Will an Elite College Football Team Emerge in 2015?

Just as the great PFT Commenter has a never-ending quest of asking whether Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is elite, we must ask the following: 

Is anyone in college football elite this year? Because the landscape sure looks like it has a handful of pretty good teams...and then everyone else. 

There are undefeated teams, sure. Nine of the Associated Press' Top 10 is made up of unbeaten teams. But just because you're undefeated doesn't mean you're the best.

Look at Florida State in 2014. The Seminoles, coming off a national championship, had loads of talent—11 players were drafted into the NFL—but never quite clicked in the chemistry department. The numerous close calls eventually gave way to getting blown out by Oregon in the Rose Bowl. 

The 2015 Ohio State Buckeyes resemble last year's FSU team in that sense. Like the Seminoles, Ohio State is coming off a national championship and could have a historically good draft class in the making. While the Buckeyes are undefeated and the No. 1 team in the land, there's just something missing. 

Ohio State isn't alone. The '15 season has been defined thus far by surprises—good and bad—and unforeseen letdowns. Just as Oklahoma looked to challenge Baylor and TCU for the top of the Big 12, it got beat up by a one-win Texas team. As soon as Ole Miss asserted itself atop the SEC after beating Alabama, it got leveled by Florida. 

At least one time this year, every college football team has looked, well, beatable. Ordinary, even. Is anyone in college football elite? The answer might be yes, and we're simply waiting for the moment to arrive. 

Patiently Waiting on the Big Ten's Best

By now, you likely know the story on Ohio State as the preseason unanimous No. 1 team (the first ever) with a chance to repeat as national champs and the best quarterback problem a team could have. What has ailed the Buckeyes on the field is a matter less certain.

Sure, they're beating opponents by an average of 19.5 points per game. Running back Ezekiel Elliott has at least 100 yards on the ground in every game this year. At a distance, things look normal still. But Ohio State has been forced to be a second-half team. 

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

Through six games, the only opponent with a winning record the Buckeyes have faced is Indiana. In all, the teams Ohio State has faced so far have a combined record of 16-19. Yet, Ohio State has held a double-digit halftime lead just twice and averaged a halftime lead of 5.3 points. 

"We were just killing ourselves with turnovers and everything," Elliott said after the Indiana game, according to the Associated Press (via Fox Sports). "We've got to eliminate that." Heading into Week 7, Ohio State is minus-two in turnover margin and 107th in college football in turnovers lost. The Buckeyes are also 92nd in penalty yards per game. 

There's no doubting Ohio State's skill, which is what makes the self-inflicted wounds that much more frustrating. Yet head coach Urban Meyer's team can pull away when it absolutely needs to, which leads one to believe that magic is still there.

And to his credit, Meyer may have finally found the balance at quarterback between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett. When asked if he had found the solution at quarterback, Meyer said "until next week." 

The same can't be said for Michigan State, which has needed to hold on against Rutgers and Purdue in consecutive weeks. Though ranked ahead of Michigan in the polls, the Spartans find themselves a full touchdown underdog to the Wolverines for Week 7, per OddsShark.com. 

That speaks to how strange this season has become. Michigan was supposed to be rebuilding in year one under Jim Harbaugh, while Michigan State was the lone legitimate challenger to Ohio State. Yet, side by side, Michigan is playing better football than its in-state rival. 

And probably its main rival, too. 

It helps that Michigan is healthier than Michigan State, but this is a turnaround happening quicker than expected. If the Wolverines win Saturday, it's possible the Big Ten will have an elite team. 

It just won't be the one anyone thought it would be.

The Big 12's Top Two Three

The idea of an elite team in the Big 12 probably still starts and stops with Baylor and TCU. As Max Olson of ESPN.com wrote of Bears coach Art Briles, "This is his best Baylor team yet."

It's a scary thought considering what Briles has fielded in recent years. However, other than a win over Texas Tech, Baylor remains completely untested. That changes in November in a brutal stretch that includes three road trips in four weeks to Kansas State, Oklahoma State and TCU. The Nov. 27 game in Forth Worth remains circled on all major college football calendars. 

But will both, or even one, of those teams be undefeated? TCU has been living dangerously close to the edge at times. Games against Minnesota, Texas Tech and Kansas State have been nail-biters. Numerous injuries and attrition on defense has put far more pressure on quarterback Trevone Boykin and receiver Josh Doctson to come through time and time again. 

The thing is, though, the Horned Frogs have. 

Can anyone in the Big 12 challenge the Bears or Frogs? 

This time last week, the answer to that looked to be Oklahoma. The Sooners were coming off a double-digit win over West Virginia and had the conference's best, albeit in diminishing fashion, nonconference win against Tennessee. 

Then one-win Texas happened. And now Oklahoma is more likely to fend off Bob Stoops talking points than playoff ones. 

That opens the door for Oklahoma State, an unlikely 6-0 team that's won its last three games by an average of four points. The Pokes don't necessarily look the part of an elite team in that regard, but two of those wins have come on the road. Though he's constantly in the coaching rumor mill, Mike Gundy doesn't get enough credit for what he does every year in Stillwater:

Also, an advantage Oklahoma State has over its more talked-about Big 12 brothers? The Cowboys get Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma at home in the month of November. We may have to wait until November to find out if a Big 12 team really is elite. We could also find out quickly if the top of the top of the conference is full of just "good" teams. 

The SEC

If the playoff field were selected today, the SEC would be shut out. However, there are a number of teams, especially in the West Division, sneaking up. 

LSU, Florida, Texas A&M and Alabama make up four of the final five spots in the AP Top 10. Ole Miss, the next-closest SEC team in the playoff discussion, is ranked No. 13 in the AP poll. 

But what happens next, much like the Big 12 in November, could be an act of football cannibalization. It starts in Week 7 when Alabama travels to A&M and Florida travels to LSU. Four teams that are a combined 21-1 will face off with major playoff implications. It doesn't end there, either. Here's the key remaining games for each of those aforementioned ranked SEC teams: 

Alabama	at Texas A&M (Oct. 17)	vs. LSU (Nov. 7)	--	--
Florida	at LSU (Oct. 17)	vs. Florida State (Nov. 28)	--	--
LSU	Florida (Oct. 17)	at Alabama (Nov. 7)	at Ole Miss (Nov. 21)	vs. Texas A&M (Nov. 28)
Ole Miss	Texas A&M (Oct. 24)	vs. LSU (Nov. 21)	--	--
Texas A&M	Alabama (Oct. 17)	at Ole Miss (Oct. 24)	at LSU (Nov. 28)	--

Each of those Top 10 SEC teams has at least one glaring weakness. Alabama's quarterback situation has been sketchy at times. Jake Coker has had his moments, but consistency remains an issue with 11 touchdowns and six picks. LSU's offense is entirely based around running back Leonard Fournette. What happens if he's limited, hurt or otherwise? Can quarterback Brandon Harris take over a game? 

But at least Alabama and LSU have their starting quarterback. It remains to be seen how well Florida plays against LSU this Saturday without quarterback Will Grier, who will miss a year due to a positive PED test. 

Texas A&M has its quarterback, Kyle Allen, but still struggles against the run. That's bad news with games against LSU (Fournette), Alabama (Derrick Henry) and even Auburn (Peyton Barber), all of which have excellent running games. 

The SEC, specifically the SEC West, has plenty of playoff-caliber teams. With some of the hardest games yet to come, though, which one will emerge out of the group? For that matter, will any of them?

What About Clemson? Utah?

And herein we find our answer. If there are two teams that have played up to their potential and capitalized on big wins, it's Clemson and Utah. Heading into Week 7, no two teams have looked more impressive overall.

Clemson has one of the best wins of the season over Notre Dame. What's separated the Tigers is their defense, which is almost completely rebuilt from last year's group. (And that defense was statistically one of the best in college football.) 

The combination of defensive ends Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd, linebacker Ben Boulware and cornerback Mackensie Alexander gives Clemson playmakers at all three levels of the defense. This is no longer the Clemson that needs 40 points a game to win. This is the Clemson that can score 40 points a game while stuffing you on defense. 

With one game remaining on the regular schedule against a Top 25 opponent (vs. Florida State, Nov. 7), the Tigers' path to the playoff is as clear as anyone's. In the rear-view mirror is "Clemsoning," a term head coach Dabo Swinney never wants to hear again. And rightfully so. 

Similarly, Utah's toughest games may be behind it. Already, the Utes have wins over Michigan—which looks much better now than in Week 1—and Cal, in which it forced quarterback Jared Goff into five interceptions. Utah also handed Oregon its worst loss at Autzen Stadium in nearly 40 years, 62-20. Ahead lies a slipping USC and a snake-bitten UCLA, but no Stanford. 

Though many wouldn't naturally consider Clemson and Utah among college football's truly elite programs, neither is a stranger to success. The Tigers have marquee wins against Ohio State, Oklahoma and LSU in recent years. Utah went undefeated in 2008 and beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. These are two teams that have won on big stages before. 

While they might not be Alabama or USC or Ohio State, Clemson and Utah are playing better than all three right now. Now, the question is: Can the Tigers and Utes stay at the top of their game? If not, we may be asking the same question over again: Is anyone elite this year?

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football. All quotes cited unless obtained firsthand. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.