The Rest of College Football

[Hannibal]

Have you WATCHED them play?

I caught the first half of the Clemson drubbing of GT. If you look at just the objective numbers you don't get the full effect of how ruthlessly effective the Clemson offense is.

Deshaun Johnson was 21/33 for 265y and 2 TDs. RB Wayne Gallman ran 13 times for 115y at a 8.8y per play and scored 2 TDs. There were a couple of Defensive TDs and a Safety off a blocked punt from STs. The offense was 10/16 on 3rd downs.

This is a great CFB Team. By the eyeball test they are WAY better LOOKING than any of the other contenders and I've seen all of them play at some point and for parts of games. osu has been inconsistent. LSU is, well, they look like a better Michigan but not by much. Bama is over-rated IMO based on what they look like.

I watched them play against Louisville and "ruthlessly efficient" is not how I would describe their offense.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Yeah ...... trying to make concrete assertions about this team's or that team's chances to get a seat at the table based on the first set of rankings is ridiculous.

There are a couple of teams, that appear to have a better road than others but once you get by a team like FSU (in the ACC no less), there is no telling.

I will say, as the season moves closer to week 12, evaluating chances of undefeated or one loss teams hanging around in the top 10 to get a berth will get easier. Right now its a waste of time ...... but, hey, what we've been doing for the last 30 minutes or so IS a pretty huge waste of time. Fun though.

[Hannibal]

I think this is a massive upgrade from previous efforts. Massive.

Only in the amount of teams. With regards to making wiser selections of those four teams it's trading one subjective system for another that is more subject to back room horse trading and has less transparency than the old system. But "selection committee > AP or coaches poll" because we have arbitrarily defined the selection committee as the better process. There's no basis for saying that the choices that they make are objectively better.

[WM Wolverine]

Florida State has Clemson, Florida and an ACC CG against the 'weaker' division, most likely North Carolina...

I think they drop at least a game, based on my 'eyeball' test of seeing maybe 5-6 quarters of watching them...

Sparty has Ohio State, Penn State and potentially a B1G CG (Iowa) in front of them. I don't think based on my 'eyeball' test a 1-loss Sparty makes it to the CFP. Ditto Iowa whose schedule is really awful...

Big XII will have 1 team make it to the CFP, no idea what team emerges but any 1 and only 1 of Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State should come out in the CFP. I'm hoping for chaos in the Big XII but the middle & bottom of the Big XII is so bad that they aren't going to upset enough of the top teams for 'chaos', no Big XII member makes the CFP.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I watched them play against Louisville and "ruthlessly efficient" is not how I would describe their offense.

Compared to Michigan? That's not even funny. Bama, LSU, osu? I didn't look it up but I'm pretty sure Clemson is ahead of everyone of these teams in FEI+ and ESPN PR...... and by a lot.

Point being objectively, they are the best offense in college ball right now AND they look damn good. Pretty good credentials.

[iam416]

There's no basis for saying that the choices that they make are objectively better.

Well, we only have 1 year of data, but...

The CFP rated Oregon higher than FSU. Both the AP and Coaches had FSU higher than Oregon. The CFP rated Ohio State higher than Baylor. The AP rated Baylor higher.

I agree that there is an insufficient basis for saying the CFP is better than the polls because the sample size is statistically insignificant. However, I think the CFP did a better job than the polls last season. YMMV.

[iam416]

Clemson has a surprisingly good defense. I'm not sure where it was against NCS, though.

I will say they got worked by Notre Dame for the bulk of that game and looked like trash against Louisville. But I don't think there are any great teams out there so everyone is going to have blah games.

[WM Wolverine]

Florida State is always difficult to judge how good they are playing in the lousy ACC. It's always good to see them at least have Florida on their schedule every year.

[Mike]

Lest we forget, under the previous system last year's championship game would have been Bama-FSU - 2 teams that got trucked in their semifinal games. I think it's abundantly clear that the CFP is not only an upgrade from the BCS but by far the best process for determining a champion that we've had to date.

[Da Geezer]

I just thought I'd attach Clemson's schedule

http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-15/acc/2015-clemson-tigers-football-schedule.php

Home against ND and FSU. 7 home games. ND absolutely destroyed them in the second half, and Clemson was lucky to win. I agree with the sentiment that there are no super teams this year, but I'd have said the same thing last year until OSU won the NCG with 4 turnovers. They just dominated their two opponents.

[Cody_Russell]

Brent Venables is Clemson's D-coordinator. They stole him from Oklahama.
Very good coach.

[The Oracle]

Again, you can make a case against any team right now. Clemson is the best team I've seen. If you have to go to the #5 team to point out their flaw, that says something. I'll let it play out.

[Wild Hoss]

Brent Venables is Clemson's D-coordinator. They stole him from Oklahama.
Very good coach.

OU was running him off in favor of Mike Stoops. (Chuckle)

[Cody_Russell]

Ha, Mike Stoops.
The developer of the famous Detroit Lion, Mike Thomas.

[klondike]

Marques Williams had 404 yards passing for the first half against Duke!