College Football's Chaotic Weekend
Coming into Saturday, the playoff picture in college football was very cut and dry. There were four power five undefeated teams in Alabama, Clemson, Michigan, and Washington. All four were in a position to just win out and their spot in the playoffs should be guaranteed. The only one of the four on upset alert was Washington, who had a tough matchup against a surging USC team. The top three were all favorites by 20 points or more. Now Sunday morning, the only one left standing is top seed Alabama. Clemson went down at home to Pittsburgh, Michigan lost on the road to Iowa, and Washington lost at home to USC. Meanwhile, two other playoff hopefuls, 8th ranked Texas A&M and 9th ranked Auburn also lost, ending their playoff chances.
After a weekend where three of the top four and five of the top nine teams in the nation lost, everyone is left wondering what the playoff picture might look like right now. The losses to the teams in the top four will likely move Ohio State and Louisville up into the top four from 5th and 6th respectively. Each only has one loss, took care of business with blowout wins, and were sitting in a good position to move up in the event of a day like Saturday where multiple top teams went down. The guess right now is that either Clemson or Michigan hangs on to the fourth spot in the playoff picture with only one loss. Other teams who were positioned in the top 10 either lost (A&M and Auburn), or have more than one loss (Wisconsin and Penn State).
The events of this past weekend open up the possibility that there may be a 2 loss team that goes on to make the top 4 by season’s end, so by no means is the season over for Wisconsin, Penn State, or Oklahoma. Another team worth keeping an eye on is 14th ranked West Virginia, who still only has one loss. If they can win out and win the Big 12, it will be hard to leave them out as a power five conference champion with only one loss. A lot will be learned on that front as they host Oklahoma next week. If any of these four teams wins out, they stand a pretty good chance of securing one of the top four spots.
Another tough matchup next week will be when Louisville travels to Houston to take on the 8-2 Cougars, who knocked off Oklahoma week 1 of the season. Perhaps the biggest remaining matchup is when Ohio State and Michigan go head to head November 24th. It is very likely that game will be played for a playoff spot, with the loser dropping out of the top 4. At this point, the only thing for certain is that if Alabama takes care of business and wins out, they will have the top spot. After that, the next three spots are anybody’s best guess. Buckle up college football fans, it’s going to be an exciting final few weeks.
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