The Couch Power 10, Week 9

I guess it serves me right that once I spend two straight weeks crowing about how loaded the college football slates are, we get a weekend with only three matchups between ranked teams, all featuring SEC teams that already played higher-stakes showdowns the weekend previous. The good news is the sport found a way to deliver anyway, as it so often does.

Two of the aforementioned all-SEC ranked affairs sandwiched the day, with Ole Miss pulling out a bounceback win in Oklahoma in the early afternoon, and Texas A&M getting a statement road win in the Baton Rouge night. In between those, though, was an incredibly chaotic afternoon window: in the other one of those all-ranked SEC clashes I mentioned, Vanderbilt pulled out a wild win over Missouri thanks to a last-minute touchdown, and then a Hail Mary that they stopped just before the end zone. At the same time, though, two ranked teams were fighting for their lives against Carolina teams- Alabama and Virginia only kept their 1-loss seasons alive with razor-thin escapes against South Carolina and North Carolina, respectively. Texas had a huge scare of their own, needing some late heroics to pull out yet another overtime win, this time at Mississippi State. And two other ranked teams at that very time were losing their playoff hopes to unranked teams, Illinois getting pasted in Seattle by Washington, and South Florida losing a "Group of Five" Battle Royale to Memphis

So not as much churning and burning in the rankings this week, but still plenty of big moments, and more importantly, plenty of filtering out the playoff have's and have-not's. As things come clearer into sight in this final quarter of the season, our Power 10 teams are beginning to fall into pretty tidy 'tiers.;

Just a refresher, in case you forgot: this 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. Don't be mad cuz I'm doin' me better than you doin' you:

Tier I: The undisputed Top 3

1. Ohio State

Ohio State had a bye week, which continued their season trend of being both the reigning national champs and the undisputed #1 team, yet somehow simultaneously flying under the radar. But hey, they’re the best team until someone proves otherwise. 

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2. Indiana

It’s unlikely anything (in the regular season, at least) will top their win at Oregon as Indiana’s most impressive feat this season, but their demolition of UCLA this weekend was awfully impressive. The Bruins were red-hot all of a sudden after the midseason dismissal of head coach DeShaun Foster and came into town boasting a 3-game win streak…only to leave Bloomington with a 50-point beatdown on their heads. IU continues to prove their legitimacy as a top team, and there’s no question they’re a side that are locked all the way in.

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3. Texas A&M

I’ve stated numerous times why I can’t drop Ohio State from the top, and the Aggies don’t have any individual win like the Hoosiers’ win at Oregon, otherwise there would be a very very good argument for this team to be ranked even higher than 3rd. So comprehensive was their domination of LSU in Death Valley that the Tigers sacked Brian Kelly the next morning. A&M continues to lay claim to the most impressive body of work (per ESPN), and look every bit the part of title contender on both sides of the ball.

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Tier II: The 1-loss SEC teams

4. Alabama

For the 2nd straight year, Alabama survived an almighty scare from South Carolina. This escape was even more miraculous, which while impressive, doesn’t bode well given that SC clearly doesn’t have the juice this season and this is (theoretically) supposed to be a much improved Crimson Tide team. The good news for Bama is, a. they won the game, and b. this year unlike last year they have already padded their resume with so many impressive wins they can afford to suffer an off week or two. 

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5. Georgia

The Dawgs got a bye week to catch their breath from all their wild comeback victories. The fun starts again in earnest this weekend at the Cocktail Party vs. rivals Florida, who will be breaking in an interim head coach after splitting with Billy Napier. 

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6. Ole Miss

After Ole Miss started red hot in Athens only to let their lead over Georgia slip, you know they had to be getting PTSD as Oklahoma came out of nowhere to take a late lead in front of a raucous home crowd in a game that had mostly been controlled by the Rebels. This time, though, Ole Miss dug deep and made the necessary plays to close out a big win. It was a crucial hurdle cleared for Lane Kiffin’s crew, who have shown that their ceiling is as high as almost anyone’s. 

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7. Vanderbilt

I sang Vanderbilt’s praises last week, arguing that their win over LSU may have been the biggest in the program’s recent history. So it would have been a pretty big letdown if they immediately turned around and lost the next week, especially since their “signature win” did that very thing. Fortunately, after four dicey quarters and a Hail Mary attempt that fell half a yard short, they avoided that very fate. Their resume is impressive, blemished only by the road loss at # 4 Alabama, so you have to imagine a win in Austin this weekend might just be the thing that puts the Commodores in the playoff. 

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Tier III: Still pretty unproven, but they look feisty

8. BYU

When I saw BYU was playing on the road at Iowa State last weekend, I mentally chalked that up as a loss. The preseason Big 12 favorites haven’t ended up having the stellar season they expected but they’re still a solid team that is always a tough out at home. Instead, the Cougars went into one of the more hostile environments they’ll play in this season and emerged with a two-touchdown victory. There’s a good quarter of the season left, and a massive matchup with Texas Tech looms, but unbeaten BYU is gunning for that Big 12 title and playoff spot. 

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9. Oregon

A team like Oregon is the exact embodiment of why we need a playoff to settle things on the field. Almost every time I watch the Ducks play, they look like one of the best teams in the country, but then you look at the resumé and realize their signature win was over a team that has since capsized and lost their coach in the process, the only bona fide top team they've played they lost to by 10 on their home field, and then they'll randomly struggle with a bottom-feeder like Wisconsin, and you're like Huh, is this team that great? The good news is if the Ducks keep taking care of business, they'll likely be able to step right into the playoff field without even having to face a potential 2nd loss in the Big Ten Championship.

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10. Georgia Tech

Listen, I get the skepticism from some corners about Georgia Tech. The combined record of the teams they’ve beaten is 26-27. None of their opponents are currently ranked, and only 3 have a winning record. But all you can do is play the teams in front of you, and Tech has won all of them, giving them a clear path to the ACC auto-bid in the playoff, and what's more, with the exception of the scare at Wake Forest, they've hardly broken a sweat doing it! A potentially tricky one awaits them in Raleigh this weekend, but win this Saturday, and an 11-0 start heading into the Georgia game on Black Friday looks awfully likely...

Just missed: Miami, Texas Tech, Navy, Louisville, Cincinnati, Drake Maye

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The Playoff Picture according to The Couch:

(5) Georgia v (12) Navy

(6) Ole Miss v (11) Miami

(7) Vanderbilt v (10) Georgia Tech

(8) BYU v (9) Oregon

ROSE BOWL: (1) Ohio State v BYU/ORE winner

ORANGE BOWL: (2) Indiana v VAN/GT winner

COTTON BOWL: (3) Texas A&M v MISS/MIA winner

SUGAR BOWL: (4) Alabama v UGA/NAVY winner