College Football National Championship Contenders, Pretenders

They have two of the best players in the sport in Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith, and arguably a top-five coach in Ryan Day. Smith ranks fourth in the Big Ten in receiving yards and second in receiving touchdowns, all while often facing double or triple coverage. He has thereby opened up more opportunities for fellow Buckeyes receiver Carnell Tate (fifth in Big Ten receiving yards, fourth in receiving touchdowns).

Downs, renowned for his football IQ, brings knowledge from Nick Saban’s last Alabama team. He often puts himself in the right place at the right time.

Day has the highest head coach winning percentage in college football history (Yes, despite four straight losses to Michigan). By every sense of the word, this team is a juggernaut.

And to make matters worse for OSU’s playoff opponents, Ryan Day has purposefully implemented a slow pace of play. This gives the Buckeyes “a full game less of snaps than other playoff teams.” As if they weren’t already good enough, they’ll be walking into the playoffs with essentially another bye week.

Contender #2 – Indiana Hoosiers

A team that was at the bottom of the Big Ten just two years ago, coach Curt Cignetti has fully managed to turn Indiana around. Just like Ohio State, they are one of a select few remaining undefeated teams, and have shown no cracks in their armor. They even beat the Oregon Ducks, who were undefeated at the time of the meeting, to silence any doubters.

The Hoosiers offense, led by quarterback Fernando Mendoza, leads the Big Ten in passing touchdowns. Given that, Indiana somehow also leads the conference in total rushing yards and is second to only Michigan in rushing touchdowns.

Defensively, they rank second in sacks and interceptions and first in tackles for loss. This true two-way team will run through the rest of their schedule until their inevitable clash with the Buckeyes.

Contender #3 – Oregon Ducks

Notice a pattern yet? Those who say that the Big Ten runs college football might be onto something.

In a previous article, I wrote about how Dan Lanning is on a path to legend status. Ever since they lost to Indiana, they’ve been tearing through opponents. In addition, the 7-1 Ducks took Penn State’s best shot at Whiteout, and still managed to win.

The Ducks proved that they can handle the pressure and beat a team that played like last year’s No. 4 ranked team in what is arguably football’s toughest environment. While Alabama certainly has an argument to be in this spot, scares in two of the past three weeks against Mizzou and South Carolina indicate that the Tide could be on thin ice. 

Undefeated Texas A&M has a win over Notre Dame to hang their hat on, but that win isn’t so pretty anymore. Notre Dame struggled in the first half against Boston College, one of the worst FBS teams, this past weekend. They only led 12-7 at the half.

The Aggies still face tough tests against Mizzou and Texas, and considering their overrated reputation in recent memory, placing them as contenders right now would be jumping the gun.

Pretender #1 – Georgia Bulldogs

The Georgia Bulldogs have broadcasted a very simple but loud message to the world over the past season and a half: “We are not who we used to be.”

They have arguably the best coach in college football, Kirby Smart. They have had some of the most intimidating defenses of the past five years. Hearing Georgia’s Redcoat Marching Band play “Dies Irae” on third down probably haunts opponents in their dreams. But the Bulldogs have made a living off just barely scraping by.

They scraped by against Tennessee, and then were handed a victory by the officials against Auburn a month later. Kirby Smart was laughably handed back a timeout, claiming that he was only clapping. The replay says otherwise. The SEC added fuel to the fire by suspending one of the referees from the game.

Then, Georgia, made a big comeback against Ole Miss before being handed another victory against Florida. Last year, they were almost beaten by Kentucky and Georgia Tech. It was only a matter of time before they got beaten, and they did, by Notre Dame in the playoffs. This season will be the same.

Pretender #2 – Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame is a good team. But that’s it. They aren’t national championship caliber.

They opened the season by losing to the Miami Hurricanes, another team that is just…good. Miami lost to Louisville and SMU in two of the past three weeks, making Notre Dame’s loss look worse and worse.

While Notre Dame has won every game since their two losses to start the season, leading Boston College only 12-7 at halftime this weekend is a bad look. And letting Purdue, the worst team in the Big Ten, drop 30 on them, is awful. Furthermore, Miami, Texas A&M and USC were the only challenges on the Notre Dame schedule. The Irish lost two of them. Head coach and defensive guru Marcus Freeman will not be able to save them from a serious wake-up call should they make the playoffs.

Georgia and Notre Dame are both good teams, but don’t have the ammunition to keep up with teams like Ohio State, Oregon and Indiana. All five teams are well-coached, and one can make the argument that they have the five best coaches in the sport. But the players on the field are the key difference.

Maybe Alabama and Texas A&M will force their way into the S-tier of contenders, but they still have more to prove.