On Tuesday night the College Football Playoff committee released their rankings having to deal with certain changes after the weekend. The most significant game of the year was #4 Michigan vs. #10 Ohio State in a battle to go to the BIG 10 championship.
Michigan had everything going in their direction before the game started. They were the 3.5 point favorite over a team that has dealt with a lot of trouble of the year.
There have been close, uncomfortable wins recently, a 29-point blowout loss to Purdue halfway through, and an early season scandal that led to their head coach getting suspended for three games.
The Michigan Wolverines were hyped up to have an easy win over the Ohio State Buckeyes who looked like a troubled football team loaded with talent. It had gotten so bad that rumors were circling around the sports world saying Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer might retire after this year.
This has been found out due to a growing cyst in his head that has been giving Urban really bad headaches all season. With all that on the table, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh looked poised to finally beat Ohio State after four years on the job… and laid a big fat egg.
By the time the clock ticked to zero, the final score of that game was 62-39 in a historically humiliating defeat for Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines. Ohio State scored on its first drive but closing out the first half was tough. Ohio State had a turnover on a kick return, and they failed to get into the endzone once they got to within the 10 yard-line leaving the score 24-19. The second half was all Ohio State scoring 38 points against what was vaunted as the best defense in the country. But Michigan’s defense didn’t get off the bus as they had no sacks, no quarterback pressures and gave up 567 yards of total offense in the rout of the year.
Other important games were #1 Alabama beating Auburn in the Iron Bowl 52-21 with Alabama once again displaying their dominance attempting to prove they’re the best team in the country.
They will have their toughest test of the year against #5 Georgia, who beat Georgia Tech 45-21. The two teams will battle it out for an SEC title. #2 Clemson beat South Carolina 56-35 and #3 Notre Dame beat a struggling USC team 24-17. #6 Oklahoma and #13 West Virginia had the shootout of a lifetime with Oklahoma claiming a 59-56 victory.
All that being said, on Tuesday night the CFP committee released their new rankings and here are the top six: 1-Alabama, 2-Clemson, 3-Notre Dame, 4-Georgia, 5-Oklahoma, 6-Ohio State.
With division championship games set to take place, the three games to watch this weekend are – Alabama vs Georgia, Oklahoma vs Texas and Ohio State vs Northwestern. The key this weekend is Alabama-Georgia because if Bama wins that leaves the number 4 spot for the playoff open for either Oklahoma or Ohio State if they win their games.
While there can be an argument made for Ohio State, I believe that the CFP committee will let the best offense in the country have the fourth spot, over a team that was crushed by Purdue.
However, if Bama loses it would be very interesting where the committee chooses to place Bama compared to Oklahoma and Ohio State.
The outcomes of these games are going to be the deciding factor for who gets to play for a national title.
Unfortunately, while I believe we’re going to have another Alabama vs Clemson final, the one team I believe can outgun Bama is Oklahoma.
In what would be a battle of the two Heisman front runners in quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray, this would be game the of the year as the country’s first ranked offense would go against the third ranked defense. Saturday is the tell all game of the year and should be very exciting.