Every Top 10 College Football Team's Biggest Weakness
The crowd of College Football Playoff contenders is dwindling fast, but a Top 10 ranking in early November doesn't guarantee future success.
No team is perfect.
While an Alabama or a Clemson is short on glaring flaws, every program has a clear area in need of improvement. Special teams aren't immune to being a critical issue either. The weaknesses aren't limited to inefficient offenses or bendy defenses.
Teams can overcome key shortfalls, but losses are likely to include a negative result in these specific categories.
Rankings reflect the latest College Football Playoff poll.
10. Ohio State: Explosive Plays Allowed
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Ohio State can be beaten 30 yards at a time.
Heading into Week 11, opponents have collected 18 passes and 10 runs of that distance or greater. Those figures rank 111th and 112th, respectively, out of 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams.
Yes, injuries have affected the Buckeyes. In addition to star lineman Nick Bosa's season-ending (and effectively college-career ending) injury, the secondary has missed several starters, including safety Isaiah Pryor and cornerback Damon Arnette. But a program that prided itself on depth isn't seeing replacement-level production.
Even if Ohio State navigates a trip to Michigan State (and Maryland), the Buckeyes will likely be the underdog at home to Michigan. And the defense had better come to play.
9. West Virginia: Short Kick Returns
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Quarterback Will Grier makes a few head-scratching decisions, but his production often outweighs that real negative. A minimal impact from the West Virginia return units is the concerning season-long trend.
Last season, Marcus Simms ranked 14th in the country with an average of 26.3 yards on kickoff returns. In 2018, however, that number has dropped to 17.6—which is 73rd among 77 qualifying individuals. He's also mustered just 58 yards on punt returns.
In fairness, there's nothing wrong about securing a punt and letting Grier take over. Mistakes happen far more often on punts. The 8.7-yard drop-off on kick returns is concerning, though.
During the occasional game Grier labors to move the offense or throws interceptions, a spark from special teams would be immensely valuable. There's no proof the Mountaineers can find one this year.
8. Washington State: Penalties
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Few things frustrate coaches more than penalties. Mike Leach is familiar with seeing flags going against his team, though.
Washington State is tied for 108th nationally with 7.9 penalties per game and ranks 125th with an average of 78.6 yards lost to penalties per contest. Procedural issues are one thing—still not good, easier to overcome—but flags that give opponents free first downs are crushing.
Pass interference has been an enormous problem for the Cougs this season. While we can probably argue the merits of each individual call all day, the simple fact is this secondary is prone to DPI.
It only takes a couple of ill-timed, potentially avoidable penalties for College Football Playoff hopes to evaporate.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
7. LSU: Red-Zone Efficiency
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Head coach Ed Orgeron's team is 7-2 thanks to a tremendous defense. Excluding the Week 10 loss to Alabama, the Tigers have surrendered only 5.9 yards per pass attempt and 3.7 per carry. It's imperative for opponents to take advantage of every scoring opportunity.
But that last part is LSU's downfall.
While the Tigers are distinctly average (or below) in explosiveness rankings, they're exceptionally inefficient inside the 20-yard line.
LSU has only managed 18 touchdowns in 40 red-zone possessions. That 45 percent rate is the lowest for a power-conference team and second-worst overall. Cole Tracy has only missed one red-zone kick, but the Tigers have attempted field goals on 18 red-zone drives.
Good teams score. Great teams score touchdowns.
6. Oklahoma: Turnovers
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Texas turned three takeaways into 10 points and a game-sealing fumble recovery. Texas Tech snagged two interceptions and raced out to a 14-0 lead that required only 28 yards of offense.
During the Sooners' seven other games, however, they've trailed for a grand total of one minute and 39 seconds.
Turnovers are the great equalizer.
Oklahoma is 6-0 when the turnover margin is zero or a positive number. Given the explosiveness of quarterback Kyler Murray, the Sooners are only in danger of losing when the Heisman Trophy contender makes a serious mistake.
Limit those, and OU will force its opponents to out-offense the nation's No. 3 scoring attack (49.1 points per game). And good luck with that.
5. Georgia: Low Havoc Rate
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Disruption in the backfield doesn't guarantee success. But when Georgia needs a big defensive play, who will provide it?
D'Andre Walker owns team-high marks of 6.5 takedowns for loss and five sacks. Decent, not great. Just three others have managed at least three tackles for loss, and Julian Rochester is the only other player who's brought down the quarterback more than once. He has 1.5 sacks.
According to Football Outsiders, UGA's defense ranks a mere 78th in stuff rate—the percentage of running plays that result in zero yards or fewer—and 89th in sack rate.
While the Dawgs atone for those struggles with a 33.06 third-down conversion clip allowed (25th in the nation), the absence of consistent pressure in the backfield is concerning for elite-level competition.
You know, Alabama.
4. Michigan: Field Goals
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Michigan has ripped off three straight wins over Wisconsin, Michigan State and Penn State in impressive fashion, but the place-kicker is having a rough time.
Quinn Nordin missed four of his seven attempts during those contests and is just 11-of-16 for the season. It's safe to say Michigan's fanbase doesn't feel great about him right now.
Before the Penn State game, head coach Jim Harbaugh offered some encouragement. "Team has a lot of confidence in Quinn," he said on the Inside Michigan Football radio show (via Angelique S. Chengelis of the Detroit News). "Quinn has a lot of confidence in himself. We expect him to make those field goals."
Harbaugh will likely send out Nordin if a clutch moment ever arises, but his 3-of-7 clip from 40-plus yards means it won't be a painless decision.
3. Notre Dame: Inconsistent Running Game
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Dexter Williams can be dynamic. He also might disappear. That's the story of Notre Dame's rushing attack as a whole.
Through nine games, the Fighting Irish have averaged five yards per carry—excluding sacks—five times. They failed to crack 3.4 yards per attempt against Michigan, Pitt and Northwestern, and their average of 5.8 tackles for loss allowed per game ranks 63rd nationally.
Williams has appeared in five games since returning from an unofficial suspension. He's topped 140 yards three times and totaled seven touchdowns in those contests, yet he toiled to 87 yards and one score in the other two.
Notre Dame is 9-0, but this offense—as improved as it's been with Ian Book at quarterback—isn't impenetrable either.
2. Clemson: Punting
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Complaints are at a minimum lately. Clemson has four straight blowout wins, outscoring its opponents 240-36 along the way.
Given that dominance, it's pretty tough to have a weakness.
Will Spiers, though, is leaving a few yards on the field. He shanked a 14-yard punt at Florida State and has struggled with sub-40 kicks all season—and that's not a product of punting from an advantageous position, which would be understandable.
On the bright side, Clemson doesn't need to use Spiers often. The less he appears, the more likely the Tigers are thriving.
But in the College Football Playoff, where the drives start can shape the game. So far, Spiers hasn't flipped the field often.
1. Alabama: Explosive Plays on Defense
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Kinda, sorta, maybe?
Look, the Crimson Tide are a nightmare to stop. Sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is picking apart coverages like he's a seasoned veteran, and their young receivers are big-play machines. The defense remains a massive force, recently evidenced by the 29-0 shutout at LSU.
Every so often, though, Alabama is vulnerable to giving up a big gain. The Tide have ceded six runs of 30-plus yards and 30 passes of 20-plus yards, which rank 70th and 73rd in the nation, respectively.
That's not a fatal flaw, given the collective excellence of head coach Nick Saban's team. Place-kicking—as has been typical lately—is also a concern, but no opponent will have a chance to put Alabama specialist Joseph Bulovas in a pressure situation without dynamic offense.
The blueprint of an upset starts with explosive plays.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
