Halfway through the college football season, we can see it is going to be a fight to the finish regarding the final 4 playoff teams. This year is stacked in terms of legitimate contenders who can make a run to New Orleans and make noise. If the season were to end today, there would be at least 8 teams with a legitimate case to be heard from the committee. The committee always seems to have an ambiguous selection process where you see things like conference champions, strength of schedule, and head to head matchups all seem to hold different weight every year. My breakdown will just be who I think has played the best all around football, while also considering who has the best quality wins thus far as I feel those qualities are the most important in judging if a team is playoff worthy or not. Past performance and potential is not going to be considered yet, as it will be primarily based on what has happened over the first 7 weeks. First off let’s talk about the teams that are on the outside but still have a path to the playoff.
Penn St.
The Nittany Lions defense has impressed through the first half of the season just allowing 8.2 points per game. Sean Clifford has also played well with 13 touchdowns to 2 INT’s and has smoothed the transition from Trace McSorely. The problem so far is that they have only played 2 teams with a winning record. However, they do control their own destiny, games with Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio State are enough to make the committee forget about that easy schedule. Their case is gonna be built on the foundation of how they perform in these games.
Remaining schedule: vs #16 Michigan, at Michigan State, at #20 Minnesota, vs Indiana, at #4 Ohio State, vs Rutgers
Georgia
An ugly loss at home to South Carolina is not one the committee will likely forget about. Now these types of losses happen every year so this isn’t to pick on Georgia. However, in a year where most of the top 10 remains unbeaten through the first half this loss will probably stain their resume when compared to others even with the Notre Dame win which still holds up. Georgia is still an immensely talented team, and still have qualities opponents in Florida, Auburn and potentially LSU or Alabama depending on how the SEC plays out. Georgia will likely have to run the table if they want to keep their playoff aspirations alive.
Remaining schedule: vs Kentucky, vs #9 Florida, vs #22 Missouri, at #11 Auburn, vs Texas A&M, at Georgia Tech
Florida
Have to give credit to this Florida team for sticking together and looking solid despite losing starting QB Feleipe Franks. Kyle Trask has played well in his absence and has made it a seamless transition. They hung in there against LSU with Trask playing a good game until throwing a late pick into the end zone, giving LSU the momentum to finish off the game. They are in a similar situation as Georgia, but have a way better loss on the resume. November 2nd will tell us which of these SEC East teams are to be taken seriously in this wild playoff hunt.
Remaining schedule: at South Carolina, vs #10 Georgia, vs Vanderbilt, at #22 Missouri, vs Florida State
Wisconsin
The 2019 version of Wisconsin football has been much of the same as past years just with more stability at the QB position. Jack Coan has shown he can be an accurate QB (76.3% completion percentage) who makes timely plays and limits mistakes. This is all you need when you have the best running back in the nation in Jonathan Taylor, and arguably the best defensive unit. Wisconsin is not to be taken lightly, and if they can leave Columbus October 26th with a win it will take a near miracle to keep them out of the playoff.
Remaining schedule: at Illinois, at #4 Ohio State, vs #23 Iowa, at Nebraska, vs Purdue, at #20 Minnesota
Now on to my top 4 teams in college football as of the midway point through the season.
4. Oklahoma
It wouldn’t be right to leave the best offense in college football out of the playoff at the moment. They average 621.7 yards per game and Jalen Hurts is proving to be a legitimate heisman contender. I think what really boosted them up was their defensive performance this past weekend against Texas. They rose to the challenge against a talented Longhorns offense with pressure up front and played with high physicality led by Kenneth Murray who was all over the field on Saturday. Oklahoma has dominated offensively per usual, and if their defense can keep up their high level of play, they can be a serious title contender that can compete with anyone.
Remaining schedule: vs West Virginia, at Kansas State, vs Iowa State, at #18 Baylor, vs TCU, at Oklahoma State
3. LSU
If you are looking for a team with the best resume through the midway point, look no further than Baton Rouge. A road win in a tough environment, against a top 15 team in Texas is a great start. Beating a top 10 conference opponent in Florida continues the momentum and shows they can compete with the best teams in the country. Surprisingly, it is the offense that is carrying them thus far. They have scored at least 42 in every game this year and Joe Burrow has taken a massive step up from last year into the top tier of QB’s in the nation. We are heading towards a massive showdown with LSU and Alabama in which it may be the offenses that steal the show rather than the usual defensive dominance we have seen in the past from these teams.
Remaining schedule: at Mississippi State, vs #11 Auburn, at #1 Alabama, at Mississippi, vs Arkansas, vs Texas A&M
2. Alabama
Another high powered offense led by a Heisman candidate at QB, Alabama has been mowing through the SEC through the first half. This is not anything new to what we have seen in the Saban era, but Alabama has dominated every game and won in convincing fashion every time. Their defense is not perfect but until anyone even puts a dent on this ridiculous Bama passing attack that has 28 TD’s and averages 366 yards per game, I am sticking with them as a top 2 team.
Remaining schedule: vs Tennessee, vs Arkansas, vs #2 LSU, at Mississippi State, vs Western Carolina, at #11 Auburn
1. Ohio St.
In my opinion the best team so far has been Ohio State. They have elite playmakers on both sides of the ball. On the offensive side, Justin Fields has been outstanding in his first year as a full time starter and JK Dobbins is 2nd in the nation in rushing with 826 yards. On the defense, Chase Young has wrecked games by using his elite athleticism and high motor while Jeff Okudah has displayed great ball skills on his way to 3 picks. Ohio State has been the most balanced team on both sides of the ball with top tier players all over the field and a first year coach who has risen to the task of following a legendary coach in Urban Meyer. Now with games against Wisconsin and Penn St. looming they are going to have to show what they’re truly about against high competition.
Remaining schedule: at Northwestern, vs #6 Wisconsin, vs Maryland, at Rutgers, vs #7 Penn State, at #16 Michigan
So let’s get to the elephant in the room, Clemson is not in my top 4 as of right now. This is really not an indictment on Clemson, as I believe they are still in this conversation and can play at a championship level. Simply put, I just like what I have seen from these 4 teams more than I have from Clemson. Clemson’s defense deserves much respect as even with losing 3 defensive lineman who all became first round picks, they have played lights out led by Isaiah Simmons and Tanner Muse who have played outstanding football. The offense can get a bit stagnant as we saw in the North Carolina game and while Trevor Lawrence has been good he has not lived up to the insane expectations that he had coming into the season. Clemson is surely in the debate and I would understand if many disagreed, but in my opinion Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, and Oklahoma have been the 4 best teams through the first half of the season.
