Fox Sports: "College football rankings: Michigan makes a major case for No. 1"
Article: here
Key quote: "Without their head coach on the sideline and against an outstanding Penn State defense, Michigan all but said out loud: 'We're running the ball, and you are powerless to stop us.'"
It's a short article and inclueds a ranking (with UM #1), but I am happy to promote anything from FOX sports these days....
November 12th, 2023 at 10:00 AM ^
1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. The rest and nobody cares
November 12th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
It seems that way to me.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
Alabama's QB play has improved dramatically. They are a legit contender.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:31 AM ^
The good news is that it will be Georgia or Alabama. Don't think any conference getting two teams in this year - including the BIG...
November 12th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^
I agree. If Oregon and Washington win their final 2 games of the regular season and Florida State remains unbeaten, then the final 4 will be: Winner of Georgia/Alabama, Winner of Ohio State/Michigan, Winner of Oregon/Washington, and Florida State.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
Georgia is on the mulligan plan and probably OSU as well. We are too but only if its head to head vs another 1 loss team. Losing to #1 in respectful fashion isnt kicking you out of the CFP unless all others are undefeated.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
It could this year because there may be several one loss teams at the end with compelling resumes. Possible contenders: SEC TITLE loser x 2, PAC12 TITLE loser x 2, Michigan or Ohio (not gonna happen), Texas, and even FSU. That's a possibility of seven for four spots.
Then it will come down to quality wins and how recent the loss was and to whom. One loss at the end could knock out many of them. For example, Washington is likely done is they lose to Oregon in the Pac-12 championship. Georgia will have an uphill battle to stay in if they lose to Bama in the SEC championship. Michigan is likely done if they lose to Ohio. FSU as well in a weaker ACC. All of those teams, suffering their loss at the end to a CFP contender with a lack of top 5 wins on their resumes make their resumes shaky.
Texas as a one loss is looking better with the defeat of Bama as Bama improves. Bama is nervous as well as they are looking better each week, but kind of need to win out and have Texas lose somewhere now to jump them in line.
If Oregon wins out they will be the favorite 1 loss to get in with their loss being mid season and beating the team who they lost to earlier in the year for their conference title (possibly an undefeated UW).
If M, Georgia, and FSU go undefeated there's gonna be BCS level noise as to who the final team will be. If Oregon and Texas both win out that resume battle will be intense - but I think Oregon will get the nod.
November 12th, 2023 at 1:26 PM ^
It’s looking likely there will be:
- undefeated OSU/Michigan
- undefeated FSU
- undefeated Washington
In that scenario the Georgia/Bama winner is in and the loser is out. 1 loss Georgia isn’t passing undefeated OSU/Michigan nor Washington. Only hope is they pass FSU after a series of meh wins
dont know what scenario a 1-loss OSU gets in but there would have to be chaos for that possibility
November 12th, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^
Not sure about Washington. They're darn good and will probably be 12-0 but if they have to play Oregon in the Pac-12 title game, that's going to be a heckuva game. Oregon probably should have beat UW but their coach decided to follow James Franklin's 'In-game decision making for dummies' book.
November 12th, 2023 at 3:42 PM ^
Agree. I believe Oregon will win the rematch.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
Not after Georgia crushes them in the sec championship game
November 12th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
There's going to be a serious PR battle between the 1 loss teams at the end of the regular season:
Michigan (will beat OSU
Washington (do they play Oregon again?)
FSU (will beat Louisville)
Who would you pick amongst:
Alabama (when they beat Georgia)
Georgia (see above, might be best loss)
Texas (2nd best loss, best win)
Oregon (2nd best loss, if they lose to W they're out)
OSU (3rd best loss)
EDIT: think i forgot about a championship or 2 that may fuck up my theory.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
Texas doesn’t belong in that group.
November 12th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
Assuming three undefeated conference champions (Washington will have to play D to beat Oregon again,) and Alabama beats Georgia, does Alabama get in as the one-loss conference champion, when (assuming they win out) Texas has the same record and beat them at home? That means no SEC in the CFP. Doubtful. Assume Oregon, Alabama and Texas win out, then you have three one-loss conference champions for two spots. I'd reject Oregon because that league only plays on one side of the ball.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
As much as I don't like Alabama I want the QB Jalen Milroe to succeed. I taught math at his high school and got to watch him develop and he's a great young man.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
Funny, with no dog in the hunt I just thought he was a neat player, and started rooting for him despite myself at the start of the season. Sometimes it's like that.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
Yup, us at 2 is about right imo. Georgia is a whole problem. Look out for Bama too.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:19 AM ^
It doesn't really matter because Georgia has to clear Bama, Michigan has to clear OSU, UW has to clear Oregon (again), and FSU has to clear Louisville. Then there's the one-loss Texas possibility. Team Chaos is gearing up for battle.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
Those 4 games are effectively the quarterfinals
November 12th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
You can't put a team with a 17 point loss to Pitt in. Unless you argue that games on the CW aren't real so it never happened.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:08 AM ^
Which of those teams has a 17 point loss to Pitt?
Edit: Ah, Louisville. I don't think the poster was saying Louisville had a shot, just that FSU still has to beat them.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^
CW isn’t real. But yes Louisville winning is the chaos scenario that let’s some other team back in
November 12th, 2023 at 11:06 AM ^
What would be interesting is if Michigan/Ohio State, Washington, and Florida State all finish the year undefeated and then Texas wins the Big XII with 1 loss and Alabama beats Georgia to win the SEC with 1 loss. Based on head-to-head, Texas should get the 4th playoff spot. But is there anyone who would actually think that Texas at this point in the season is better than Alabama? But if Alabama gets the spot, then why would any team schedule a challenging OOC opponent ever again?
November 12th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
This is also why a 12 team playoff sucks and ruins college football. Every team should play a regular season like Michigan's schedule next year. At the end of the year only 1 or 2 teams survive a gauntlet like that. You get a great regular season with real games. Expanded playoff means that people play cupcakes and casual fans don't watch the regular season. NCAA and money is messing up college football. I rarely watch NFL games or at least full NFL games because there are too many and it doesn't really matter until the playoffs.
I hope my assessment is wrong and we get more stuff like Michigan's season next year.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:48 AM ^
The 4 team playoff is why team's should schedule like Michigan this season.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:40 AM ^
I would love to hear how the talking heads at eSECpn try and spin this claiming UGA and or Bama should get in over Texas. Keep in mind, IF UGA loses to Bama one could easily argue that UGA has not beaten a top 10 team (I know that Ole Miss was 10 this past weekend, but clearly not a Top Ten team). UGA's best win would be a home victory over... Missouri???
Meanwhile, Texas has a road win over Bama (who BTW would have beaten UGA in this scenario) plus a revenge win over OU...
We would be flooded with hot takes of eye tests appeal...
There is a real possibility the SEC might not get a team into the CFP this year. Unfortunately the most likely scenario I see happening is...
1) Michigan wins out...undefeated and then ranked #1 in the final polls
2) FSU wins out (the rest of the ACC is just not it, but FSU is good)...ranked #2
3) Oregon beats UW in the rematch PAC championship (both have 1 loss)
4) Bama beats UGA in the SEC championship (both have 1 loss)
5) Texas wins out (they have 1 loss)
In this scenario, you would have 6 teams (OSU, Texas, UGA, Bama, UW, and Oregon) to fill in the last 2 spots of the CFP...
Now that I am thinking about this, not so sure I would like this scenario to be played out. While I believe there is a near zero chance that any conference gets 2 teams into the CFP. OSU would have a very good case for one of the final 2 spots (best loss - debatable but losing to the #1 team at their place could make for a good argument, road win at ND and beating PSU). Only solution, beat OSU by 30+ points....
My vote in this scenario...
1) Michigan
2) FSU
3) Texas
4) Oregon
And a big FU to ESPN and the SEC...
November 12th, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
There is a real possibility the SEC might not get a team into the CFP this year.
Not this year. Not any year.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:18 AM ^
Yes. A 1 loss AL team should not get in over a 1 loss TX team
November 12th, 2023 at 1:13 PM ^
Texas has been playing with fire for about three weeks now. They’ve started fast and lost big leads in the second half, somehow doing just enough to eke out the games. Two more weeks of that, plus the b12 championship and I bet they lose another game.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:21 AM ^
OSU's wins over PSU and ND on paper still firmly have them as a top 2 team right now. I'm still not really sure how good they actually are, but on paper they deserve it. Everything will sort itself out in 2 weeks though
November 12th, 2023 at 11:47 AM ^
I'd say top four bc that ND win is only good because it was played in South Bend and not because Notre Dame is a great football team.
Edit: also bc Marvin Harrison is the best player in college football
November 12th, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
If Bama beats GA in the SECCG and Mich, Wash, FSU, and Texas win out, how do you justify putting either of GA or Bama in the playoff?
November 12th, 2023 at 11:42 AM ^
Because Texas lost to Oklahoma, who lost to OSU, who just got destroyed by UCF. Alabama’s improvement over the season changes the head to head calculation, making what to do with Georgia the big question.
November 13th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
I'll give you maaybe one transitive property, but definitely not two. Too much weird stuff happens in football to be stringing together 4 losses like that.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:02 AM ^
How we've looked, maybe. But resume, Ohio has more than we do... For now.
Georgia has been dominant.
I'm good for now
November 12th, 2023 at 10:08 AM ^
I disagree and I can back it up!!! Osu does not have a better resume. But it really at this point I guess for you doesn't matter.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
Reluctantly agree. I am not sure quite enough happened yesterday to change the current order of the rankings.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:10 AM ^
What makes OSU’s resume better? We beat Penn St way more convincingly and at their house and without our coach. What they eked out a win over a mediocre Notre Dame that bumbles the game away?
OSU almost lost to Rutgers and a horrible horrible Wisconsin team. Their resume is junk.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
ND has a better brand than UNLV is the answer to this question.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
Their resume isn't junk, it's just clearly inferior to Michigan's....
November 12th, 2023 at 10:15 AM ^
Maybe but for common opponents Michigan has done better. Margin of victory favors Michigan for PSU, Rutgers, Indiana, MSU. Only one in OSUs favor is @Purdue 41-7.
notre dame has 3 losses now. And it was a 3 point win.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
A three point win against a ten man defense at the most critical part of the game.
Georgia, especially with Bowers back (which seemed quite quick after hid high ankle sprain procedure) - is very tough.
Georgia v Bama in the SEC CCG will be worth watching.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:30 AM ^
I don't see it. The ND rock fight is the only game you could say they have on us. And yesterday's PSU team would beat ND. And if UNLV keeps on winning and Tulane drops another game, the Runnin Rebels might end up the top ranks Group of Five champ.
OSU also played an FCS team which I think the CFP should dock you for, but that would mean docking the entire SEC --- so it ain't happening. I'm sure the CFP will see it your way, and that's fine. But I think OSU's resume is very debatable.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
I dunno. I think UNLV would beat ND.
November 12th, 2023 at 10:03 AM ^
I've watched a lot of college football this year. I love Michigan but I do not think they are the number 1 team in the country. My top 5 would be
Georgia
Bama
Oregon
Michigan
FSU
November 12th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
This couldn’t possibly be a serious top 5…
November 12th, 2023 at 10:20 AM ^
How is this not a serious top 5? On a neutral field you really don't think any of these games are a toss up? Ok 🙄🙄🙄
November 12th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
Because it's 100% feelingsball. You have Oregon ahead of the undefeated team that beat them. And Alabama way ahead of the Texas team that beat them in Tuscaloosa, despite having the same record. It's not a serious ranking.
November 12th, 2023 at 11:01 AM ^
I take it that his ranking is based on how good he thinks these teams would be on a neutral field, and not just based on record (which the playoff committee would have to take into account). Did you watch the UWash-Oregon game, because Washington winning the game doesn't mean they looked like the better team. Their coach made multiple questionable decisions, which resulted in them losing a game, on the road, when their kicker missed a tying FG at the buzzer to lose--when they should have won by two scores. Oregon also hasn't had multiple close calls against inferior competition as Washington has.