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We’re so close. Really.
A week from Tuesday, we’ll be breaking down the first College Football Playoff poll of 2017. Résumés will be discussed at length, and we’ll all get mad at each other.
For now, here were my three takeaways from Sunday’s Week 9 Associated Press poll.
1. Expected blowouts = no fun
A week after we saw four top-10 teams fall to unranked foes and seemingly befuddle the pool of 61 Associated Press voters, we had a little less action. The top eight stayed exactly the same (including Alabama’s 61 first-place votes) and the only new member to the top 10 was Notre Dame.
Not surprisingly, none of the three ranked SEC teams who were in action fell. LSU and Auburn moved up one and two spots, respectively. Apparently rolling Ole Miss and Arkansas on the road didn’t impress the voters very much, not that it should’ve. And believe it or not, Alabama’s drubbing of Tennessee didn’t move it to a spot any higher than No. 1. Imagine that.
2. Notre Dame rising impacts the SEC
So last night, I went in depth about the Irish’s impact on the SEC’s potential Playoff bid. I wrote that assuming that Notre Dame, after trouncing USC, would move past Ohio State up to about No. 6. Instead, the Irish only moved up to No. 9, despite the fact that it has two convincing wins vs. ranked foes and its only loss was to unbeaten Georgia.
Still, I believe a one-loss Notre Dame team — with that remaining schedule — would get into the Playoff ahead of a one-loss Alabama team that lacks an SEC Championship. That’s significant. While I think a one-loss Georgia team that also lacked a conference title should have an edge over Notre Dame, strength of schedule will be a huge factor for the selection committee in differentiating one-loss teams.
Now that I wrote all of that, watch Notre Dame fall to NC State next week.
3. Nobody has any idea who the best conference is
Here’s how the AP top 25 teams broke down by Power 5 conference:
- Big 12: 5
- SEC: 4
- B1G: 4
- ACC: 4
- Pac-12: 4
And for what it’s worth, the Big 12’s fifth team was No. 25 Iowa State. That spot easily could’ve gone to the likes of Michigan, Texas A&M or others. So while the Big 12 had the most top 25 teams, we’re entering Week 9 still without much of a clue who has the best conference.
The B1G might have three top-6 teams, but none of them have a quality non-conference win, and neither does No. 16 Michigan State. The SEC might have two top-3 teams, but two top-15 teams doesn’t suggest total domination. The Pac-12 can’t be the nation’s best conference without a top-10 team, and the ACC would miss the Playoff if it started today.
It’s a good thing we still have a month of regular season football to figure this thing out. We need it.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
