Glaeser Weighs In On College Football Landscape Heading into Final Weeks

Posted By Gettysburgian Staff on Nov 10, 2018 | 0 comments

College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

By Garrett Glaeser, Staff Writer

There were no surprises Tuesday night when the committee’s second rankings were announced with undefeated teams Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame earning the top three spots respectively, and a hot Michigan team rounding out the top four.

However after this past weekend’s games the nation learned a few things about its top teams and the playoff picture four weeks away from Selection Sunday.

No one is quite like Alabama. (Except Clemson)The Crimson Tide have once again shown they are a level above everyone else in college football. Alabama was expected to beat LSU, but shutting them out is another story.LSU’s defense was marked as one of the best in the country and yet they allowed 576 yds of offense. Granted, they did force Tua to throw his first interception of the year and held Alabama to only 29 points, but they still looked helpless against a highly efficient and tactical Tide offense.
With Georgia’s win over Cinderella Kentucky, the SEC title game is already set with the Bulldogs taking on the Crimson Tide on December 1^st at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives Alabama a 67.1% chance to win. In a rematch of last year’s title game Georgia appears to be the clear underdog nearly a month away.

Like the Tide, Clemson is continuing to prove why it is the only real threat to Alabama’s dominance. A 77-16 throttling of Louisville proved that.

Michigan’s revenge tour is something to fear.In an absolute rout of a Penn State team that manhandled the Wolverines last year, Michigan is proving that they’re not messing around. Holding elusive Nittany Lion QB Trace McSorley to just 83 yds passing, 0 touchdowns, and an interception, this Michigan defense is clearly showing why it is considered to be the best in the nation.
If Michigan can take care of Ohio State on November 24^th and go on to win the Big Ten Championship, the committee will be hard pressed to leave the Wolverines out.

Major issues will arise if Georgia wins the SEC.Barring catastrophe, three teams have clinched a playoff spot. Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame should be in come Selection Sunday.
The fourth spot is still very much up for grabs. Michigan, Georgia, and Oklahoma all have a viable chance amongst other top contenders. It will come down to first and foremost who wins out and then who wins their conference.

If all three teams do that, then the committee might be facing its toughest test yet. It seems highly unlikely that the Tide will be left out, even if they loose the SEC title game. But is also seems highly unlikely that if Georgia wins the SEC, that they too will not get in.

That leaves a Michigan team, who, if all goes according to plan, will have only one loss to the #3 team in nation and victories against marquee teams in the Big Ten. Again, it seems unlikely that they’ll be left out with such a strong résumé.

If you’ve been following along, you’ve clearly seen the dilemma here. If Georgia wins the SEC, then we have five teams all with a clear case as to why they should be in a four-team playoff. And we haven’t even included Oklahoma in this conversation.

From a fan’s perspective, a Georgia win against Alabama would be something to see in itself, let alone the insanity it will create leading up to the playoff. But from the committee’s view, their lives would be a whole lot easier if the Tide cruised against Georgia like they did against LSU.

Much is left to be sorted out in the coming weeks. If things go according to plan, we should have a clear-cut playoff. But since most things don’t always go according to plan, we could be headlining towards madness.

Week 11 CFP Complete Rankings: