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Greg McElroy handicaps 1-loss teams, their ability to run the table
By Rolando Rosa
Published:
Greg McElroy shared his thoughts on the top 1-loss teams in the nation during a recent edition of the Always College Football show.
The ESPN analyst puts Oregon, Texas, Alabama, Oregon State, Utah, USC, and Tennessee in that category.
McElroy believes Oregon is the cream of the crop in the grouping.
“I think they’re legit,” McElroy said. “Probably the best 1-loss team in the country.”
McElroy still sees the potential in Texas.
“Texas, even though they’re off a bye week, I think they can clean some things up and get a lot better down the stretch,” McElroy said.
McElroy believes momentum is building for his alma mater Alabama heading into the rival matchup against Tennessee.
“They get better and better and better each and every week. I think last week’s performance was a little bit of a sleepwalk affair, especially in the second half against Arkansas,” McElroy said. “If Alabama can right the ship and get a big win against Tennessee, that’ll get them the bye week to kind of regroup, refresh and set their sights on LSU the week after the bye week.”
McElroy warns to not sleep on Oregon State.
“I still think Oregon State’s a really difficult matchup for pretty much every single team in the Pac-12,” McElroy said.
McElroy acknowledges the uncertainly if quarterback Cam Rising will play this season but is still impressed by Utah.
“Still questions about whether or not their quarterback is going to be back this year. They’re now floating the idea that maybe Cam Rising isn’t going to play this year. We’ll find out. It doesn’t matter,” McElroy said. “They continue to dominant opponents. This did so against Cal this past weekend.”
McElroy was on the fence about USC and thinks the matchup this weekend against visiting Utah will be telling.
“I’m keeping USC in this group for now. I debated possibly moving USC out. But I think if USC can somehow right the ship in the Pac-12, where I think they match up a little bit better against most of the teams they’ll face,” McElroy said. “…Let’s be real, it’s a put up or shut up game this weekend.”
McElroy added Tennessee to his list this week after their sustained ability to play old school football.
“I think Tennessee is good enough on defense to play with anybody. They run the ball and they’re good on defense,” McElroy said. “That’s a pretty good recipe.”
