The current college football rankings have Penn State fans excited. The Nittany Lions jumped to #6 after beating Auburn on Saturday. The odds for them winning the national championship have increased a decent bit. As some of you know, I love looking at the rankings and discussing who is there, as well as coming up with my own. I am a little nervous about where Penn State is ranked at the moment. It is not that I think they are undeserving, it just feels like whenever they climb into that top tier, then they have a huge letdown game (remember 2017 when they were #2 and lost to Ohio State?).
They have a tough road and undefeated seems improbable. I think they can beat every team in the Big Ten this year, but at the same, I could see them losing a game or two. Villanova should be an easy win. Indiana plays tough against Penn State, but I think the Nittany Lions avenge last year’s loss. After that we have #5 Iowa. A night game at Kinnick Stadium (I am assuming it will be a night game if they are both highly ranked) is always a tough task. If they get through that undefeated, they will probably be ranked in the top four (Alabama has Ole Miss and Texas A&M, while Georgia has Auburn and Arkansas…we could definitely see an upset somewhere, and Oregon only has Stanford…so at the very least, PSU could jump them) and then things get even harder to end October with a trip to Ohio State. November sees Michigan coming to Happy Valley (they actually look good this year). And the regular season ends at East Lansing. Michigan State is known for ruining a season for Penn State. There is also Maryland and Illinois. I do not think they present a challenge, but they are not as awful as they have been in previous years. Rutgers is probably an easy win, but that will be the game we end up winning 16-10 or something stupid.
College football feels different this year. The dominant teams do not look as powerful as before (Clemson and Ohio State), former good teams are making a rise (Arkansas, Ole Miss, Michigan), and non-power five conferences almost feel like they are as good as the mid-tier power five teams. Every team will have a trip up game (maybe they lose, maybe they almost lose, maybe they just play poorly) and it is hard to tell what we have from everyone so far. Okay, here are my rankings…
ELITE
1. Alabama–they look good, but again, not like last year. The defense was supposed to be incredible, but Florida put up some points.
2. Georgia–at the moment they look like a contender with Alabama. They have only given up 23 points and that was after playing Clemson. Aside from that though, they have only played UAB (not terrible) and South Carolina (terrible).
GREAT
3. Oregon–they beat Ohio State and Fresno State (who is not bad and is now ranked). The Pac-12 is not great, so they could go undefeated.
4. Iowa–I put them one spot ahead of the AP ranking. They beat Indiana and Iowa State fairly easily. They look like a legit team.
5. Oklahoma–I drop them down one for having such trouble with Tulane and Nebraska. I cannot see them going undefeated this year.
6. Penn State–good wins against Wisconsin, Ball State, and Auburn. They shut people up about last year’s start. If they had a run game at all, I would probably rank them higher.
7. Texas A&M–I have not seen them at all this year.They have a big test this week against Arkansas, so we shall see how good the Aggies really are.
8. Clemson–they are not playing well, but an easy ACC should give them plenty of practice the rest of the year to move on up.
9. Ohio State–The defense is very suspect.
VERY GOOD
10. Cincinnati–Indiana gave them a tough time. The Bearcats looked pretty bad the first half.
11. Florida–They looked good against Alabama and they have Tennessee, Kentucky, and Vanderbilt before LSU and Georgia.
12. Notre Dame–Another team with unimpressive wins.
13. Ole Miss–At least they are undefeated.
GOOD
14. Arkansas–The Razorbacks look like they are ready to be relevant in the SEC again. Exciting time!
15. Iowa State–See why I was not sold on them winning the Big XII this year?
16. Coastal Carolina–Shut up, I like them and I am biased towards Sun Belt teams.
17. BYU–They beat Arizona State, that counts for something.
18. Wisconsin–If they can beat Notre Dame, they could jump back up.
19. Michigan–They have not played anyone (Washington is probably not very good this year since they lost to Montana as well), but they have at least looked good in those wins.
20. Michigan State–They looked good against Miami and Northwestern. I think they are for real.
21. Auburn–They have a crazy tough October (LSU, Georgia, Arkansas, and Ole Miss). I think they can snag a win or two in that time.
FAIRLY GOOD
22. UNC–they have a QB…that is good, right?
23. Fresno State–Only loss was to Oregon, they are fairly good.
24. UCLA–They will fall out of the rankings. I cannot imagine them getting through the year without two or three more losses.
25. Kansas State–I guess they are fairly good.
TEAMS TO WATCH
Texas, USC, Oklahoma State, LSU–these teams are probably better than some of the teams on the list, but they need to prove themselves after early season stumbles.
TCU, Maryland, VA Tech, Kentucky, WVU–each of these teams will upset a ranked team, that is my bold prediction (or in some cases another one).
Pitt–you know I hate Pitt, and it brought me joy to see them lose to Western Michigan. However, they have a legit QB and they should be better than they always end up. The ACC sucks and if Clemson is having a down year, maybe Pitt could rise up win the conference. Probably not, but their fans deserve…well nothing. Screw the Panthers!
