run, and the Bulldogs failed epically.
6 - Auburn Tigers (8-2)
Why is a two-loss Auburn Tigers team ranked ahead of a one-loss Georgia Bulldogs team when both teams are in the same conference, the Southeastern Conference (SEC)? First of all, Auburn just dismantled Georgia by 23 points and gave us no reason to believe that they wouldn't do it again if that game ends up being the SEC championship game, which it very well could be if Auburn beats the Alabama Crimson Tide at home next week.
Secondly, both teams have just one loss within the SEC; Auburn's other loss came in an early-season road game against a team ranked in the top 5 in these rankings, the Clemson Tigers, and it was just an eight-point loss. It would be a bit ridiculous to keep Auburn below Georgia after the beatdown the Tigers just gave to the then-undefeated Bulldogs.
5 - Oklahoma Sooners (9-1)
Oklahoma got their season off to a red-hot start by winning on the road at the Ohio State Buckeyes, and while they have suffered an ugly home loss to the Iowa State Cyclones since then, they really haven't cooled off. Quarterback Baker Mayfield is playing at a level that no other quarterback in the nation has come close to, and the Sooners are poised to get into their second College Football Playoff in the last three seasons.
With wins against the TCU Horned Frogs and Oklahoma State Cowboys, with the win against the latter coming on the road, the Sooners will be favorites no matter who they take on in the Big XII championship game. Knocking off the Sooners may very well be possible only by fluke, which is how Iowa State ended up victorious against them to give them the one loss they currently have.
4 - Clemson Tigers (9-1)
Among one-loss Power Five conference teams, Clemson's loss is to the worst team, as they were defeated by the Syracuse Orange. But their quarterback Kelly Bryant was injured in that game, so the loss doesn't seem to be as detrimental to the Tigers' College Football Playoff hopes as it could be. Plus, it is hard to find a team that has more balance on offense and defense than the Tigers have.
No team in the country has beaten more great teams than Clemson has so far this season, another reason to somewhat overlook that loss to the Orange. To date, they are 4-0 against teams ranked in the top 20 at the time of the matchup and three of those games were played on the road. The one home game out of those four was a matchup against the Auburn Tigers, who are also very much alive in the College Football Playoff mix, in which Clemson held them to just 6 points and 117 total yards. Again, this is an extremely well-balanced team that may very well win their second straight College Football Playoff championship.
3 - Wisconsin Badgers (10-0)
Like Herm Edwards said, "you play to win the game!" That is what Wisconsin has done all season long. While it hasn't always been pretty and they haven't always played against good teams, both of those things are starting to change, and they are starting to change at the right time.
Wisconsin just dismantled the Iowa Hawkeyes by 24 points after the Hawkeyes had just walloped the Ohio State Buckeyes by 31. Slowly but surely, the arguments that Wisconsin doesn't pass the "eye test" and that they haven't played a good team are going out the window, which is why they deserve to be ranked ahead of all the one and two-loss teams as an undefeated Big Ten conference team. Their game against the #24 Michigan Wolverines this weekend will also be huge, as will the Big Ten conference championship game.
2 - Alabama Crimson Tide (10-0)
Alabama is pretty much the consensus #1 team in the country across the board, but their close-call victory on the road at Mississippi State against the Bulldogs showed that they are extremely vulnerable. Injuries on the defensive side of the ball and an offensive unit that relies heavily on the running game is not a recipe for late-season success, especially with the Crimson Tide's remaining schedule.
People have talked about undefeated teams this season and how they "haven't played anybody", meaning they haven't beaten any quality opponents. Somehow, Alabama escapes that discussion despite the fact that they just faced the best team they have faced all season long and barely walked away with a victory. They need to prove they belong at #1 before they can truly be considered the nation's top team.
1 - Miami Hurricanes (9-0)
At 7-0 and ranked #10, no one thought that the Miami Hurricanes were for real, as they had no quality wins. In each of their last two games, however, they absolutely stomped two quality opponents. They beat the Virginia Tech Hokies by 18 points before dismantling the Notre Dame Fighting Irish by 33.
With no losses, two great wins in a row, and the fact that they are heating up late in the season and seemingly getting better every week, the Miami Hurricanes sit at #1 in these power rankings, and there is no reason to have another team in this spot. If they win their remaining three games, including a matchup against the Clemson Tigers in the ACC championship game, they will be College Football Playoff-bound without a doubt and with plenty of great wins.
