Welcome back to the college football playoff bracketology weekly update! This week saw some monumental shifts in the national landscape. Texas made the biggest statement this weekend, but Alabama and Michigan made claims as well. It’s extremely important to note that the way this bracket plays out right now is not how it will end, especially with distribution of teams along the conference lines. The SEC has 6/12. While the conference is extraordinarily deep, they will end up with 4 or 5 teams, not 6.
The Big Ten took a massive hit this weekend, losing a couple of games they shouldn’t have. The Big 12 and ACC have been massive beneficiaries of the Big Ten’s struggles. I spoke to it on a podcast Sunday morning; however, this weekend may have cost them a bid. The Big 12 and SEC have several teams who are going to win a lot of games and one (or more) of them are going to sneak their way into the field this season.
A Note on this season’s performances: The SEC is the only conference with a winning record against power 4 teams, going 8-2 so far. The ACC is 2nd at 5-6, Big 12 is 4-6, and the Big Ten is 3-7.
The Bracket
- Texas moved up to #1 overall with the best win in the country.
- Georgia stays at 2 after looking dominant in weeks 1-2 against inferior competition.
- Indiana moves to 3, and Miami (FL) 4 after also looking dominant against poor competition.
- Notre Dame falls to 5, not because they are doing anything wrong, but simply the others have looked that elite so far.
- The Buckeyes fall to 6 after their 4th quarter collapse in Austin.
- At 7, LSU moves up a spot despite looking shaky for half of the game, while Ole Miss also moves up a spot to 8. Those two will face off in what is likely the most anticipated game of the year.
- Alabama goes into Kentucky, struggles in the first and then blows the doors open to win big, and they jump into the field replacing Oregon who falls out after looking shaky against Boise State and then losing to Oklahoma State in the biggest upset of the weekend!
- Texas A&M pulled away from Arizona State after struggling a bit to stay put at 10.
- 11 is BYU who jumps Texas Tech after BYU beats Arizona and Tech was shaky against Oregon State.
- Finally, Boise State stayed put at 12 after taking care of Memphis. The Broncos are the clear favorite to be the group of 6 representative.
The Bubble
- As aforementioned, Texas Tech falls out because of their struggles this weekend and BYU now has the better win overall. However, they get Houston on Friday and if they win that, they jump back in. Houston is a team on the outskirts of the bubble who could jump up with a win over Tech this weekend.
- USC has quietly just taken care of business in their 3 games this week, and are quickly climbing the rankings. They started well out for me, but are now up to 12th overall in my personal ballot. They’re off this weekend before they host Oregon on 9/26.
- Tennessee has also been relatively quiet, but with their true freshman QB and elite rushing attack, they are now garnering national attention. After dominating Georgia Tech this weekend, they have one more buy game before SEC play, where they will take on Texas on 9/26.
- SMU, Louisville, Virginia: All three of these teams are “dark horses” as we evaluate the possibility of the ACC sending 2 teams to the CFP.
- Penn State and Iowa are the Big Ten teams I’m monitoring right now, with both hovering between 15-20 on my ballot. If they keep stringing wins, they will start gaining more attention.