2019 Couch Power 10, Week 10
One week ago, I talked about how the upsets in college football were getting closer and closer to broaching that top tier. Last weekend, we saw that manifest itself; for the third straight week, we witnessed a major upset of a Top 10 team, but this time we saw a surefire playoff-bound team (Oklahoma specifically) toppled. Before desperately clinging on for the win, Kansas State blew the game open in the 3rd quarter, and blew everyone away in the process. The Sooners might have nightmares about their trip to the Little Apple if they do in fact miss out on the playoff this year.
It’s pretty uncanny how the victims of David’s successive wins over Goliath have progressively been a higher-quality team (at least in the eyes of The Couch) each week. It makes you wonder who’s next? Considering Alabama and LSU’s next games are against each other, and neither result could really be considered a big upset, I’d say Clemson and Ohio State, watch yourselves! That said, let’s rank some teams that haven’t suffered a shock loss, shall we?
Just a reminder, as you are crying out "Daniel, SURE my team lost to South Carolina or Illinois or Kansas State, but upsets HAPPEN! You're INSANE if you think we're out of it for the playoff! IN. SANE!": remember that this is not a statement on who I think have the most talent and quality, or on who I think will be/deserves to be in the playoff at the end of the year. Rather, it's more of a "What if preseason rankings and bigwig bias didn't predetermine the top teams" kind of thing, an ideal ranking of the country's teams based on what they've proved on the field.
1a. Clemson
1b. Alabama
That being said, the Saban-Dabo Rule dictates that until Clemson and Alabama lose and/or give us reeeeeeeeally good reason to drop them from the joint top spot, we're keeping them here. Why? Because drawing from every year since 2014, we're working off the assumption that it doesn't really matter how these teams look during the regular season. Alabama and Clemson will make the playoff, and one of them will win the title.
I joked with my Clemson friend that the Tigers’ holistic destruction of Boston College probably meant the AP would drop them to #5 in the polls this week. Contrary to what the FAKE NEWS media is telling you, there’s really no reason for either of these teams to be ranked ahead of the other, so I’m sticking with the defending champs for top billing by default.
3. LSU
In the wake of the AP’s bravery in DARING to rank a team ahead of Alabama *clutches pearls*, I thought about ranking these Tigers #1 in my rankings as well. But I refuse to get my hopes up and forsake the Saba-Dabo Rule right as LSU venture into a frenzied Bryant-Denny Stadium next week. That said, in terms of resumes, LSU is this season’s best team to date, and it’s not even close. Even if the wins over Texas and Mississippi State haven’t aged amazingly, one must only look at their performances against Top 10 Florida and this past weekend, Auburn, to see that they’re for real. Heisman front runner Joe Burrow has shredded both vaunted defenses, and the Tiger defense answered the questions raised of them in a major way.
4. Ohio State
Even with a loss to Illinois now under their belt, Wisconsin is no joke. That much was evident against Ohio State... for all of two quarters. The Buckeyes took completely over both sides of the ball out of the gates in the 2nd half, putting away the team they’ll likely play in the Big Ten Championship with ease. The quality of the Big Ten may be suspect, but there’s no getting around how good this OSU team is.
5. Penn State
Whether it be skepticism about their post-McSorley/Barkley quality or just general resignation to the fact that the Big Ten is Ohio State’s to lose, Penn State seems to be flying under the radar. Don’t mind the Nittany Lions, though, they’ll keep taking care of business. They followed up a vital win against Michigan with an impressive win on the road against Michigan State, in a game that had “trap game” written all over it.
6. Baylor
Perhaps the most incredible thing about Kansas state’s upset of Oklahoma is that the team that now controls their own destiny in the Big 12 is... Baylor. Yes Baylor, which was predicted preseason to finish 6th in the conference. The Bears had a bye week after their impressive road win over Oklahoma State, but still managed to win last weekend.
7. SMU
Another team that managed to stay unbeaten despite being faced with a classic trap game scenario. With a de facto division championship against Memphis looming for this coming weekend (a game that will have the College Gameday crew in town), the Mustangs had to stay focused on a Thursday night against a Houston side that was better than their record showed. It was tough, but SMU were the better team on the night and showed remarkable maturity in closing the nailbiter out.
8. Minnesota
Raise your hand if you thought the team with a 2-game lead in the Big Ten West would be Minnesota? True, with remaining games vs. Penn St, Wisconsin, and Iowa, it’s not as cushy a lead as they might hope, but that doesn’t take anything away from how surprising of a season the Fightin’ Flecks have had.
9. Appalachian State
Speaking of surprise successes, the Mountaineers remained perfect on the season with a comfortable win over South Alabama last weekend. At this point, the only games that seem to have any possible stumble potential for Appalachian State are South Carolina and the Sun Belt Championship. Win both, and they’ve given themselves a real shot at a New Year’s bowl game.
10. Florida
For the first time all year, we have a non-unbeaten in our Power 10! (By the way, I think it’s very impressive that we’re ten weeks in and still have 9 unblemished records.) Florida, in the wake of their road victory over South Carolina, nabs this spot by virtue of having the “best loss” of the one-loss sides— a competitive road loss to AP #1 LSU. But truthfully, I think there’s about 5 one-loss teams that are about at the same level right now.
Just missed: Oregon, Cincinnati, Utah, Georgia, Oklahoma, Jason "Julius Peppers Lite" Strowbridge