Football (North America: NFL, CFL, Arena Football, minor leagues)

[NWI_Irish96]

It's not just that Alabama lost to A&M. It's that they barely beat Florida who isn't very good. I think this problem will fix itself as Alabama will either lost to LSU and/or Auburn and not even make the SEC championship game or make it and get blown out by Georgia and they'll be out.

Cincinnati's defense is real. They can't control how weak their conference schedule it. I'd put MSU ahead of OSU right now, but they play in a couple weeks so that will sort itself out.

[thspfc]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

I cringe at #12 Auburn, but they did beat Ole Miss and Arkansas, and I don't want to penalize them heavily for losing to Georgia. Four consecutive teams from the same division from #11 to #14 is unheard of. I don't think there's much separation between them.

Then there's the mess of Penn State, Wisconsin, and Iowa, all of whom have a 1-1 record in games against each other. I gave PSU the edge because of their OOC win over Auburn, and the fact that their record is deflated compared to the others because they're the only one of the three that has played Ohio State.

It seems to me like the same people who scream at the CFP for being "biased towards the power 5" are also the ones who have been ranking Wake Forest in the top 10, with their reasoning being "they're an undefeated power 5 team". As far as I'm concerned, this year it's the Power 3 - SEC, Big Ten, Big 12. The ACC is downright terrible this year. It is a power 5 conference; that doesn't always mean it's a good conference. The highest Wake has been in my rankings (which I've done every week this season) is #15.

[NWI_Irish96]

Do common opponents not matter for you? Notre Dame beat Purdue by 14 and Michigan State lost to Purdue by 11.

[thspfc]

Do common opponents not matter for you? Notre Dame beat Purdue by 14 and Michigan State lost to Purdue by 11.

Common opponents matter; it's not the only thing that matters. MSU's resume is much better than Notre Dame's.

[ilpt4u]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

[thspfc]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

There are plenty of people out there who think that a top 25 ranking should primarily sort by record, or head-to-head, or sheer strength of record, etc. . . . I'm not one of those people. My sole rationale is rank the 25 best teams in order from 1st best to 25th best. All of those other factors are considered, of course. But right now based on everything that has happened this season (i.e. not just one game), I am concluding that Ohio State is the 3rd best team and Oregon is 6th best. If head-to-head is the only thing that matters, then Texas A&M would be above Alabama, and Purdue would be above Michigan State.

[ilpt4u]

I get the general thought process, but its even more the reason I prefer the action on Sundays than the Saturday popularity contests for Committee Members and Pollsters

[NWI_Irish96]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

There are plenty of people out there who think that a top 25 ranking should primarily sort by record, or head-to-head, or sheer strength of record, etc. . . . I'm not one of those people. My sole rationale is rank the 25 best teams in order from 1st best to 25th best. All of those other factors are considered, of course. But right now based on everything that has happened this season (i.e. not just one game), I am concluding that Ohio State is the 3rd best team and Oregon is 6th best. If head-to-head is the only thing that matters, then Texas A&M would be above Alabama, and Purdue would be above Michigan State.

Ranking who is best, or who would win hypothetical matchups against other teams diminishes the actual games that have been played. Head to head should matter a lot, especially when comparing 1-loss teams. As teams accumulate other losses, head-to-head becomes less important. espn.com publishes a metric called "Strength of record" which ranks how hard it is to have a team's record against their schedule. Oklahoma is 2nd and Cincinnati is 4th in SOR because it's really hard to go undefeated, even against a less challenging schedule. ND has a better SOR than MSU or Michigan. Oregon has a higher SOR than Ohio State. A high ranking is something that should be earned on the field, not just awarded because you have the most talent.

[thspfc]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

There are plenty of people out there who think that a top 25 ranking should primarily sort by record, or head-to-head, or sheer strength of record, etc. . . . I'm not one of those people. My sole rationale is rank the 25 best teams in order from 1st best to 25th best. All of those other factors are considered, of course. But right now based on everything that has happened this season (i.e. not just one game), I am concluding that Ohio State is the 3rd best team and Oregon is 6th best. If head-to-head is the only thing that matters, then Texas A&M would be above Alabama, and Purdue would be above Michigan State.

Ranking who is best, or who would win hypothetical matchups against other teams diminishes the actual games that have been played.

I don't care. It's a top 25 ranking, not a hype commercial.

A high ranking is something that should be earned on the field, not just awarded because you have the most talent.

Have you watched any of Ohio State's other 8 games? And I'm not just awarding teams good rankings because they have talent; Cincinnati is definitely not the 4th most talented team in the country, but they are the 4th best IMO.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

There are plenty of people out there who think that a top 25 ranking should primarily sort by record, or head-to-head, or sheer strength of record, etc. . . . I'm not one of those people. My sole rationale is rank the 25 best teams in order from 1st best to 25th best. All of those other factors are considered, of course. But right now based on everything that has happened this season (i.e. not just one game), I am concluding that Ohio State is the 3rd best team and Oregon is 6th best. If head-to-head is the only thing that matters, then Texas A&M would be above Alabama, and Purdue would be above Michigan State.

Ranking who is best, or who would win hypothetical matchups against other teams diminishes the actual games that have been played.

I don't care. It's a top 25 ranking, not a hype commercial.

A high ranking is something that should be earned on the field, not just awarded because you have the most talent.

Have you watched any of Ohio State's other 8 games? And I'm not just awarding teams good rankings because they have talent; Cincinnati is definitely not the 4th most talented team in the country, but they are the 4th best IMO.

Yesterday I watched a game where Ohio State won thanks to a missed, very blatant, pass interference that stopped Nebraska's winning drive, while Oregon absolutely shut down Washington's offense in a hostile environment.

[thspfc]

I'll share my top 25 ballot this week because I have a feeling it is very controversial.

1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Ohio State
4. Cincinnati
5. Oklahoma
6. Oregon
7. Michigan State
8. Michigan
9. Oklahoma State
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas A&M
12. Auburn
13. Ole Miss
14. Arkansas
15. Penn State
16. Wisconsin
17. Iowa
18. Baylor
19. Iowa State
20. Wake Forest
21. BYU
22. Purdue
23. UTSA
24. Kansas State
25. San Diego State

The Ducks went to the "˜Shoe and beat the Buckeyes, but #3 Ohio State and #6 Oregon? Yeah, that really places importance on Head-to-Head contests, there. Especially when it was the Road Underdog Ducks that won that game

I don't follow CFB that closely, but the whole ridiculousness of the Committee and the Rankings is just dumber and dumber when undefeated teams, even if from a Group of 5 Conference, are not even included in the Top 25

At least at the NFL level, when 2 teams have the same record, Head-to-Head is the #1 tiebreaker, as it should be. You literally already settled the result on the field

There are plenty of people out there who think that a top 25 ranking should primarily sort by record, or head-to-head, or sheer strength of record, etc. . . . I'm not one of those people. My sole rationale is rank the 25 best teams in order from 1st best to 25th best. All of those other factors are considered, of course. But right now based on everything that has happened this season (i.e. not just one game), I am concluding that Ohio State is the 3rd best team and Oregon is 6th best. If head-to-head is the only thing that matters, then Texas A&M would be above Alabama, and Purdue would be above Michigan State.

Ranking who is best, or who would win hypothetical matchups against other teams diminishes the actual games that have been played.

I don't care. It's a top 25 ranking, not a hype commercial.

A high ranking is something that should be earned on the field, not just awarded because you have the most talent.

Have you watched any of Ohio State's other 8 games? And I'm not just awarding teams good rankings because they have talent; Cincinnati is definitely not the 4th most talented team in the country, but they are the 4th best IMO.

Yesterday I watched a game where Ohio State won thanks to a missed, very blatant, pass interference that stopped Nebraska's winning drive, while Oregon absolutely shut down Washington's offense in a hostile environment.

Huh. Interesting, because yesterday I saw Ohio State play what was their third worst game of the season, and still win by the same margin as Oregon did - against a Nebraska team that is better than the Washington team that Oregon beat (common opponents matter a lot to you, Nebraska lost to Michigan by 3, Washington lost to Michigan by 21).

[Henry]

With the Josh Allen game having taken place, I'm thinking back to other names that have been used by two players in the same season over the years. There's Steve Smith, Brandon Marshall, Todd Collins, and a few others...who else am I missing?

[JayhawkCO]

With the Josh Allen game having taken place, I'm thinking back to other names that have been used by two players in the same season over the years. There's Steve Smith, Brandon Marshall, Todd Collins, and a few others...who else am I missing?

Adrian Peterson.

Chris

[sturmde]

Calling it now, end of season top 4:

1. Georgia

2. Oregon (still can't figure out the Stanford loss... they're not losing to anyone else though.)
3. Michigan (if they had NFL-quality replay officials, Michigan beat MSU.  They won't lose to tOSU this year, but MSU will.)

4. Cincinnati (their defense should win out... and as long as the offense stays ahead -- and at least they beat Tulane by 8.  Beating one-loss Houston in the AAC championship will matter.  Oklahoma barely managed winning by 5).  Good luck staying undefeated against UGa, Cincy!!

The next 4:
5. Notre Dame (wins out, but lost to Cincinnati, so there.)
6. Oklahoma (loses a couple, still gets XII championship game but 2 losses)
7. Ohio State (loses to Michigan, beats MSU)
8. Michigan State (loses to OSU, too bad y'all also lost to Purdue or you'd win your division tiebreaker with Michigan!)

[thspfc]

I'll go with . . .

1) Alabama (12-1)
2) Georgia (12-1, close loss to Alabama)
3) Ohio State (12-1)
4) Oklahoma (13-0)

5) Cincinnati (13-0)
6) Texas A&M (10-2)
7) Oregon (11-2)
8) Notre Dame (11-1)
9) Michigan (10-2)
10) Michigan State (10-2)

I think Oregon is going to slip up again. Michigan is not beating OSU. Neither is Michigan State. Oklahoma's resume has a lot of room to grow with Iowa State, Baylor, OK State, and the Big 12 title game left on the schedule, whereas Cincy has looked shaky against bad teams recently and doesn't have many quality opponents left.

I will also take Penn State to beat Michigan State. By the rankings, that would be an upset, by the point spread, it would not be. There's been a lot of those in college football this year.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'd put a significant amount of money on Alabama not winning the SEC Championship

[Alps]

Georgia, Big Ten winner, Oregon, and we'll see. Alabama loss and Cincinnati is next in line...

[SP Cook]

Cincinnati and its league's idiot commissioner have been spewing idiocy, in direct contradiction to the contract IT SIGNED, about this "Power 6" and "UCF really won the 17 championship, the playoffs don't matter" and other such nonsense. 

And NOW it wants to cry and complain about being left out of a playoff, its own commissioner said didn't matter just 4 years ago. 

Doesn't work that way.

UC might join a LONG LINE of mid-majors that went undefeated.  Hopefully it won't join only UCF in making an ass out of itself in doing so.

[thspfc]

Cincinnati and its league's idiot commissioner have been spewing idiocy, in direct contradiction to the contract IT SIGNED, about this "Power 6" and "UCF really won the 17 championship, the playoffs don't matter" and other such nonsense. 

And NOW it wants to cry and complain about being left out of a playoff, its own commissioner said didn't matter just 4 years ago. 

Doesn't work that way.

UC might join a LONG LINE of mid-majors that went undefeated.  Hopefully it won't join only UCF in making an ass out of itself in doing so.

People making this a power 5 vs. group of 5 issue are conveniently ignoring how two power 5 undefeated teams, Wake Forest and Oklahoma, BOTH of whom had played stronger schedules than Cincinnati up to that point, were behind Cincinnati in the first CFP rankings. The should already debunk the narrative that the CFP is forcing Alabama/Ohio State/Oklahoma/Clemson (irrelevant) on us, but if it doesn't, the fact that fans are obviously getting sick and tired of the same teams at the top over and over again should show that there is no incentive for the CFP to favor those teams. I too want to see different teams in the Playoff. The difference is I want to see it happen fairly, whereas your average basic college football fan wants teams who play weak schedules and go undefeated against them, but are clearly not one of the four best teams.

I will give credit to Cincinnati, because they are trying. They had Indiana and Notre Dame, both away games, on their nonconference schedule this year. Indiana has been pretty bad which is unlucky for them, but at least they made a clear effort to get top programs on the schedule.

Spare me with the group of 5 teams who schedule Northwestern Southeast Carolina State Tech, Kentucky Gulf Coast University, Butte Community College, and Bishop Sycamore out of conference, and then complain about being dIsReSpEcTeD. (Cough, Coastal Carolina, cough)

If you're a group of 5 program who wants a shot at the Playoff, you can do one of two things (in addition to playing well and going 13-0 which is easier said than done):

1. move to a better conference
2. fill your nonconference slate with as many solid power 5 teams as you can. You might get embarrassed, but if you want to make the Playoff, that's a risk you have to take.

[snowc]

Cam's back with the Panthers! 

[NWI_Irish96]

Cincinnati and its league's idiot commissioner have been spewing idiocy, in direct contradiction to the contract IT SIGNED, about this "Power 6" and "UCF really won the 17 championship, the playoffs don't matter" and other such nonsense. 

And NOW it wants to cry and complain about being left out of a playoff, its own commissioner said didn't matter just 4 years ago. 

Doesn't work that way.

UC might join a LONG LINE of mid-majors that went undefeated.  Hopefully it won't join only UCF in making an ass out of itself in doing so.

People making this a power 5 vs. group of 5 issue are conveniently ignoring how two power 5 undefeated teams, Wake Forest and Oklahoma, BOTH of whom had played stronger schedules than Cincinnati up to that point, were behind Cincinnati in the first CFP rankings. The should already debunk the narrative that the CFP is forcing Alabama/Ohio State/Oklahoma/Clemson (irrelevant) on us, but if it doesn't, the fact that fans are obviously getting sick and tired of the same teams at the top over and over again should show that there is no incentive for the CFP to favor those teams. I too want to see different teams in the Playoff. The difference is I want to see it happen fairly, whereas your average basic college football fan wants teams who play weak schedules and go undefeated against them, but are clearly not one of the four best teams.

I will give credit to Cincinnati, because they are trying. They had Indiana and Notre Dame, both away games, on their nonconference schedule this year. Indiana has been pretty bad which is unlucky for them, but at least they made a clear effort to get top programs on the schedule.

Spare me with the group of 5 teams who schedule Northwestern Southeast Carolina State Tech, Kentucky Gulf Coast University, Butte Community College, and Bishop Sycamore out of conference, and then complain about being dIsReSpEcTeD. (Cough, Coastal Carolina, cough)

If you're a group of 5 program who wants a shot at the Playoff, you can do one of two things (in addition to playing well and going 13-0 which is easier said than done):

1. move to a better conference
2. fill your nonconference slate with as many solid power 5 teams as you can. You might get embarrassed, but if you want to make the Playoff, that's a risk you have to take.

There's a metric that exists to balance being undefeated against strength of schedule. It's called strength of record. It ranks teams based on how difficult it is to achieve their record against their schedule.

Oklahoma ranks 2nd and Cincinnati 4th in SOR, because going undefeated is very difficult, even against a mediocre schedule. Even UTSA is 10th.

There's really no good reason Ohio State is in the Top 4. Their best win is against unranked Penn State, when undefeated Cincinnati has beaten #9 Notre Dame and even Notre Dame has beaten ranked teams Wisconsin and Purdue.

I've also watched Cincinnati play a couple times. They dominated Notre Dame at ND, who hadn't lost a home game since Georgia in 2017, and this is a ND team that handled two ranked Big Ten teams fairly easily. I wouldn't make Cincinnati more than a 7 point underdog to anybody except Georgia, and I'd make everybody a double digit underdog to Georgia. I think there's a decent chance Alabama doesn't even make the SEC Championship game, but if they do they'll get blown away.

[CoreySamson]

My predictions for the top 10 at the end of the year:

1. Georgia (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Oklahoma (12-1)
4. Cincinnati (13-0)

5. Alabama (10-2)
6. Notre Dame (11-1)
7. Oregon (11-2)
8. Texas A&M (10-2)
9. Michigan State (10-2)
10. Oklahoma State (10-2)

I think Oregon's win against Ohio State was partially a fluke; Ohio State has a point differential of 233 and Oregon has one of 113 against what I would consider a similar schedule. I get the feeling that Oregon will lose to Utah, either in 2 weeks or in the conference championship. I predict Oklahoma will lose a regular season game but win in the conference championship. If Cincinnati loses and Oklahoma doesn't win the Big 12 championship, then I think Notre Dame has a real chance to crash the playoff.

[JayhawkCO]

My predictions for the top 10 at the end of the year:

1. Georgia (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Oklahoma (12-1)
4. Cincinnati (13-0)

5. Alabama (10-2)
6. Notre Dame (11-1)
7. Oregon (11-2)
8. Texas A&M (10-2)
9. Michigan State (10-2)
10. Oklahoma State (10-2)

I think Oregon's win against Ohio State was partially a fluke; Ohio State has a point differential of 233 and Oregon has one of 113 against what I would consider a similar schedule. I get the feeling that Oregon will lose to Utah, either in 2 weeks or in the conference championship. I predict Oklahoma will lose a regular season game but win in the conference championship. If Cincinnati loses and Oklahoma doesn't win the Big 12 championship, then I think Notre Dame has a real chance to crash the playoff.

If Oklahoma loses in a down Big 12, Alabama will jump them even if they do get a second loss, assuming it isn't a blowout or to New Mexico State this weekend.

Chris

[NWI_Irish96]

My predictions for the top 10 at the end of the year:

1. Georgia (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Oklahoma (12-1)
4. Cincinnati (13-0)

5. Alabama (10-2)
6. Notre Dame (11-1)
7. Oregon (11-2)
8. Texas A&M (10-2)
9. Michigan State (10-2)
10. Oklahoma State (10-2)

I think Oregon's win against Ohio State was partially a fluke; Ohio State has a point differential of 233 and Oregon has one of 113 against what I would consider a similar schedule. I get the feeling that Oregon will lose to Utah, either in 2 weeks or in the conference championship. I predict Oklahoma will lose a regular season game but win in the conference championship. If Cincinnati loses and Oklahoma doesn't win the Big 12 championship, then I think Notre Dame has a real chance to crash the playoff.

If Oklahoma loses in a down Big 12, Alabama will jump them even if they do get a second loss, assuming it isn't a blowout or to New Mexico State this weekend.

Chris

If Oklahoma is a 12-1 conference champion, they absolutely get ranked higher than a non-champion Alabama. So does a 12-1 Oregon.

[JayhawkCO]

My predictions for the top 10 at the end of the year:

1. Georgia (13-0)
2. Ohio State (12-1)
3. Oklahoma (12-1)
4. Cincinnati (13-0)

5. Alabama (10-2)
6. Notre Dame (11-1)
7. Oregon (11-2)
8. Texas A&M (10-2)
9. Michigan State (10-2)
10. Oklahoma State (10-2)

I think Oregon's win against Ohio State was partially a fluke; Ohio State has a point differential of 233 and Oregon has one of 113 against what I would consider a similar schedule. I get the feeling that Oregon will lose to Utah, either in 2 weeks or in the conference championship. I predict Oklahoma will lose a regular season game but win in the conference championship. If Cincinnati loses and Oklahoma doesn't win the Big 12 championship, then I think Notre Dame has a real chance to crash the playoff.

If Oklahoma loses in a down Big 12, Alabama will jump them even if they do get a second loss, assuming it isn't a blowout or to New Mexico State this weekend.

Chris

If Oklahoma is a 12-1 conference champion, they absolutely get ranked higher than a non-champion Alabama. So does a 12-1 Oregon.

We'll have to agree to disagree.  There's a reason they're currently, what, 8th? while being undefeated.  If you've watched them play, you know they're not that good.  Hell, my boys from KU took a lead into the 4th quarter against them and we've only won one game.

Chris