Why wait until next week to find out who the top teams are for this year’s College Football Playoff? Title Run is here with your soon-to-be-official CFP rankings:
Others receiving votes:
Michigan (1)
The Process
Each of our contributors ranked the top-four teams in the country based on resume, results, and the eye test. Each first place vote was worth FOUR points, second place votes worth THREE points, third place votes worth TWO points, and fourth place votes worth ONE point. The teams were ranked according to the highest total.
The Explanation
1) Alabama
Best Wins: 45-23 vs (22) Texas A &M; 62-7 vs Ole Miss
Losses: None
No need to explain here. Bama still looks unbeatable.They’ve won every game by at least 22 points and have already hung 60 points on two different conference opponents and 58 on another. All that with a starting QB who's tossed 25 TD and still has yet to throw an interception OR a pass in the fourth quarter. While they’ve only beaten one ranked team, they continue to absolutely demolish what should be competitive conference opponents ahead of their big match-up with LSU.
Are the beatable? Yes -- they are young in the secondary and haven’t run the ball consistently against their best competition. Is there any team that can exploit the "weaknesses" they've shown? It certainly doesn’t look that way right now.
2) Clemson
Best Wins: 41-7 vs Texas A&M; (16) N.C. State 41-7
Losses: None
Clemson finally got a trademark dominating performance by railroading undefeated N.C. State, and their early season nail-biter against battle against Texas A&M looks much more impressive now that the Aggies are up to No. 16 in the latest rankings. The once-struggling pass defense allowed just 74 yards to Wake Forest and 193 to N.C. State and future first-round pick Ryan Finley. The Tigers have won the last two games by a combined score of 104-10 and look the most diverse and explosive they have on offense since Deshaun Watson left campus.
3) Notre Dame
Best Wins: 24-17 vs (14) Michigan; 38-17 vs (7) Stanford; 45-23 vs (23) Va Tech
Losses: None
There’s nothing new to add to the Irish resume after a bye week. The improved play of Michigan and Stanford adds validation to those early wins, but they still can’t shake the head-scratching one-score wins against Ball State (24-16) and Vandy (22-17). It’s still wait-and-see for Notre Dame, and they still have four quality opponents left in Navy, FSU, Syracuse, and USC that are all capable of beating them if the offense has an off-night.
4) LSU
Best Wins: 36-16 vs (2) Georgia; 33-17 vs (8) Miami; 22-21 vs (7) Auburn; 19-3 vs (22) Miss. State.
Losses: 27-19 vs (22) Florida
LSU was by far the hardest team to evaluate. They were ranked as high as #2 by one panel member and were completely left off by another. While the Tigers boasts the best resume in the country by MILES, their un-flashy style of play and the struggles of Miami and Auburn have hurt their credibility.
They’re the leaders in the clubhouse in terms of quality wins, but their dominating 36-16 win over Georgia is the only one that really passes the eye test. Basically, they’re a team whose record says they’re really good but that no one actually believes is any good. The Alabama game will paint a much clearer picture of LSU's ceiling for this season.
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