The Good, Bad and Ugly of College Football's 1st Half as Playoff Rankings Loom
To those emerging from a nine-week nap or an underground, internet-less bunker, there is a new face of college football. Notre Dame is battling for bowl eligibility. Colorado is good again. Alabama is, well, still Alabama.
Point is, things happened. The outlook changed. The college football season, now more than nine weeks in, has produced some familiar results. It's also produced things we have yet to truly understand.
Take Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson, for example. Remember when he wasn't a thing?
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
We liked him some, sure. He was a fine quarterback coming off a successful freshman season. There was room for him to grow, which he was expected to do in time.
He was mortal back then—a whole nine weeks ago.
That was before he scored 38 touchdowns in eight games. That was before he emerged as an overwhelming Heisman Trophy favorite. That was before Louisville became a team that could ultimately crash the College Football Playoff.
But here we are, 38 touchdowns later.
He's not the only one turning heads, for good or bad.
When the first College Football Playoff Top 25 is released on Tuesday night, many familiar faces will fall into familiar places. A few newcomers will say hello. And there will be a few notable absences, too.
That's the beauty of all this. Each season is its own tremendous act filled with such emphatic highs and lows. The final product will look nothing like what we have right now, which is what we sign up for.
And yet, with more than half the season behind us, we have learned so much to date.
The Heisman Race, Despite Popular Belief, Is Still Very Much a Race
The first rule of Heisman declarations is you do not make Heisman declarations in October. The second rule of Heisman declarations is you do not make Heisman declarations in October.
Yes, Jackson has been incredible. But let's not forget how fragile a Heisman campaign is.
Had Louisville not come back and beat Virginia on Saturday, this category would look vastly different. Jackson, after a slow start, was brilliant once again.
But this award has escaped great statistical seasons before. There are still many others in the mix.
Washington quarterback Jake Browning has put together a superb season for a team in line for a playoff spot (more on that momentarily).
Michigan linebacker/running back/special teams whiz Jabrill Peppers is on the verge of a special season and will do things no other player in the nation can match.
Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson—remember him?—is still the captain of an undefeated team. On Saturday night, in need of a touchdown, Watson ultimately propelled his team over Florida State. This moment alone will earn some Heisman buy-in.
The point is, there is still time. Lots of time. There is also more to this than numbers.
If Jackson continues to build on his first eight games, he will likely run away with this. But to assume he has this thing locked up with so many minutes to be played and so much chaos to unfold would be a mistake—not that we've never made this one before.
The Favorites Have Generally Looked the Part
Alabama is still a wonderful, soul-consuming machine. Head coach Nick Saban's team was ranked No. 1 heading into the year, and that hasn't budged a bit. If anything, the gap has widened between everyone else.
The emergence of Jalen Hurts at quarterback and a defense that scores touchdowns almost every Saturday make this version slightly different from the others. Still, heading into a fascinating matchup against LSU, the Crimson Tide are a force. Shocking, yes?
It has not been nearly as easy or convincing for Clemson, Alabama's opponent from the national championship a season ago. But through it all, the Tigers are 8-0 with wins over Louisville and now Florida State. They are also immensely talented on both sides of the ball.
It has been ugly at times. Luck has factored in as well, which it often does. But Clemson is exactly where it should be, albeit by taking a slightly different path.
Perhaps Michigan didn't enter with the same dominant assumptions, although the Wolverines have done more than hold serve and back up two offseasons of hype.
The defense is suffocating. The offense is loaded with options. This is a team that is wildly ahead of schedule and on the verge of doing something now.
Ohio State might have something to say about this after stumbling, another popular selection still very much in the mix, even after a loss to Penn State. The Buckeyes don't look as Teflon as they did earlier in the year, but they are still in control of their fate.
Washington Was Worth the Hype
It's not all chalk near the apex. Washington, our offseason hype champion, was apparently worth it all along.
That's not to say the team will carry head coach Chris Petersen off the field after a national championship victory come mid-January. But come Tuesday night, the Huskies will be in the Top Four of the season's first College Football Playoff Top 25.
Beating Utah on the road in Week 9 was a lovely resume boost that the selection committee will undoubtedly discuss early next week.
Yes, it all starts with Browning at quarterback. But it's more than that.
The Huskies can control the line of scrimmage. They have tremendous speed at skill positions. They have one of the best collections of defensive backs in the nation.
Everything is there. The hype is real. Although there are losable regular-season games against USC and Washington State on tap, Washington looks like a team that can compete with just about anyone.
And that's not a statement you can make about many teams across the country.
Egads, What Happened?
So it's not sunshine and roses for all.
For Notre Dame, beating Miami on Saturday was a nice step forward, despite the fact that the Irish still blew a 20-point lead and almost lost. Still, good win. But that 3-5 record still doesn't look real.
This was a team with playoff hopes and a quarterback who will likely be taken early in the NFL draft, and the season has just fallen apart.
"Brian will lead this team out of the tunnel opening day next year," Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick told ESPN.com when asked about the future of head coach Brian Kelly.
That makes a great deal of sense given what Kelly has done, but it doesn't make it any easier to digest.
Michigan State is in the midst of similar struggles, having to replace a handful of program mainstays. Some regression was assumed, of course, given how important players such as Connor Cook and Shilique Calhoun were to the team.
But 2-6 overall, which includes losses to Indiana, BYU, Northwestern and Maryland? Well, we didn't see that coming, not after making the College Football Playoff last season.
Remember that?
Here's to You, Pleasant Surprises
Colorado is in first place in the Pac-12 South and bowl-eligible. I repeat: Colorado is bowl-eligible before Halloween.
This is not a drill. This is just the work of a long and successful rebuilding process—the brainchild of head coach Mike MacIntyre.
The Buffs are not just a good story; they are also a team that could ultimately play a significant role in the conference's playoff hopes. You have been warned.
The same can be said about Virginia Tech. Sure, the unexplainable loss to Syracuse a few weeks back hurts plenty. But the Hokies are relevant again, and the offense has life for the first time in a while.
And how about Auburn? We wanted head coach Gus Malzahn fired two months ago. The Tigers now have six wins in eight games. They look dangerous once again. They are balanced.
While a trip to the College Football Playoff is probably a long shot, no team has battled back better than this one.
A Look Into the Crystal Ball
There were nine undefeated teams coming into Week 9. That number was cut nearly in half, as only five remain.
As it stands now, the College Football Playoff selection committee has an easy task when it comes to picking the nation's best team.
It will trot out Alabama, Clemson, Michigan and Washington on Tuesday night and celebrate an easy decision. But it will get harder.
LSU and Auburn will test Alabama. Clemson still has to get through the rest of its slate, including a game against a lively, unknown Coastal opponent in Pittsburgh. Michigan still has Ohio State and likely a rematch against Wisconsin. Washington still has plenty of meat on the Pac-12 bone.
Louisville looms, just waiting for its time to jump. The Buckeyes are hoping to figure things out before it's too late. Texas A&M, Auburn and LSU suddenly have life. Even Oklahoma is ready to crush all claims that the conference is dead.
Oh, there is still so much work to be done. Nine weeks told us plenty, but it falls short of telling us the whole story.
Now is not the time to go back into the bunker. This is the best part.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
