Believe it or not ladies and gentlemen, we are almost to the halfway point of the college football regular season. By now, we should have a pretty good idea of who is who right? That really is not the case. With many teams playing their sixth game of twelve regular season games there are still a lot of questions.
Is Tennessee really that good or will that luck of theirs run out at some point. So far the Vols have won on a fumble into the end zone on the last play of a game and a Hail Mary pass on the last play of a game. If that kind of luck holds out they will win the national championship.
Don’t look now but the Miami Hurricanes are undefeated heading into a huge matchup with FSU. If the Canes win Saturday (if Hurricane Matthew lets them play Saturday) Miami moves into the discussion for the playoffs. Can you imagine the handwringing by Georgia fans if Mark Richt wins a national championship at Miami after Georgia fired him because he couldn’t win the championship?
In the SEC, Alabama appears to be the cream of the crop but after that it gets pretty unpredictable. Tennessee and Texas A&M have looked solid but one of those will lose to the other one this week. Arkansas is getting noticed but they have to play Alabama this weekend. LSU played inspired football and blew out Missouri in their first game after the firing of Les Miles but will that emotion follow them to Gainesville this week (again, if the hurricane allows the game to take place). Both the Gators and the Tigers are pretty beat up going into this game. The rest of the league is falling back in pack.
The ACC is just as uncertain. Clemson’s big win over Louisville would seem to put them in the driver’s seat but Miami feels they still have something to say in the matter. Clemson still has to face FSU in a game where the Noles will have nothing to lose. And Louisville is still hanging around as well but they would need Clemson to lose twice.
The Big 12 is a disaster. Is Baylor perhaps the elite team in that conference? Could it be West Virginia? Maybe the league should add Houston. Houston by the way is the talk of the town after winning some big games but the Cougars still have to face Louisville. A win there and Houston might become the first team outside the Power 5 conferences to make the playoffs.
The PAC 12 has one remaining hope. The Washington Huskies are the only real chance the conference has to get a team in the playoff.
The Big 10 still has Ohio State and Michigan standing in playoff contention with a big showdown looming between the two at the end of the season. It is very likely that the winner of that game makes it to the playoffs.
So halfway through the season the only thing we really know for sure is that a lot of teams have been eliminated from playoff contention and a couple of conferences are on the verge of elimination. I think it is safe to assume that the winners of the SEC, Big 10 and ACC will likely make up three of the four playoff spots. The fourth spot is anybody’s guess.