2023 College Football Rankings #5 - Ahead of the First CFP Rankings

So, we are here. The day before the College Football Playoff Rankings go up. It has been a couple of weeks - good ones for Oregon in particular, less so for Oklahoma.

We'll jump straight to the modeling machine:

Normally, this space has looked at a 12-team Bracketology, and I'll still do that. But to be topical, let's have some fun with the CFP. Now, when picking a 4-team playoff - the committee has to use its own criteria for the primacy of conference championships, the value of the beauty contest vs beating good teams, mitigating for injuries whatever. I have my own opinions (resume, resume, resume), but I am a giving man. So let's add a human element here. I will take the poll average and weight that as 50% of the score with my 50% pct Round Robin win the other half. What would THAT do?

1. Michigan

2. Ohio State

3. Georgia

4. Florida State

5. Washington

6. Oregon

7. Texas

8. Alabama

9. Penn State

10. Ole Miss

11. Oklahoma

12. Notre Dame

13. LSU

14. Missouri

15. Louisville

16. Air Force

17. Utah

18. Oregon State

19. Tennessee

20. UCLA

21. James Madison

22. Tulane

23. Kansas

24. USC

25. Kansas State

Let's see how I do.

The 12 Team Bracketology - Using My Rankings Because I Can

And now, the 12 Team Bracketology - at this stage in the season, I feel comfortable focusing on my rankings - though leaving out 3-loss teams.

Conference Champions:

• ACC: Florida State (3)

• Big 12: Texas (7)

• Pac 12: Washington (4)

• Big Ten: Ohio State (1)

• SEC: Georgia (8)

• MAC: Toledo (42)

• MWC: Air Force (15)

• Sun Belt: James Madison (14)

• American: Tulane (32)

• CUSA: Liberty (20)

At Large:

• Michigan (2)

• Oregon (5)

• Penn State (6)

• Ole Miss (9)

• Alabama (10)

• Notre Dame (11)

Just off the bubble

• LSU (12)

• Oklahoma (13)

• James Madison (14)

• Air Force (15)

Bracket - moving first round matches as needed to avoid intraconference 1st rounds

• (1) Ohio State

  • (8) Georgia v (11) Notre Dame

• (4) Texas

  • (5) Michigan v (12) Air Force

• (2) Florida State

  • (7) Penn State v (10) Alabama

• (3) Washington

  • (6) Oregon v (9) Ole Miss

2023 College Football Rankings #4 - The Game of the Year Until the Next One

Week 7 was kind of underwhelming on a bunch of fronts - except for the barnburner in Seattle, which might be the game of the year to date. As far as the big results went:

• #13 Washington beat #7 Oregon in the game of the year to date.

• #10 Notre Dame throttled #22 USC

• #16 North Carolina handed #28 Miami-FL its second loss in a row.

Putting this into the modeling machine, and we get this:

And now, the 12 Team Bracketology - While there are 14 unbeatens, I do think now some 1-loss teams can sneak in.

Conference Champions:

• ACC: Florida State (6)

• Big 12: Oklahoma (1)

• Pac 12: Washington (7)

• Big Ten: Penn State (2)

• SEC: Ole Miss (8)

• MAC: Miami-OH (40)

• MWC: Air Force (18)

• Sun Belt: James Madison (16)

• American: SMU (72)

• CUSA: Liberty (27)

At Large:

• Ohio State (3)

• Texas (4)

• Michigan (5)

• Alabama (9)

• North Carolina (10)

• Georgia (14)

Just off the bubble

• Oregon (11)

• Iowa (12)

• Notre Dame (13)

• LSU (15)

Bracket - moving first round matches as needed to avoid intraconference 1st rounds

• (1) Oklahoma

  • (8) Florida State v (9) Alabama

• (4) Ole Miss

  • (5) Ohio State v (12) Air Force

• (2) Penn State

  • (7) Michigan v (10) North Carolina

• (3) Florida State

  • (6) Texas v (11) Georgia

2023 College Football Rankings #3 - Red River Rising

Week 6 had the game of the year to date with #12 Oklahoma defeating #1 Texas in Dallas in the final seconds. As you can imagine, this shoots Oklahoma up to the top. It's not the only big result.:

• #37 Louisville pasted #8 Notre Dame at home

• #2 Ohio State struggled early but pulled away for a good win over #25 Maryland in Columbus

• #9 Alabama is not pretty but they have started to find a rhythm and won at Kyle Field over #18 Texas A&M

• #4 Miami lost to Georgia Tech is one of the funniest ways possible.

• #35 UCLA in front of a friends and family type crowd at the Rose Bowl, thumped #3 Washington State.

Putting this into the modeling machine, and we get this:

Losing to Louisville dropped Notre Dame, but it was more than offset by Ohio State continuing to show strength. Right now, the Irish's #2 ranked schedule to date is driving the train of a 5-2 team. Now I do think this would impact the committee's view of things. Texas falling to 4 of course is entirely reasonable.

And now, the 12 Team Bracketology - While there are 14 unbeatens, I do think now some 1-loss teams can sneak in.

Conference Champions:

• ACC: Florida State (6)

• Big 12: Oklahoma (1)

• Pac 12: Oregon (7)

• Big Ten: Ohio State (2)

• SEC: Alabama (9)

• MAC: Miami-OH (37)

• MWC: Air Force (24)

• Sun Belt: James Madison (25)

• American: Memphis (53)

• CUSA: Liberty (35)

At Large:

• Penn State (3)

• Texas (4)

• Michigan (5)

• Louisville (8)

• Washington State (11)

• Georgia (12)

Just off the bubble

• Washington (13)

• Ole Miss (14)

• Oregon State (15)

• North Carolina (16)

Bracket - moving first round matches as needed to avoid intraconference 1st rounds

• (1) Oklahoma

  • (8) Florida State v (9) Alabama

• (4) Oregon

  • (5) Penn State v (12) Air Force

• (2) Ohio State

  • (7) Michigan v (10) Washington State

• (3) Florida State

  • (6) Texas v (11) Georgia