The trend in college football for a couple of years has been for offenses to light up scoreboards and set all kinds of records.

We saw that with the 2019 LSU Tigers and the 2020 Alabama Crimson Tide, teams with talented players on defense – who were mostly overlooked because of the stars on offense.

The 2021 season hasn’t seen anybody put up numbers like LSU’s Joe Burrow did in 2019, when he threw for 60 touchdowns (then again, even in this era it might be hard for any QB to average 4 TD passes per outing in a 15-game season). But we have seen some explosive offenses this season and a couple of them belong to College Football Playoff contenders.

Alabama and Ohio State had major questions in the offseason, with both turning to new starting quarterbacks and unproven running backs. There was no need for either fan base to worry as the Buckeyes and Tide have continued to pour on the points and chew up the yards. They’re the 2 best offenses left in contention for a CFP national championship.

With No. 3 Oregon and No. 7 Michigan State both sustaining their second losses of the season in blowout fashion on Saturday, we’re down to 8 legit CFP contenders.

Here’s a look at those contending teams, in order of how they rank in the FBS in total offense:

Ohio State: 1st in total offense

You know the names: CJ Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Garrett Wilson. Now here’s an eye-popping statistic: Through 11 games, Ohio State’s season-low for total yards in a game is 469 against Penn State. Only 13 teams in the country average more than that per game. Of those 13, only Alabama is a CFP contender. On Saturday, the Buckeyes set a season-high with 655 yards against Michigan State even though OSU, leading by plenty, pretty much shut it down in the 4th quarter.

Alabama: 6th

This is the only team on this list that can hope to win a shootout against the Buckeyes. Heisman Trophy candidate Bryce Young went off against a decent Arkansas defense on Saturday, shattering the school record for passing yards in a game with 559. That was the first 500-yard game in Bama history and his 5 passing TDs gave him 38 for the season, tied for 2nd in the country. The Crimson Tide average 501 yards per game – a year after the offense lost 5 first-round draft picks to the NFL.

Michigan: 23rd

Surprised to see UM this high? Well, they don’t light up the scoreboard like their rivals in Columbus but the Wolverines have plenty of talent at the skill positions. Hassan Haskins is 3rd in the Big Ten with 1,063 rushing yards on the season and Cade McNamara has been efficient, completing 64.2% of his passes and throwing only 2 interceptions all season. Running back Donovan Edwards emerged as a weapon in the passing game Saturday against Maryland with 10 catches for 170 yards and a TD.

Oklahoma: 31st

The Sooners are inconsistent, but a relatively new starting quarterback, Caleb Williams, has emerged as a multi-dimensional weapon. He ran for a 74-yard TD on Saturday against Iowa State, making up for the fact that he only went 8-of-18 for 87 yards passing. The freshman passed for 402 yards and 6 TDs against Texas Tech, so he’s capable of hurting teams through the air. Running back Kennedy Brooks has 3 100-yard games this season including a 217-yard, 2-TD game in a comeback win over Texas.

Georgia: 34th

Can the Bulldogs air it out and win by coming from behind if they have to? Honestly, we don’t know. They have not had to. The Dawgs are ranked No. 27 in rushing offense and No. 62 in passing offense, but the defense has been so good that UGA has not had to pass much to win. With the combined efforts of Stetson Bennett and JT Daniels, Georgia is No. 7 in passing efficiency, joining far more pass-happy offenses like Bama (No. 2) and Ohio State (No. 3) among the elite in that category.

Cincinnati: 44th

The Bearcats routed SMU on Saturday, finally blowing out an American Athletic Conference rival after a few weeks of struggling to beat some of the league’s worst teams. It was the Desmond Ridder show, as the quarterback passed for 3 TDs, ran for 1 and even caught a scoring pass. He threw for 274 yards on just 17 completions, for his 5th straight game with at least a 60% completion rate. Don’t overlook running back Jerome Ford, an Alabama transfer with 970 rushing yards and 16 TDs this season.

Oklahoma State: 60th

This is not the explosive offense you’d expect to find in the Big 12. Still, the Cowboys went off for 682 yards in last week’s 63-17 win over TCU and outgained Texas Tech on Saturday, 427-108. Jaylen Warren is the latest stud running back at a program that has turned out more than its share. The senior has rushed for 100 yards or more in a game 5 times this season, helping to steady an offense that ranks No. 79 in passing at 218 yards a game.

Notre Dame: 67th

According to Football Outsiders, the Fighting Irish offensive line doesn’t rank above No. 58 in any of 9 statistical categories. That’s a drop-off from recent years when Notre Dame’s o-line was among the best in the country. Notre Dame is No. 43 in FBS in passing offense and 77th in rushing offense, though the offense piled up a season-high 55 points and gained 514 yards in Saturday’s rout over Georgia Tech, which is Georgia’s next opponent.