College Football Tier Rankings Heading into Week 4

Welcome back to tier rankings! As I said in our inaugural rankings last week, it’s impossible to rank teams in order 1-25 and justify why 12 is better than 13 or why 19 is better than 20. Therefore, we’re doing something different. These tier rankings aren’t an exact science, and just because one tier comes after another doesn’t mean those teams are worse, per say. Tiers and teams will change weekly, just like Barstool Big Cat does with his satirical NFL rankings each Tuesday. Also, once again, I have included a whopping 41 teams this week, because why not? Let’s get into it!

Tier 1: The Contenders: Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Georgia

Welcome, Georgia Bulldogs to the top tier! After a “game of the year” contender in Knoxville on Saturday, Georgia finds its way to the top with Ohio State and Oregon, who handled business against unremarkable foes, and Miami, who pretty much manhandled a South Florida team that was getting a ton of hype leading into the weekend. I don’t know the exact ceilings for these four teams, but these four are all sitting in the top 6 to make the playoff in DraftKings future odds, as of today. Trust Vegas on this one.

Tier 2: Play somebody for the love of God: Penn State

Penn State looks like a good team built for a CFP run, just like last year. But once again, they are still in preseason mode after demolishing Villanova, in a game where many sidewalk fans were left confused, watching their football team play their basketball school’s FCS program on the gridiron.

The Nittany Lions will get a bye week before hosting Oregon in whiteout conditions on September 27^th. Then we will finally know about Penn State. Until then, they cannot possibly be Tier 1, just yet.

Could Penn State be the best team in America? Most definitely.

But…

We don’t know who Penn State is just yet. For all we know, they could be a preseason media darling flop, just like Clemson.

Tier 3: SEC teams I think are better than LSU and Texas: Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Alabama, Tennessee

Texas A&M got a huge road win in South Bend, Oklahoma and Alabama looked good against inferior opponents as they tune up for conference play, and somehow Tennessee looked better than they have all season in a gut-wrenching loss to Georgia. All four of these teams have shown something the next two teams haven’t, and that’s offenses that can move the ball and score.

Tier 4: LSU and Texas

I’m seeing red flags galore with these two teams, especially on the offensive side of the ball. LSU couldn’t muster up more than one offensive touchdown despite five interceptions and Arch looked atrocious against UTEP, showing more reason for concern down in Austin. Both teams will have to lean on their defenses as they figure out the offense, Brian Kelly press conference tirades be damned.

Suddenly, that big win over Clemson on the road in Week 1 doesn’t look all that impressive anymore. Sure, it’s still a win, but this resembles more of a Miss State over Arizona State type of victory than it does a “we’re winning the whole damn thing” type win.

Surely, it’ll look more impressive when Clemson steamrolls its annual cupcakes, right?

Tier 5: Fun and frisky, ACC edition: Florida State and Georgia Tech

This is where we prove that tiers aren’t an exact science, as Florida State should be ahead of Alabama in a team by team order, but we are in the middle of grouping by conference. Think of this tier being as close to tier 2 as tier 3, or don’t, it’s not that serious.

Florida State had an off week, but all aboard the Noles hype train, as I think they can handle Kent State and Virginia before a huge showdown against Miami.

Meanwhile, how about what Brent Key has built on North Avenue? After a huge win against Clemson, Georgia Tech is a Bonafide playoff contender in the ACC. And Haynes King’s play is the definition of fun and frisky.

Tier 6: Fun and frisky, Big 12 edition: Iowa State, Utah, Texas Tech, BYU

What a weird scheduling week in the Big 12 as Iowa State went to Jonesboro to play Arkansas State and Utah went to Laramie to play Wyoming. Both teams handled business, alongside Texas Tech who demolished Oregon State, setting up a huge matchup in Salt Lake City as Utah hosts Texas Tech. BYU has a tough four game stretch coming up, so we will know more about them this month, and Iowa State will get a bye before hosting Arizona.

Tier 7: We will know more about you on Saturday: Illinois, Indiana

We have top 25 matchups in Norman, Salt Lake City, and Bloomington this week, who would’ve thought, Bloomington of all places!

Both teams are led by stud transfer quarterbacks in Luke Altmeyer for the Illini and Fernando Mendoza for the Hoosiers, who have looked good in the non-conference portion of their schedule so far. The winner of this game will have the inside track to be the Big Ten’s fourth playoff team, or last year’s Indiana. Yes, this year’s Indiana can be last year’s Indiana. Also props that this game isn’t on Big Noon, a ranked Big Ten game not on Big Noon! That’s nice.