College Football Playoff Rankings: Biggest Takeaways from Week 1
After three days of the college football season, we've already learned a lot. And some of what we've learned—perverse as it might sound—concerns the College Football Playoff on New Year's Eve.
Granted, this weekly column matters less in early September than it will in October, and then November, and then December. It matters less right now than it will in 48 hours, when we will know the result of Ohio State-Virginia Tech.
But much of what we learned this week still matters on a broad scale because it revealed certain players, teams and conferences as something different than most people thought. And in many cases, those players, teams and conferences will have a say in the final CFP rankings.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
So let's take a look at what we learned.
Notre Dame Isn't a Dark Horse; It's a Favorite
Other than losing starting running back Tarean Folston, who left with an apparently serious knee injury, everything went right for Notre Dame.
The Irish beat the stuffing out of Texas, jumping to a quick 14-0 lead before clamping down defensively and sprinting to a 38-3 win. The backups took the field with more than 10 minutes left to play.
Quarterback Malik Zaire played as well as he did in the spring game, especially with his arm, which is his supposed weakness. His 66-yard touchdown pass to Will Fuller, which gave the Irish a 24-3 lead in the third quarter, was a thing of deep-ball beauty:
But the real star of Saturday's game was the defense. Defensive tackle Sheldon Day and linebacker Jaylon Smith are two of the five best players in the country at their positions. KeiVarae Russell and Cole Luke are a top-five cornerback tandem. The supporting cast looked deep and fast around them. The Irish held Texas to eight—that's right, eight—first downs.
"I just can't say enough good things about our defensive line right now," linebacker Joe Schmidt told reporters after the game. "They bullied, dominated up front and I was really, really thrilled with how they played."
I predicted Notre Dame to miss the Playoff because I hated how many difficult teams it plays. But Virginia, Pittsburgh and Stanford all struggled in Week 1, which leaves only home games against USC and Georgia Tech and a road trip to Clemson as likely pitfalls. Notre Dame can navigate that schedule.
Mind you, just because it can navigate that schedule doesn't mean it will navigate that schedule. I still think the Irish will drop at least one game. But even if they do, they might have the clout to make the Playoff, depending on where that one loss occurs.
Notre Dame has graduated from dark horse to favorite. Prepare your "overrated" memes accordingly.
Josh Rosen Makes UCLA a Legitimate Contender
True freshman quarterback Josh Rosen, the No. 1 QB in the 2015 recruiting class, lived up to and exceeded the hype against a strong Virginia defense, particularly a strong Virginia secondary.
Rosen completed 28-of-35 passes for 351 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions, and all of those numbers could have been higher if not for Kenneth Walker III dropping a perfectly placed bomb on Rosen's first career pass:
Rosen was the biggest question mark on UCLA's roster, a balanced group that otherwise checks all the boxes of a national title contender. When Matt Hinton of Grantland attempted to reverse-engineer a national champion, the slipper fit the Bruins better than every team besides Ohio State.
The defense is loaded. The offense is dripping with skill weapons. Head coach Jim Mora has been there long enough (but not too long). The only thing holding UCLA back was the potential for a disaster under center.
Rosen looks like anything but.
…But the Pac-12 is Still in Trouble
Only two ranked teams lost to unranked opponents this weekend.
Both hail from the Pac-12.
First came No. 21 Stanford, which sleepwalked through a noon kickoff at Northwestern and lost 16-6. The offense looked worse than ever, and head coach David Shaw, who in the third quarter punted on a 4th-and-5 at Northwestern's 37-yard line, proved he hasn't learned his lesson regarding overly conservative decisions. His Riverboat Ron turn can't come soon enough.
But then more alarmingly came No. 15 Arizona State, which hung close with Texas A&M but eventually ran out of steam and lost 38-17. A&M will be ranked in next week's poll—probably inside the Top 20—but the 21-point margin of defeat is still a bad look for the Sun Devils. They needed to have a better showing than they did.
Elsewhere in the Pac-12, Arizona lost Scooby Wright (though not for the season) and barely beat UTSA, Colorado lost at Hawaii, and Washington State lost to FCS Portland State. It's premature to write a "Death of the Pac-12 column," especially with UCLA, USC and Oregon around to carry the banner, and especially after the Big Ten made us eat those same words last season, but this was not a good start for the conference.
Now the Pac-12's top teams have less wiggle room.
SEC Hype: Engage
Unlike the Pac-12—its presumed biggest competition for the title of "best conference"—the SEC looked as good as advertised.
Auburn beat Louisville. Alabama beat Wisconsin. A&M beat Arizona State. South Carolina beat North Carolina.
That's four high-profile wins over power-conference teams.
Elsewhere, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee and Florida all covered big spreads against FBS opponents, while Ole Miss hung 76 on FCS Tennessee-Martin. Vanderbilt lost to Western Kentucky and Kentucky limped past Louisiana-Lafayette, but those are just the bottom-feeders.
The rest of the conference looks awesome, which means we're about to start hearing, "Could the SEC get two teams in the playoff?"
That specific question is foolish—the short answer: no; the long answer: hell no—but the SEC's strong start could mean a two-loss league champion has a better chance of edging out a one-loss champion from another power-conference.
In fact, I'd say that's almost guaranteed.
Note: Recruiting info refers to the 247Sports composite rankings.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
