Graphic by the College Football Playoff
The Ann Arbor Astros won the Big Ten and are still out of my rankings but will be in the Rose Bowl. Georgia’s winning streak ends at 29 games as they lose to Alabama and Bama heads to Pasadena. Texas is in for beating Bama in September and will go to the Sugar Bowl. The Huskies look like the most dominant team in the West in nearly two decades and will meet Texas in New Orleans. The committee has at least five deserving teams but only four playoff spots. Florida State goes 13-0 and is left out. Once again, if the NCAA would do their jobs, and remove cheaters from contention, this wouldn’t be a problem! Conference championship weekend did not disappoint!
1. Washington (13-0) (Last Week #2. CFP Ranking #2) (Ranked #2 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Watching Michael Penix as a young quarterback playing for the Indiana Hoosiers, Big Ten fans knew he was good, but I don’t think any of us knew he was Heisman-good. Getting his team to 13-0, the last Pac-12 Championship and a playoff berth with pretty good stats get him my vote over Jayden Daniels and video game stats and 9-3. The Huskies now get to take on Texas in the Big Easy!
2. Florida State (13-0) (Last Week #3. CFP Ranking #5) (Ranked #4 and #3 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
There is no two ways about this, Florida State got screwed. You are one of only four FBS teams to finish the year undefeated and you get left out. It’s wrong. I knew the committee wouldn’t have the guts to do the right thing and put the Seminoles in at the expense of their masters in the SEC but it’s still ridiculous.
I think Florida State should go full 2003 USC and 2017 UCF and if they win the Orange Bowl over Georgia and get to 14-0 claim a share of the national championship. That claim would especially have merit if the winner of the official CFP is 14-1 Texas or Alabama and the Seminoles managed to beat Georgia by more than Bama did.
If they beat Georgia by more than three, they’ll be co-champions in my book. They’re a team going through adversity, that the college football world should rally around. They’re more America’s Team than anyone else this year.
3. Liberty (13-0) (Last Week #4. CFP Ranking #23) (Ranked #18 and #20 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The first team to go 13-0 in 2023 is the Conference USA Champions, the Liberty Flames. They deserve a New Year’s Six Bowl. Jamey Chadwell, Kaidon Salter, and Quinton Cooley are an elite offense who can score with anyone. Coach Chadwell is on his way to being a Hall of Fame coach and this Liberty will give Oregon a good game in the Fiesta Bowl.
4. Texas (12-1) (Last Week #6. CFP Ranking #3) (Ranked #3 and #4 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Texas left the Big 12 with a bang as they crushed Oklahoma State 49-21. The Longhorns earned their playoff spot, mainly by scheduling a gutsy out-of-conference opponent and winning. Quinn Ewers can make the big-time throws he needs to in big games and that gives Texas their edge going into the Sugar Bowl. Xavier Worthy’s injury is looming large for Texas though, and against a tough Washington defense, and Texas’ best hope may be to shoot it out in the Big Easy.
5. Alabama (12-1) (Last Week #7. CFP Ranking #4) (Ranked #5 and #4 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
This is just what the Tide does under Nick Saban (And I can’t fault them for taking advantage of the system, that anger goes only toward the system itself). They remind me a lot of the 2015 team that had an early loss and slowly steamrolled their way to a national championship. The key for them winning their second Rose Bowl in four years will be Jalen Milroe and his ability to make a defense have to defend every inch of the field.
6. Georgia (12-1) (Last Week #1. CFP Ranking #6) (Ranked #6 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Before you get mad at me for hoping FSU wins the Orange Bowl, know that I think you guys will win. Georgia is still really good and would maybe repeat 2021 if they’d been able to make it in this year. They’re in the camp that the 12-team playoff came a year too late. A credit to the Bulldogs is that their fans that I see and interact with have been behaving with class like Kirby Smart has.
7. Ohio State (11-1) (Last Week #11. CFP Ranking #7) (Ranked #7 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
When you go into championship weekend riding the pine for the third straight year and you have this kind of program it’s a failure. They needed Utah to win to get them in last year and needed Washington, Florida State, Georgia, *Michigan, and Oklahoma State to get them to fall butt first into the playoffs this year and it didn’t happen.
The only other one-loss FBS team not playing this weekend was James Madison and that was only thanks to the idiotic NCAA. Ohio State has only themselves to blame. A significant portion of Buckeye fans have lost faith in Ryan Day. His record of 2-6 in big games, and no big games won in three straight seasons has me in that camp.
8. James Madison (11-1) (Last Week #10. Unranked in the CFP) (Ranked #24 and #25 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The Dukes should have been playing Troy for the Sun Belt Championship. The NCAA and its infinite idiocy only did the right thing in letting them go bowling because not enough other teams finished at 6-6 or better. I wish JMU was undefeated and could finish 13-0 just to show how silly the NCAA is. As it is, the Dukes will get a tough and disciplined Air Force team in the Armed Forces Bowl and a chance to go 12-1.
9. Oregon (11-2) (Last Week #5. CFP Ranking #8) (Ranked #8 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The Ducks just couldn’t beat their rival to the north this year. (I’m a Buckeye, I feel your pain) But they have to like where they are with Dan Lanning moving forward and into the Big Ten. They may have seen the last of some of their stars like Bo Nix but 12-2 and a New Year’s Six win in the final year of the Pac-12 is nothing to be ashamed of. First, they have to take on a fast, high-scoring Liberty team in the Fiesta Bowl. And they certainly have their game against the Huskies in 2024 already circled.
10. Miami (OH) (11-2) (Last Week #20. Unranked in the CFP) (Unranked in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Miami is the MAC’s winningest program and they showed why against Toledo in Detroit. They’re a proud Midwestern team that runs the ball well, plays great defense, has excellent special teams, and can make throws when they need to. They get a tough opponent in the Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida. They face the Sun Belt runner-up Appalachian State. I’m looking forward to seeing the boys from Bulter County, Ohio play for that 12th win.
11. SMU (11-2) (Last Week #19. CFP Ranking #24) (Ranked #17 and #19 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The ponies will be something you usually don’t see in the bowl season and that’s a team from the south that goes to play in the north. And like when teams face LSU in Louisiana they’ll play the closest FBS team. The Mustangs will play Boston College in the Fenway Bowl in Boston. Now if only Alabama had to play *Michigan in Detroit.
12. Troy (11-2) (Last Week #18. Unranked in the CFP) (Unranked in the AP and Coaches Polls)
This is the same thing that Troy did last year. Dominate the conference on the way to 11 wins with a chance to get a 12th. Like many southern schools, they get to do it in-state and not far from campus. They’ll play Georgia Tech in Birmingham, Alabama in the Birmingham Bowl.
13. Penn State (10-2) (Last Week #12. CFP Ranking #10) (Ranked #10 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Penn State is the best team in the nation that had two losses in the regular season. And like the Iowa team they beat, they did so with a struggling offense and an elite defense. Like their border foe Ohio State, they have to look themselves in the mirror and try to overcome good, the enemy of great, to have a shot to be legendary. The first step on that path for them is Ole Miss in Atlanta. An SEC team, in SEC country will be a challenge.
14. Ole Miss (10-2) (Last Week #15. CFP Ranking #11) (Ranked #11 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Ole Miss is in the best place as a program that they’ve ever been. Lane Kiffin has them competing at a high level in the SEC. And their offense against Penn State’s defense in the Peach Bowl should be a fun matchup and give the winner of that game plenty of momentum going into 2024 and the first year of the 12-team playoff.
15. Missouri (10-2) (Last Week #13. CFP Ranking #9) (Ranked #9 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The Tigers are one of those teams that want Santa to bring the 12-team playoff a year early. Cody Schrader has got them into the College Football Playoff top ten for a few weeks now and has the chance to take on Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. With the Buckeyes likely losing a lot of their top stars to opt-outs, I think Missouri should be favored to win and get Ohio State’s bowl mark against the SEC to 2-13.
16. Oklahoma (10-2) (Last Week #16. CFP Ranking #12) (Ranked #12 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
It wounds to watch your two biggest rivals play for a conference championship from home. And to add insult to injury, at 10-2 you didn’t make a New Year’s Six Bowl like you should have. The silver lining for the Sooners is they’ve improved from 6-7 to 10-2. And get a chance to get to 11-2 against a quality opponent in the Alamo Bowl against Arizona.
17. Tulane (11-2) (Last Week #8. Unranked in the CFP) (Ranked #23 and #24 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Like their opponent who beat them for the AAC Championship this southern team will have to go to a cold weather game as the Green Wave got into the Military Bowl. It’s played in Annapolis, Maryland and that’s where they will take on Virginia Tech. Tulane will once again be out to prove that they are a Power Five team, just waiting for a conference to pick them up.
18. Toledo (11-2) (Last Week #9. Unranked in the CFP) (Unranked in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The Rockets have had a good season and still will have a bowl game with a chance to get to 12 wins. They’ll head out west to sunny southwest skies when they play Wyoming in the Arizona Bowl. The Cowboys and the Rockets are both having good years and should provide a hard-nosed, fun matchup in the desert.
19. Iowa (10-3) (Last Week #14. CFP Ranking #17) (Ranked #20 and #17 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The offense-less Hawkeyes get a tough draw in the 8-4 Tennessee Vols in the Citrus Bowl. If Iowa’s offense could just play with the faintest of pulses, they’d have a shot, but that is a big “if” and has been for Iowa for a very long time.
20. Louisville (10-3) (Last Week #17. CFP Ranking #15) (Ranked #16 and #15 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Louisville will battle USC in the Holiday Bowl in a game of two teams that surprised this year. Louisville was a surprise by getting to 10-3 in Jeff Brohm’s first year and USC a surprise by falling to 7-5 in Lincoln Riley’s second season at USC. Both teams need to win in San Diego.
21. Notre Dame (9-3) (Last Week #22. CFP Ranking #16) (Ranked #15 and #16 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
Notre Dame remains the best three-loss team in the nation. What they wouldn’t give for another year of Sam Hartman and Audric Estime. Still, the Irish are on an upward trajectory as a program and have a chance to get to 10-3 with a win over Oregon State in the Sun Bowl in El Paso.
22. Arizona (9-3) (Last Week #23. CFP Ranking #14) (Ranked #14 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The level the Wildcats have been at to close out the final Pac-12 season shows they are ready for and will be a force in the Big 12 in 2024. They’re one of the way-too-early favorites as the four corners teams join the 16-team Big 12. They get a shot at one of the teams they’re replacing in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma. This game has a reputation as one of the best bowls outside of the New Year’s Six and this one looks to be no exception with this top 25 matchup.
23. NC State (9-3) (Last Week #25. CFP Ranking #18) (Ranked #19 and #18 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
North Carolina State will get Kansas State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, formerly known as the Cheez-It Bowl, formerly known as the Tangerine Bowl. Both teams competed in their respective conferences this year and will look to go out on a high note with a win over a quality opponent to springboard into 2024.
24. LSU (9-3) (Unranked Last Week. CFP Ranking #13) (Ranked #13 in the AP and Coaches Polls)
LSU is all Jayden Daniels. He should be a Heisman finalist, and if the Tigers could’ve played better defense, and even just beaten Ole Miss, he might be the frontrunner. As it is he should be a finalist and if he plays in his final outing get LSU to a 10-win season in the ReliaQuest Bowl against the fighting Fickells of Wisconsin.
25. New Mexico State (10-4) (Last Week #21. Unranked in the CFP) (Unranked in the AP and Coaches Polls)
The Aggies get to practically stay home and drive up I-25 to Albuquerque to play in their rival’s stadium and take another opponent familiar with that venue, the Fresno State Bulldogs. NMSU has the chance to get 11 wins and in their home state. Not bad for a team that beat Auburn by more than Auburn’s rival did.
Game of the Week
Washington vs. Oregon
My Rose Bowl (Semi-Final) – Washington vs. Alabama
Rose Bowl Actual: *Michigan vs. Alabama
My Sugar Bowl (Semi-Final) – Florida State vs. Texas
Sugar Bowl Actual: Washington vs. Texas
My Cotton Bowl – Ohio State vs. Georgia
Cotton Bowl Actual: Ohio State vs. Missouri
My Orange Bowl – Louisville vs. Penn State
Orange Bowl Actual: Florida State vs. Georgia
My Fiesta Bowl – Oklahoma vs. Oregon
Fiesta Bowl Actual: Oregon vs. Liberty
My Peach Bowl – Ole Miss vs. Liberty
Peach Bowl Actual: Ole Miss vs. Penn State
National Championship Washington over Texas
Current Predicition: Alabama over Washington
