And, then there were six (undefeated teams) - who might fall when?
Another interesting weekend of watching football. And, the ranks of the undefeated teams has slimmed from nine to six. This is what's in store in the near future.
Georgia (1) - Florida, Tennessee (3) @ Mississippi State, @ Kentucky (19), and Georgia Tech.
Bucks (2) - @ Penn State (13), @ Northwestern, Indiana, @ Maryland, and Michigan (4)
Tennessee (3) - Kentucky (19), @ Georgia (1), Missouri, @ South Carolina (25), and @ Vandy.
Michigan (4) - Spartans, @ Rutgers, Nebraska, Illinois, and @ the Shoe (2).
Clemson (5) - bye this week, @ ND, Louisville, Miami (FL), and South Carolina (25).
TCU (7) - @ West Virginia, Texas Tech, @ Texas, @ Baylor, and Iowa State.
And, just for fun, two additional one loss teams:
Alabama (6) - bye this week, @ LSU (18), @ Ole Miss (15), Austin Peay, and Auburn.
Oregon (8) - @ Cal, @ Colorado, Washington, Utah (14), and @ Oregon State.
Kentucky and/or South Carolina could be wonderful spoilers - to quote the Beach Boys, "Wouldn't it be nice" if the they could find wins against Georgia, Tennessee, and/or Clemson.
Perhaps the arctic north temperatures of South Bend will cool off a luke-warm Clemson when they play the Irish on November 5th.
Brian Kelly might have an increased number of fans when Bama comes to town.
TCU won't face a currently ranked team until the Big 12 CCG.
What do you think? Will any given team fall in a specific game? What are you looking forward to watching?
November 5th will be an interesting Saturday of football. Tennessee @ Georgia, Bama @ LSU, and Clemson @ ND.
October 25th, 2022 at 8:16 PM ^
If competent officiating existed they'd be 3 loss team this year, already. I don't think they survive to the SEC championship game.
October 25th, 2022 at 11:56 AM ^
Undefeated Ohio State will lose on Saturday, November 26, 2022.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
If we win in Cbus, we're in and probably at #1 or #2 depending on how the rest of this shakes out and how good we look. Georgia and Tennessee both have tough games coming up, more so than other undefeated teams. It's entirely possible that whoever wins their game against each other drops another game along the way, making room for us at #1 come January. SEC bias is too strong for the winner of that game to not be #1 if they remain unbeaten.
Clemson has the easiest route. I think Texas is probably a better team than South Carolina and TCU could lose to them on the road. I also don't think Bama wins out. In fact, they could drop more than one of their remaining games with how they've looked this year. Pac12 teams are out of it regardless I think. Oregon won't jump another team that's currently ahead of them even if everyone ends up with 1 loss. My best guess is come January this is the ranking:
1. Michigan (13-0)
2. Clemson (13-0)
3. Georgia (12-1)
4. Tennessee (11-1)
Georgia drops a game to someone else but beats Tennessee, wins the east, and wins the SEC championship. Tennessee loses to Georgia but beats everyone else. They get the nod over Ohio State who will basically be in the same situation but UT will have the far better SOS + SEC bias.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
Elbel,
I certainly hope you're correct. And, I can also hear those in a certain part of the country say - the four prettiest teams are Georgia, Bama, Tennessee, and - you pick - South Carolina or LSU.
Or, would those be the four "most deserving teams"? The one thing I think of is - three of those four would not be conference champions, and two of those four would not have even won their division.
There's no love like eSECpn and SEC love...
October 25th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
I predict after Georgia plays Tennessee there will be one less undefeated team.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:06 PM ^
This is what makes college football so much fun. The upcoming matchups are good. The Nov 5th games will cause more thinning of the ranks in these three games listed.
The Buckeyes could face a stiff test at Penn State and it's a noon kickoff on Fox. If the Buckeyes win and convincingly then it will be the final game with our Wolverines on Nov 26th.This could become the first unbeaten showdown since 2006 for this game.
Buckle up!
October 25th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Here's the question I don't see anyone asking. What if Clemson loses in the ACC title game? At this point, its fairly safe to assume Clemson wins out in the regular season. I really don't think there's anyone left on their regular season schedule who can beat them, mostly because the ACC and ND are that bad. But what about UNC?
Could UNC conceivably knock them off in the ACC title game? And if that happens, what does that do to Clemson's CFP hopes? Maybe at that point, even if Michigan loses at OSU, they could squeak their way into the CFP #4 slot as long as they played an extremely close, well-played game @ OSU and lost by, say, a field goal.
In any case, I'd say Georgia will beat Tennessee because the game is in Athens and Georgia's defense, while not as good as last year's, is still very good. They'll do just enough to hold off Tennessee.
OSU will more than likely beat Michigan. I got to see a win in Columbus to believe it'll happen.
Clemson will likely run the table in the regular season.
I have a hard time seeing TCU win out, so I personally think the Big XII is out. Pac XII probably is, too. Even if Oregon wins out, there's no way the CFP will let them in to play the same team that smacked them 49-3. They're out. The loser of the UCLA/USC game is guaranteed to be out, and the other one could lose somewhere else along the way as well.
My guess is you will have a final four comprised of:
1) Georgia
2) OSU
3) Tennessee
4) Clemson
Michigan will be the odd man out at #5, heading to Pasadena to play either Oregon or USC. But if Clemson loses somewhere (probably the ACC title game or not at all), if Alabama loses again, and then TCU drops a game while Michigan plays a nailbiter in Columbus, then Michigan has a path to get in at #4.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
When looking at the upcoming schedule for the top teams it's easy to imagine several going undefeated (e.g. UGA, OSU/UM, Clemson). But historically that has happened in a minority of seasons since the inception of the CFP (3 seasons out of 8). It's hard to do but not impossible.
I think there might end up being only one undefeated team among the 4 chosen for the CFP this year; most likely UGA (don't see Tenn beating them on the road) or OSU/UM. I don't know who is going to beat Clemson but odds are that someone will--they are living on borrowed time and are not their former selves. TCU has skated on thin ice thus far and has some tough road games left even if they will be favored.
In the end I think there's just as much chance of 2 B1G teams in the CFP this year as 2 SEC teams. If our game with OSU is close then both might make it because 1 loss Oregon got killed by UGA and 1 loss TCU and 1 loss Clemson wouldn't be perceived as good as 1 loss Ohio St.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
"...wouldn't be perceived as good as 1 loss Ohio St."
No need to say "perceived" because neither of those teams are as good as OSU or Michigan. TCU has a good offense, but they can only come back in the 4th quarter so many times - their luck is going to run out. And Clemson would just get curb-stomped by the more legit top 5 teams (UM, OSU, UGA, Bama, UTenn, Oregon, TCU), and probably 'just' beat by several others that are having some problems (UT, UCLA, USC, Utah, maybe even PSU).
I'm not sold on Clemson's bag of mediocre tricks. At all...
October 25th, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
The only one I’m sure will lose is Tennessee - Georgia and maybe Kentucky (classic emotional letdown game scenario).
The only one I’m confident will go undefeated is Georgia. They’re the new Alabama.
I think OSU has an edge over us since it’s (a) in Columbus and (b) spotty play by our LBs in coverage - but I wouldn’t be shocked if we beat them by grinding their defense into a fine powder
TCU and Clemson aren’t that good, but their schedules are easy from this point.
October 25th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
Yuck, I could see TCU and Clemson going undefeated and in the playoffs where both teams are not top 10 caliber. If Alabama wins out and beats an undefeated GA in the SEC team. I could see bama in the playoffs.
The worse case scenario would be TCU and Clemson making the cut as undefeated teams..
1. UM/OSU winner
2. Alabama (or if Alabama loses to GA then it will be GA)
3. Clemson
4. TCU
5. Georgia/TN/AL
6. Loser of UM/OSU game.
But it would be great if Michigan wins out, then we would have an easy game to make it to the championship game.
October 25th, 2022 at 2:01 PM ^
Georgia - loses at home to Tennessee
Ohio State - struggles but beats Penn State. Blasts everyone else including a brutal beatdown of Maryland. And loses at home to Michigan.
Tennessee - beats Georgia. Slips up on the next road game at South Carolina.
Michigan - undefeated
Clemson - undefeated
TCU - loses to Texas
October 25th, 2022 at 2:32 PM ^
OSU will fall Nov. 26. That's all I care about, really.
Tennessee will fall to Georgia.
I wonder if Clemson and TCU will fall to anyone they face.
I would be totally fine with Michigan, Georgia, Clemson, and TCU in the National Championship playoffs and final game. And I would predict that Michigan and Georgia would make it to that game.
October 25th, 2022 at 9:23 PM ^
Clemson looks tepid and TCU plays nobody. Meanwhile OSU & UM look great. We know the winner of The Game gets in but could the loser get in too? It's happened 2 years in a row.