College Football Week 6 Rankings

My Top 25 and what teams are still left in contention for the Playoffs:

Top 25

Alabama Crimson Tide 5-0: vs 23 Texas A&M
Georgia Bulldogs 5-0: vs Auburn
Ohio State Buckeyes 5-0: at Michigan State
Michigan Wolverines 5-0: at Indiana
Clemson Tigers 5-0: at Boston College
Tennessee Volunteers 4-0: at LSU
Oklahoma State Cowboys 4-0: vs Texas Tech
Utah Utes 4-1: at 24 UCLA
USC Trojans 5-0: vs Washington State
Ole Miss Rebels 5-0: at Vanderbilt
Kentucky Wildcats 4-1: vs South Carolina
Penn State Nittany Lions 5-0: BYE
Arkansas Razorbacks 3-2: at 22 Mississippi State
Baylor Bears 3-2: BYE
Florida Gators 3-2: vs Missouri
Oregon Ducks 4-1: at Arizona
NC State Wolfpack 4-1: vs Florida State
BYU Cougars 4-1: vs Notre Dame
Wake Forest Demon Deacons 4-1: vs Army
Kansas State Wildcats 4-1: at Iowa State
TCU Horned Frogs 4-0: at Kansas
Mississippi State 4-1: vs 13 Arkansas
Texas A&M Aggies 3-2: at 1 Alabama
UCLA Bruins 5-0: vs 8 Utah
Maryland Terrapins 4-1: vs Purdue

Playoff Contenders

I’ll be splitting what teams can make the playoffs into 3 separate groups: The Obvious Contenders, The Dark Horse Picks, and The Hypotheticals.

The Obvious Contenders

Alabama Crimson Tide 5-0
Georgia Bulldogs 5-0
Ohio State Buckeyes 5-0
Michigan Wolverines 5-0
Clemson Tigers 5-0
Oklahoma State Cowboys 4-0
Utah Utes 4-1
USC Trojans 5-0

These 8 teams all have a good shot at making the playoffs. They all have very realistic chances at being 0-1 loss conference champions with some good wins. There is only one team on this list though, that might not have to resume to definitely get in over the others if it comes down to it.

Clemson has had a pretty weak schedule in my opinion. While it is not as weak as it has been in years past, it doesn’t matchup well with the others. Wake Forest, NC State, and Florida State might be the only respectable teams on their schedule. Syracuse and Notre Dame are alright, but I think all those other teams in this tier would beat them handedly as well.

The Dark Horse Picks

Tennessee Volunteers 4-0
Ole Miss Rebels 5-0
Penn State Nittany Lions 5-0
Oregon Ducks 4-1

All 4 of these teams have been pretty impressive so far this year. However, due to tough schedules and a lack of proving themselves against an elite team, it is unlikely that any of these teams will make it.

Tennessee has been really good and I have them ranked no. 6 right now. I think their QB, Hendon Hooker, is probably the Heisman front-runner right now. The thing that will probably hold them back from a playoff berth however, is their schedule. They have to still play against LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, and Georgia. While they have a chance in every one of those games, I would be surprised if they did better than 10-2 this year.

Ole Miss has been pretty good so far, especially in their win against Kentucky. Ole Miss’ schedule is more manageable than Tennessee’s, but still tough. They have to play against Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State. That is tough. Their running game and defense have been very good this year, but I am not confident in Jaxson Dart at QB. Ole Miss could have another 10 win season this year, but I wouldn’t expect much better than that.

Penn State has really surprised me this season. I was expecting them to be more like what they have been the last few years, but they have exceeded expectations so far. Their schedule is extremely manageable aside from two games coming up in a 3 week span after their bye. They have to pay against Michigan and Ohio State. If they can even get one win out of those two, they could possibly make the playoffs as an 11-1 division runner-up. I found it unlikely that they will beat Michigan or Ohio State though, so I envision a 10-2 season, possibly 9-3 with a slip up.

Aside from the Georgia game in Week 1, Oregon has looked good so far this season. If they win out, they could have a pretty good resume with wins over BYU, Washington, Utah, UCLA, and presumably USC in the Pac-12 Championship. I don’t think they are good enough to win against that many good teams though, and they will probably end up 9-3 or so.

The Hypotheticals

Kentucky Wildcats 4-1
BYU Cougars 4-1
Kansas State Wildcats 4-1
TCU Horner Frogs 4-0
UCLA Bruins 5-0

All of these teams have been pretty good this year, and have the potential to put together some pretty good resumes.

The hardest path is probably for Kentucky since they have to play against Tennessee and Georgia still. Even if they find a way to win those two games, they would still probably have to play against Alabama in the SEC championship.

BYU’s schedule at the beginning of the year looked like it was going to be really good, but now looks a lot less enticing. If they win out they could have a chance. I actually think that there is a decently realistic possibility of BYU winning out, but I think they would need a lot of teams to lose ahead of them to get in because of their lack of a marquee win.

Kansas State has looked good aside from the loss to Tulane. If they win out they have a good chance to get in to the playoffs. Their schedule looks to be pretty tough though. All the rest of their games losable aside from West Virginia. I don’t think they are quite good enough to get out with no more losses.

TCU is in a very similar boat, and they might even have a chance to lose once and still be fine as long as they win the rest of their games. I just don’t think that is going to happen.

UCLA has a lot of chances to get good wins, and they are undefeated. Their schedule is probably too tough to get out with less than two losses though with games against Oregon, Utah, and USC.

New Years Six Bowl Projections

Peach Bowl: Alabama vs Clemson

Fiesta Bowl: Georgia vs Ohio State

Rose Bowl: Michigan vs Utah

Sugar Bowl: Oklahoma State vs Tennessee

Orange Bowl: Ole Miss vs NC State

Cotton Bowl: USC vs Cincinnati