Week 11 of the college football season came to an end last weekend and it was by far the best weekend of college football in 2019.
Minnesota showed us their worth as they upset Penn State at home in convincing fashion. LSU and Alabama lived up to the hype as we all expected. LSU winning a close one on the road and the race for QB1 between Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa was filled with big plays and excitement for four straight quarters. Baylor managed to stay undefeated in a three-overtime thriller against TCU. Virginia Tech also upset the 7-1 Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Iowa State gave Oklahoma a run for their money but fell just short in Norman 42-41.
With all the excitement this past weekend in the college football world, we have a lot of questions that will soon need to be answered involving the 2019 college football playoff. Before we begin, let me say that having a four-team playoff with five power-five conferences never made sense. That’s another story for a different time.
Where the 2019 College Football Playoffs Race Stands
Who Are The Top 4?
If the 2019 college football playoffs were to start today the top four teams in the playoff would be LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, and Georgia. The committee somehow came to the conclusion that Georgia is the fourth-best team in the country over Alabama. If you’ve had the opportunity to watch Georgia and Alabama play this season then you know Alabama is the clear cut better team. Georgia’s only loss came to South Carolina and Alabama’s one loss came to the best team in the country in LSU. That should speak for itself.
How Many One Loss Teams Have A Chance
Right now the teams with one loss that are ranked inside the top 10 are Georgia, Alabama, Oregon, Utah, Penn State, and Oklahoma. The committee has put emphasis on teams winning their conference but that means nothing when teams like Notre Dame have made the playoff.
Let’s say Oregon or Utah win the Pac-12 with one loss on the season. Is that enough for them to make the playoff over a one-loss SEC team like Georgia or Alabama? Alabama most likely will not make the SEC Championship and Oregon and Utah likely will. The committee has shown biases towards the SEC so it would be interesting to see how that plays out.
Oklahoma and Penn State are out of the playoff in my opinion. Minnesota is the most interesting team on the list. If Minnesota goes undefeated for the remainder of the season and loses only one game to Ohio State, how should the committee view that? If they play Ohio State closely and lose that would also be an argument that could be made for Minnesota to get in.
Playoff Prediction
My prediction for the four teams to make the college football playoff are LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, and Alabama. It is going to be very hard for the committee to keep a one-loss Alabama team out of the playoff with their only loss coming to the best team in the country. I do not see anyone in the BIG-10 beating Ohio State all season long so they should easily punch their ticket. Clemson plays in an awful conference so they will for sure find their way into the playoff. Their toughest game was against North Carolina earlier in the year. No that was not a typo Ladies and Gentleman. Lastly, LSU has the best resume out of the four teams I am predicting to make the college football playoffs, With wins against Alabama, Auburn, Texas, and Florida their play speaks for itself.
Final Take
Things might get a little crazy to end the year if any of the teams ranked inside the top six slip up. This year will be exciting to see what the committee truly thinks of one-loss teams and conference champions.
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