Northwestern, Florida rising at 5-0 in playoff picture,
Who’s up, down, hanging around on the path to the Playoff.
RISING STOCK
Florida
The 5-0 Gators can make a pretty good argument for topfour status, with back-to-back wins over Tennessee and Ole Miss (38-10). Even their wins over Kentucky (4-1) and East Carolina (3-2) cannot be dismissed. New coach Jim McElwain has worked wonders with QB Will Grier (10 TDs, 3 INTs).
Northwestern
The Wildcats, flexing a formidable defense, are 5-0 with a terrific body of work that includes a 16-6 win over Stanford, a 19-10 win at Duke and a 27-0 trouncing of a Minnesota team that worked TCU hard. LB Anthony Walker (44 tackles, 8.5 for loss) leads a topfive nationally ranked defense.
FALLING STOCK
Texas
The Longhorns might as well be a penny stock. They have played the second-toughest schedule (BYU has the toughest), according to Jeff Sagarin, but their defense is a sieve, their offense stumbles down the field and the special teams look like they haven’t been coached a day.
South Carolina
There isn’t much Steve Spurrier can do with this bunch, which has little talent at the skill positions. The Gamecocks already have lost to Kentucky, Georgia and Missouri and now, because of flooding, they must play a home game at LSU. Ouch.
FINAL FOUR
Each week, we list our top four candidates for the College Football Playoff. Our choices aren’t based on polls, reputations or last year’s results, but simply on what has happened on the field this season. The 10-person CFP selection committee will unveil its first rankings Nov. 3.
1. Utah
Why aren’t the Utes No. 1 in the mainstream polls? Simply because they started outside the Top 25, and the coaches and media work off past perceptions and use a stepladder approach to their rankings. The Power Four starts with an empty canvas. Utah has the best body of work so far, destroying Oregon 62-20 in Eugene and beating Michigan 24-17 among its four victims. So, for now, give it up for running back Devontae Booker and company.
2. Baylor
Granted, you can pick apart the résumés of both Big 12 teams here, especially the Bears with their all-cupcake nonconference consumption, but these guys lead the nation — by bundles — in scoring at 63.8 points per game. They lead the nation — by bundles — in total offense at 745.3 yards per game. And the defense, which hasn’t yet rounded into form, has four preseason all-Big 12 first-team choices. The Bears boast a 28-point neutral-field victory over a Texas Tech team that won at Arkansas.
3. TCU
Just when we were ready to write off the Horned Frogs’ decimated defense, they nearly laid a goose egg on Texas in a 50-7 obliteration. Granted, the Longhorns are lousy. Still ... 50-7? The Frogs won at Tech, and they’ve got every bit as good of offensive personnel as Baylor. Trevone Boykin and all those receivers? Devastating.
4. Alabama
If anyone has a road win as eyepopping as the Utes, it is the Crimson Tide with their 38-10 thrashing of Georgia between the hedges. Of course, the Tide also has a home defeat, a weird one in which it had five turnovers and lost 43-37 to Ole Miss. Alabama also has that 35-17 pounding of Wisconsin, not to mention so much five-star talent across the field.