Playoff’s top four clear cut for now
Dominant Alabama leads unbeaten teams
As the final weekend of October drew to a close, it seemed we were nearing some clarity in college football. Four unbeatens lost Saturday, leaving just five at the Football Bowl Subdivision level — and only four in the Power Five conferences.
Those teams sit atop everybody’s rankings. Soon that will almost certainly include the College Football Playoff ’s selection committee, which will unveil its initial Top 25 on Tuesday evening. Figure it’ll be Alabama followed in some order by Clemson, Michigan and Washington.
After the Crimson Tide, we can debate the seeding, but it’s hard to seriously argue against those four if the Playoff were this week. But here’s the thing: It’s not this week. And to think anything crystallized Saturday — well, the short history of the Playoff era shows that’s probably not the case.
In the first two seasons, the initial Playoff rankings didn’t really look much like the final rankings. In 2014, it looked like this: 1. Mississippi State 2. Florida State 3. Auburn 4. Mississippi 5. Oregon 6. Alabama … 16. Ohio State And here was the first CFP ranking in 2015: 1. Clemson 2. LSU 3. Ohio State 4. Alabama 7. Michigan State 15. Oklahoma Alabama has been nothing short of dominant. Michigan has been extremely impressive. Clemson just keeps winning, all that talent continuing to find a way. Washington looks like a complete team without a real weakness. But there’s plenty of football left. No one should be surprised if on Dec. 4 the selection committee’s final rankings — you know, the only set that actually matters — look a lot different from what we get Tuesday. WYOMING’S DEFINING WIN If you haven’t seen Wyoming coach Craig Bohl cut short his postgame TV interview Saturday and then melt away into the mosh pit of fans behind him, go find it. He slowly disappears, engulfed by the crowd — think of those ballplayers disappearing into the cornfield in Field of Dreams — and if the goal was to encapsulate the party after Wyoming’s 30-28 upset of then-No. 13-ranked Boise State, well, it was pure perfection.
“I was having a difficult time hearing (the interviewer),” Bohl said. “After I couldn’t hear the second time, I basically just raised my hand and I was just gonna kind of back out, but it was just a mob scene.
“My daughter called up and said, ‘Dad, it’s all over social media, are you OK? You just disappeared.’ ”
And Wyoming might just have arrived. At 6-2, the Cowboys are off to their best start in years. After going 4-8 in 2014 and 2-10 last season, no one was surprised by that mob scene after their first win against a ranked team since 2002. Bohl, who is in his third year after leaving North Dakota State, didn’t attempt to diminish the accomplishment.
“Those are wins that help change the trajectory of your program,” he told USA TODAY Sports on Sunday.
The winning score came with 1:25 left on, of all things, a safety. Chase Appleby knocked the ball away from Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien; it bounced out of the back of the end zone — taking along with it Boise State’s hopes of going undefeated and maybe the Broncos’ chances of earning a New Year’s Six bowl bid.
Who knows what it might mean for Wyoming, which has losses at Nebraska and Eastern Michigan but has rebounded to lead the Mountain West’s Mountain Division. Before the game Saturday, Bohl celebrated a groundbreaking for the Mick and Susie McMurry High Altitude Performance Center, a $44 million expansion to the school’s athletics facilities.
“The game just capped off a super night,” Bohl said. “We’re gonna have phenomenal facilities.”
Wyoming is led by Brian Hill, the nation’s No. 2 rusher (averaging 144.5 yards, he had 146 yards Saturday), and quarterback Josh Allen (18-for-31, 274 yards, three touchdowns). But they’re fueled, according to Bohl, by the same culture of hard-nosed, tough football he’d coached at North Dakota State. Those teams were on a 43-2 run when he took the Wyoming job (and not much has changed for the Bison since). It led to plenty of questions: Why?
“If I had a quarter for every time that was asked of me, I’d be a wealthy guy,” Bohl said. “A lot of people on the outside said, ‘ Why in the world, Wyoming has not had any success, you’re in a very comfortable situation at a great program.’ But I really believe there’s greatness here in this program.”
Next up, Utah State. A couple of weeks later, San Diego State. And after that, who knows? But Bohl believes the Cowboys just laid a big building block.
“You can say each game was important,” Bohl said. “But last one, that had real meaning. It was a great win for our program.” QUOTABLE “It’s just one game. We don’t need to anoint the quarterback. Nobody’s smart again. We’re still all idiots, myself at the top of that list.” — Oregon’s Mark Helfrich, after freshman quarterback Justin Herbert tied a school passing record as the Ducks broke a fivegame losing streak