What is the story about?
The
calendar has flipped to November, clocks have been turned back an hour, and the final month of the college football regular season is here. A team ranked in the top 2 of the AP Poll lost to an unranked team for the fourth straight week for the first time ever. The playoff picture has shifted throughout the season, and Halloween weekend was no exception.
My playoff picture after Week 9 is as follows:
- P4 Champions: Georgia, Miami, Utah, UCLA
- G6 Leader: Boise State
- At-Larges: Notre Dame, Indiana, BYU, Kentucky, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State
- Outside Looking In: Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, LSU, Tennessee
Some notes from Week 9:
- The Big Ten seems rather average this year. I was willing to give Ohio State the benefit of the doubt until I watched what they looked like after Julian Sayin’s injury, but they looked ordinary against USC. Indiana has clear issues on offense, and unbeaten UCLA is not as strong offensively without Nico Iamaleava. UCLA is in the champion position by default as the only team left without a loss in conference play.
- Wake Forest is the last hope for the ACC to get a second team in the field after SMU was upset at Syracuse. The Demon Deacons have not beaten any top-level teams yet, but a combined 187-31 scoring margin in their last four ACC games is nothing to sneeze at. If Jake Dickert’s team can win out, they have a strong case for an at-large bid.
- Notre Dame’s questionable strength of schedule looks worse now than it did at the beginning of the season. If the Fighting Irish cannot beat Miami at home on Saturday night, they are practically begging to be left out of the playoff again. It is hard for me to see 10-2 cutting it with no quality wins, even with their brand.
- The three-bid Big 12 dream is still alive, with Texas Tech, Utah, and BYU all winning. If BYU beats Utah in the Holy War on Saturday, we could see three 11-1 teams from the Big 12 on conference championship weekend.
- The SEC logjam should see at least some resolution this weekend. Texas-Missouri, Alabama-LSU, Georgia-Ole Miss, and Kentucky-Tennessee all have playoff implications, and at least two teams will pick up a third loss.
- Boise State is still the highest-ranked G6 team, but New Mexico jumped into the AP Poll just two spots behind the Broncos. If these teams continue to win out, it could be a photo finish for the G6 berth.
