The third edition of the 2019 CFP rankings have just been announced. As expected, nothing changed in regards to the top teams, as they all won except for Minnesota.
The top 6 teams all remain the same:
- LSU
- Ohio State
- Clemson
- Georgia
- Alabama
- Oregon
However, the most noise came out of Starkville, Mississippi. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa ended his season after a major hip injury. With Tua out for the rest of the season, the Alabama “safety net” seems to have disappeared now that they are forced to use a rather unknown quarterback in Mac Jones. Could this injury hurt their CFP chances?
Mac Jones’s only start this season came during a blowout win versus arkansas. Jones went 38 for 54 and 235 yards. He also added three scores to his resume.
Mac Jones needs a standout performance against Auburn to sell this Tua-less Alabama team.
Looking ahead to the CFP
Penn State vs Ohio State
First off, it is criminal to play this game at noon. This has all the making for a primetime slot on ABC. I don’t want to start my day off with this game, I want to be built up to this matchup.
It is pretty evident that a loss this saturday against Ohio State and Penn State is officially done. They would have two losses and Ohio State would clinch a spot in the BIG 10 title game. However, what would happen to Ohio State if they were to lose?
They have largely been the most consistent and dominant team all season. They also have the nations best player in Chase Young. The closest margin of victory this season has been a 24 point win over Michigan State. Ohio State even hung 38 points on the best defense in the country at that time.
Ohio State has scored over 42 points in eight of their 10 games this season. I expect a huge performance from Ohio State these next two weeks.
It’s important to note that a win by Penn State would eliminate Ohio State from BIG 10 title contention.
Georgia vs LSU
With Georgia already locking their spot in the SEC championship game, LSU will have that chance this weekend to do the same against Arkansas.
Georgia cannot lose this game in order to stay in the top 4 and play in the CFP. Even with a loss in last years SEC championship game, there was much discussion about Georgia staying in the top four.
The difference between last year and this year lies on Georgia’s loss and how many teams actually deserved that fourth spot. Losing to a South Carolina (it’s clearly been forgotten, stop talking about it) is much different than losing in Baton Rouge to LSU in 2018.
But with if LSU loses?
The idea of three SEC teams in the playoffs are gone. That is not happening anymore. But would a one loss LSU team stay ahead of a one loss Utah/Oregon if they were to win out? LSU has the clear advantage in “quality loss’ as Georgia would be a top four team.
Oregon only lost in the final seconds to Auburn in week 1 at a neutral site. However, Utah lost to a USC team who played their third string quarterback after their starter, Kedon Slovis, got injured early.
12-1 non-champ LSU vs 12-1 champ Oregon/Utah?
Oregon has the potential to jump past Alabama
If Oregon continues to win out and beat Utah in the PAC 12 championship game, even with Alabama winning out, having a conference championship could propel Oregon above Alabama. Then you have to go back to Alabama not having Tua. It is unclear how this will impact the team when they play Auburn in two weeks. However, Jones and Alabama will have a buffer game against Western Carolina to work out the kinks and possibly keep their CFP hopes alive.
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