2021 Couch Power 10, Week 12
Happy Thanksgiving week! I don’t know about you, but for me, Thanksgiving always brings an interesting mix of excitement, nostalgia, and melancholy. The excitement is obvious: it’s a holiday, filled with family time and delicious food, and even when it’s over you have another holiday to look forward to immediately afterwards. But I think the melancholy comes from having such a short amount of time to celebrate and ruing the year that has almost passed.
Stay with me here- college football on Thanksgiving weekend brings the same emotions. I love this week, full of high-stakes clashes, conference and division-clinching outcomes, and rivalry games galore. I love that we have the conference championships and ensuing playoff announcement immediately after to look forward to. But, I’m also sad in realizing that it’s the last week of the regular season, the fun is close to coming to an end. That sentiment holds especially true in a season like this one, which has been crazy, hectic and hilarious.
Much like the preceding week, this weekend saw a pretty “normal” set of outcomes. But because of the precedent that’s been set by the chaos of 2021, “normal” does not mean “boring.” Two high-stakes, ranked matchups saw shocking blowouts, and with them the death of Oregon and Michigan State’s playoff hopes. Alabama clinched the SEC West, but not without yet another down-to-the-wire contest with a heavy underdog. Pitt clinched their spot in the ACC Championship, while Clemson put Wake Forest’s in jeopardy. UTSA came within inches and seconds of losing their perfect season, and the SEC East entered peak parity mode. How will all the moving and shifting shake out in the rankings?
Just a refresher: our ranking is not a definitive ranking on how good the teams are, 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 actually proved on the field to date. You know, the kind of thing you'd expect the playoff committee to consider:
1. Georgia
Count me among them crowd that is morally opposed to beating up on FCS schools the second-to-last week of the season, but I guess the Bulldogs have earned a cupcake week after taking on (and for the most part, demolishing) many a strong opponent.
2. Cincinnati
I’m saying this now before the playoff committee inevitably does something to make this statement age poorly: this was a great weekend for Cincinnati. After several weeks of looking less-than-impressive against mediocre-to-bad teams, they completely dominated a very good SMU team. Elsewhere, their next opponents Houston won their game and thus will likely stay ranked, giving the Bearcats a chance for another high-quality win in the conference championship, and Oregon’s loss only makes it that much harder for an unbeaten Cincy side to miss the playoff.
3. Ohio State
Nobody in the nation has had more of a glow up the last couple weeks than Ohio State, and I mean it’s not even close. Just two weeks ago, the Buckeyes didn’t even crack my Top 10, because I had yet to see them play an impressive game against a good opponent. Now, they’ve only gone and beaten #19 Purdue and #7 Michigan State, and by a combined scoreline of 115-38. They’re suddenly very much looking the part of title contender, let alone Big Ten favorite. And though it may not help their ‘body of work,’ Oregon’s loss benefits the Bucks too, as it finally enables them to jump the team that beat them in the rankings.
4. Alabama
Because Alabama is Alabama, I expect more from them, and that’s why, after yet another competitive game (at home, no less) against an opponent they were expected to destroy, I’m still not sold that they’re the best team not names Georgia. Then again, if I was being perfectly impartial, I’d have to acknowledge the fact that Arkansas is legit this year, as well as the fact that blowout wins over suddenly solid Tennessee and Miami teams and a very good Ole Miss team are all appreciating in value.
5. Michigan
Ohio State deserves every ounce of hype they’re getting at the moment, but woe to anyone who thinks the Big Ten East is done and dusted. 10-1 Michigan might have something to say about that. The Wolverines’ defense has looked the part for most of the year, and their offense completely came alive in a (score) demolition of Maryland; a Maryland team, by the way, that is likely headed to a bowl game. I’m aware Ohio State will enter The Game with a 7-game winning streak over their hated rivals, and yes, I expect that to continue, but write the Wolverines off at your own risk.
6. Notre Dame
Another big winner from this weekend’s results? Notre Dame. The Irish absolutely dismantled a Georgia Tech team that is probably better than their record shows, which means they are on win over a bad Stanford team away from finishing 11-1. Now that the ACC and the Pac-12 is out of the playoff picture, it’s not hard to envision a path for the Irish into the postseason. This is making some assumptions- and some things would definitely still need to break their way -but let’s say hypothetically they do indeed finish 11-1, with their sole loss being a competitive one to a playoff-bound, 13-0 Cincinnati. That’s arguably a playoff resume, no?
7. Oklahoma State
It was a bit of a slog this weekend for the Pokes, who ground out a 23-0 victory over Texas Tech. But the important job got done: getting to the Oklahoma game with a 10-1 record and playoff ambitions intact. A high-stakes Bedlam is always good for college football, and this one is as high-stakes as it gets. Not only will a berth in the conference championship be on the line, the loser indisputably will be eliminated from playoff contention.
8. UTSA
In what was likely their toughest game yet (and yes, I know that’s the point the little-guy haters will harp on), the Roadrunners played host to UAB in a de facto Conference USA West championship game, and things looked dire. UTSA trailed in the 4th quarter for the first time this year, and trailed very very late. But they found a way through adversity, stepping up and converting each time, and appropriately, turning a fumbled snap into a game-winning TD pass with 3 seconds left. Perfect season preserved. Conference championship clinched. Destination: Playoff?!?
9. Ole Miss
In the spirit of giving thanks and wishing great tidings and joy (and really, because it’s the last week of the regular season), I will finally open the Couch Power 10 gates to teams with more than one loss on their record. And though there are several worthy candidates, I’m ready to declare Ole Miss the best 2-loss team in the country. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because of their relatively forgettable win over a terrible Vanderbilt team. But rather, wins over Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Tennessee show me that the upset loss to Auburn and surprisingly uncompetitive loss to Alabama were the anomalies.
10. Baylor
Similarly to Ole Miss, Baylor’s a bit of an enigma, and they don’t earn this spot because of their fairly lackluster win over Kansas State, nor their upset loss to TCU. But the wins over Oklahoma, BYU and Iowa State, plus the fact that their two losses are by a combined 8 points… that does impress me much.
Just missed: Oklahoma, Pitt, BYU, Houston, Michigan State, future Heisman winner Drake Maye
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