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Here it is ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, gifted animals and remedial math third-year Minnesota students: the final poll of the 2019 football season. While not as regular or as in-depth as I would like (changes I've talked about before and an exam tomorrow), this has been fun and enjoyable for me, and I hope it has been for you as well. Much more detail available for you today, and the work has already begun on the post-season seeding, all that's left is for the games to be played and the final numbers to be crunched!
Anyway, on with the show!
That’s it for the regular season! Next time we meet, it’ll be to slot the field of 16 to crown the true college football champion!
Anyway, on with the show!
- Ohio State—A terrific in-game defensive adjustment just before halftime stopped what had the appearances of a slug-fest and left the Buckeyes rolling, as Michigan just couldn’t respond. On offense Ohio St ran a lot of the same concepts that Wisconsin did when they thrashed Michigan, and Michigan did a lot of the same things that Bucky did to successfully contain OSU in the first half. It surprised me to see it. Anyway, I’m keeping them in first. (last: 1)
- LSU—As much as anybody may talk about JT23, Chubba, Fields, Hurts, or the kid from Clemson, I think Burrows is your Heisman winner. A dominant performance for LSU, finally putting A&M in their place. I don’t know about you, but I think the Committee has, now that Alabama has no shot, set things up so that LSU and OSU make the playoff should they lose their respective conference championship games. (last: 2)
- Clemson—They did what they had to do, and while I take exception to playing a FCS team late in the season (I dislike anybody who does that, put that shit at the beginning of the season where it belongs) they still had two SEC opponents on the schedule who just happened to be terrible (well, SoCar sucking wasn’t as unforeseen). I don’t hold it against them for the rest of the ACC being trash. (last: 3)
- Utah—yeah, they’re in my top four right now. Their loss is better than Georgia’s, even though Georgia has a better set of wins, but I think the Utes should be ahead. They win and they’re in though it’ll be quite the conversation should Georgia also win. In that case Utah would be out, Georgia would be #3 and LSU#4 and Utah #5. This is a good test of the system, but either way the howls for expanding from 4 to 8 will increase. Good thing my tourney fields 16 teams. (last: NR)
- Georgia—Bulldogs ahead of Sooners for me, there’s more stability, a better defense, (I think) a better QB, and a much more impressive season. Scheduling Notre Dame was gutsy, and I like it. I’m also fine with ending the season with Georgia Tech, as who am I to question a tradition like that one? Right now this is the most intriguing team in College Football. (last: 4)
- Oklahoma—the Sooners haven’t played a game where they’ve had a decisive victory since mid-October, and WVU went 2-3 after that barely squeaking by TCU to avoid 1-4. Don’t look too closely at Bedlam, OU lives inside Gundy’s head unless he’s either got the best team in school history (2011) or OU’s having a really bad year (2014). Lincoln Riley has only coached in this series 3 times, and has more wins than Gundy’s had in 14. This one was closer than it should have been until that bogus targeting call sucked the life out of the Pokes. Even if they’d beaten K State, I’d be hesitant to put OU any higher than this. (last: NR)
- Wisconsin—given that Baylor is ineligible for the post-season (Year 3 of five year shutdown for 2016 violations (crimes, really)) this is probably the most legitimate 2-loss contender remaining. Oregon’s losses to Washington and Az St are similar in result (though not in name) to the Illinois loss, and Bucky’s other defeat coming from Ohio State is “better”. Wisconsin winning the B1G is also more likely to propel them in than Oregon’s winning of the Pac-12. The nightmare scenario, however, won’t come to fruition as it would have required the Pokes to stick it to OU in Bedlam, OU to recover and beat Baylor, Utah to lose (either to Colorado (which didn’t happen) or Oregon), LSU to beat Georgia, and then, finally, Wisconsin to beat Ohio State. I don’t know if Clemson losing the ACC title would have helped or not. Either way is probably fine as Alabama losing shut their backdoor possibility. Easily the best game of the season since the fine effort against Michigan, time for Chryst to empty the playbook, turn JT23 into the greatest decoy in college sports, and take it to Ohio State. Does Ohio State still get in if they lose? Maybe, it’s a likely outcome (LSU v. Georgia depending). Do I care if Wisconsin winning prevents a B1G team from getting in? Not at all. (last: NR)
- Oregon—There is a small, outside shot that the Ducks can make it, but the scenario would have to play out almost exactly like it does for Wisconsin (except Utah beating Colorado helps Oregon), but for this I will say that Clemson losing is a must as is LSU beating Georgia. We’d get a look at just how much the Committee values a conference championship over not, especially since I’m pretty sure they ranked Virginia just to give Clemson a ranked opponent (which, should the Tigers win, will be irrelevant given that UVA will just drop out. But if the Cavs pull it off, suddenly Clemson’s loss will be against a Top 15 team I’d imagine). I’m not one for the transitive property of college football, so none of that will be applied here. (last: 5)
- Boise State—Memphis—App State—Cincinnati—all still alive for automatic qualifiers to my 16-team field. Memphis and Boise State really trip themselves up when they lose to anybody, but especially Temple and BYU. Kind of a shame, really. (last: NR)
- Florida—Penn State—Notre Dame— (Auburn & Minnesota?)—once the 10 AQ teams are slotted, which I’ve already started working on, I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to figuring out the 6 at-large bids. Will any of these teams in this spot be able to unseat a championship loser? I’ll give you a hint: the early returns are saying that it depends who those losers are and I’ll also tell you that my matrices aren’t showing Alabama any love, that’s for sure. And they shouldn't. Looking at the week to week changes in the other, meaningless polls, 'Bama was only getting a handful of 1st place votes until week 5 and then bam, a big shift. What changed? Nothing, Clemson had a close game against UNC and the Tide gave up a ton of points to a team that ended up going 4-8 (while scoring 59). The charade continued for a few weeks, showing yet again that preseason polls are stupid and that nothing should start until week 4 or so. The Committee does it right, starting late in the season.
That’s it for the regular season! Next time we meet, it’ll be to slot the field of 16 to crown the true college football champion!