With some upsets the rankings have been shaken up yet again. Who has the best resume for the College Football Playoff right now? Here are the rankings:
Playoff Teams:
1. Clemson Tigers (5-0)
Another week and Clemson gets another impressive win. The Tigers traveled to Virginia Tech to take on the Hokies and ended up winning by a decent margin, while controlling the game. Getting a top 12 road win does not go unnoticed and with the rest of their results, they have done the most so far.
Clemson has two impressive road wins on the season now after also beating Louisville on the road. They have played and beaten three top 15 teams (Auburn, Louisville and Virginia Tech). All of these teams only have one loss on the season, coming to the Tigers. The wins over BC and Kent State are nice, but the other games are what have the Tigers in the top spot.
The schedule gets a little bit easier from here on out for Clemson, so they really just have to stay healthy and keep from beating themselves before the ACC Championship Game.
This week: at Wake Forest Demon Deacons
2. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-0)
The Crimson Tide have been rolling through their competition. This includes their 66-3 win over Ole Miss this week. The Rebels don’t have the best team this year after the Hugh Freeze scandal, but that is still a crazy margin of victory for Alabama.
With a total score of 125-3 in their SEC games, Alabama is taking no prisoners. Vanderbilt looks to be a solid win, even if they did lose to Florida this week. The Crimson Tide’s win over Colorado State is an underrated one that will look better with time. Florida State avoided going 0-3 with a win at Wake Forest, which means that if they can put it all together, Alabama will have a really solid win. One of the metrics that the CFP committee looks at is game control and Alabama is dominating that category with how they’ve blown out teams.
They have more SEC play coming up, but don’t face a team that has looked particularly well for a while.
This week: at Texas A&M Aggies
3. Oklahoma Sooners (4-0)
Oklahoma was off this week and for the time being will be moved down one spot in the standings because of that extra data point that the CFP likes to reference. The Big 12 looks like it is for real this season so Oklahoma may have a chance to move back up in the rankings. Hopefully they used this week for rest and recovery.
The win at Ohio State is still one of the best wins of the season. They haven’t played anyone else of note yet, which is hurting their case to be higher in the rankings.
The Sooners will certainly have some more challenging games in the coming weeks and get a chance to move up the rankings. This week, however, will be more mundane.
This week: vs. Iowa State Cyclones
4. Georgia Bulldogs (5-0)
What a year Georgia has had early on. They have added to their impressive season by absolutely destroying Tennessee this weekend. The defense didn’t let the Volunteers get anything going and the offense was able to coast. They have done all this with a “backup” quarterback, which makes it even more impressive.
This was another road win for Georgia, who also have a big road win against Notre Dame. The win over Notre Dame is looking really good, as the Fighting Irish haven’t lost since. With solid wins against Mississippi State and Appalachian State to go with the two previously mentioned victories, Georgia is in a great position as of now to make the CFP.
The SEC may not be the toughest this season, but there are a couple of games that could trip Georgia up before the end of the season.
This week: at Vanderbilt Commodores
First Four Out:
5. TCU Horned Frogs (4-0)
TCU was another team that was off this week, but stays pretty high in these rankings based on their past results. Gary Patterson has this team poised to do some huge things in the Big 12 conference and could find themselves in the Big 12 Championship Game.
The Horned Frogs still have one of the best wins of the season with their win on the road over Oklahoma State. They also have a good road win over Arkansas as well as a solid victory against SMU.
There are a couple tough games coming up for the Horned Frogs to prove how good they are.
This week: vs. 23 West Virginia Mountaineers
6. Washington State Cougars (5-0)
Mike Leach’s Cougars pulled off the greatest win of his tenure on Friday night. They beat a USC team that a lot thought would be in the College Football Playoff. They can still get there, but now Washington State is in the best position to make the CFP from the Pac-12.
The Cougars’ also beat Boise State, but that win looks a little bit worse after they fell to Virginia. Their wins over Nevada, Oregon State and Montana State won’t really sway the committee, so their hope is Boise State can reel off some wins to help them look better. Even so, the win over USC is a great win and has gotten them into a great position.
One thing the Cougars have not experienced is a road game. That will change in the next few weeks.
This week: at Oregon Ducks
7. Penn State Nittany Lions (5-0)
The Nittany Lions added another decent win after this weekend. This week they beat the Indiana Hoosiers pretty thoroughly. While it isn’t a win over a big football school, Indiana will likely make a bowl game. With the committee keeping track of ow many bowl teams a given team has defeated, this may mean more come the end of the season.
Penn State doesn’t have any wins over elite competition, which is holding them back a little bit. They have beaten a lot of decent teams, which is helping their case. With wins over Pitt, Iowa and now Indiana, the Nittany Lions will be fine if they get some big wins in Big Ten East play.
The brutal part of the Penn State schedule starts this week and lasts about a month with a bye week wedged in between.
This week: at Northwestern Wildcats
8. Michigan Wolverines (4-0)
Michigan was yet another team that had a bye week. While they were off there were some results that actually worked in their favor. They have had to grind out wins, but if they keep winning, that is all that matters.
The win over Florida is looking better week by week. Florida hasn’t lost since, even if they have played poorly. While the Air Force and Purdue wins don’t really help the Wolverines move into a great spot yet, they will have their chances in the coming week.
Michigan State also won this week to help set up an intriguing rivalry game Saturday night.
This week: at Michigan State Spartans
Next Four Out:
9. Wisconsin Badgers (5-0)
The Northwestern Wildcats came to town and in typical Wisconsin style, the Badgers won an ugly game. Northwestern has a loss to Duke to go with this one, but figures to be a contender for second in the Big Ten West, behind Wisconsin.
Wisconsin hasn’t played too many good teams yet, so the Northwestern win is crucial to their season so far. Utah State could turn out to be a good win, but the wins over BYU and FAU won’t help much.
They have one of the easiest schedules in the country, but if they can make the Big Ten Championship Game anything is possible.
This week: at Nebraska Cornhuskers
10. Washington Huskies (5-0)
They are in conference play now, but Washington played another bad team. This week they beat Oregon State, who is not very good. It was a road game so give them credit for that, but Washington needs to start playing better teams before they can move up much further on this list.
Their win at Colorado looks a little worse now that the Buffaloes lost to UCLA. Other than that, wins over Rutgers, Montana and Fresno State don’t help. Washington is undefeated, which isn’t easy, but most fans are waiting to see them get tested against a good team.
Washington’s schedule still has a few weeks before their schedule gets really tough, but have to be careful in the tricky Pac-12.
This week: vs. California Golden Bears
11. Miami Hurricanes (3-0)
Miami got a win over an undefeated Duke team on Friday night. The Canes were able to win pretty easily on the road and look like a team that can win the ACC Coastal Division.
Because of Hurricane Irma, Miami has only been able to play three total games so far. To go along with their win at Duke, they also were able to beat a very solid MAC school, Toledo. Their win over Bethune-Cookman is a non-factor, but the other two wins are nice.
The Hurricanes have a unique schedule as a result of some rescheduling due to the hurricane.
This week: at Florida State Seminoles
12. San Diego State Aztecs (5-0)
The Aztecs were able to best Northern Illinois this week to improve on their already impressive season. Northern Illinois has a good road win over Nebraska and looks to be a solid MAC team.
So far San Diego State has beaten Stanford, Arizona State, Air Force, UC-Davis and Northern Illinois. With Stanford playing better by the week and Arizona State doing better than expected so far, the Aztecs have a great start to their season. They likely won’t stay in this spot when they play more Mountain West teams, but have a real shot to make a New Year’s Six bowl game.
San Diego State can only keep winning, but it may not be enough to move up further than this spot in the rankings.
This week: at UNLV Rebels
You can like The Game Haus on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from great TGH writers!
To continue enjoying great content from your favorite writers, please contribute to our Patreon account! Every little bit counts. We greatly appreciate all of your amazing support! #TGHPatreon