Alabama Crimson Tide defense championship quality or not

Florida Gators 8-1 and No. 6 in CFBP Ranking

• Florida has the No. 44 Scoring Defense.
• The Gators have one win against a team ranked higher than No. 47 in Scoring Offense.
• That win came against the Ole Miss, No. 15 Scoring Offense.
• Florida’s loss came against the Texas A&M, No. 45 ranked Scoring Offense.
• Other Gator wins have been over No. 47 (Georgia); No. 66 (Arkansas); No. 72 (Missouri); No. 93 (South Carolina); No. 105 (Kentucky); No. 109 (Tennessee) and Vanderbilt’s No. 125 Scoring Offense.

Prediction: Florida does not have a ‘Playoff-Quality’ Defense.

Except for the Alabama Crimson Tide, the remaining teams are listed in order of their Scoring Defense ranking.

Cincinnati Bearcats 8-0 and No. 5 in CFBP Ranking

• The Bearcats are No. 5 in Scoring Defense.
• Cincinnati has two wins against highly rated, Scoring Offense teams; UCF at No. 8 and SMU at No. 17.
• Four more wins have come against No. 31 (Houston); No. 39 (Memphis); No. 50 (Army) and East Carolina at No. 54
• The additional Cincy win was against FCS, Austin Peay.

Prediction: Based on a suspect schedule, Cincinnati probably does not have a ‘Playoff-Quality’ Defense.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10-0 and No. 2 in CFBP Ranking

• The Fighting Irish are No. 13 in Scoring Defense.
• Notre Dame has two good wins against strong scoring offenses; Clemson at No. 5 and North Carolina at No. 12.
• The other eight wins are over Scoring Offense teams ranked No. 63 (Pitt) or higher. Those teams were No. 67 (Louisville); No. 68 (Boston College); No. 90 (Georgia Tech); No. 92 (Duke); No. 97 (USF); No. 104 (FSU) and No. 119 Syracuse.

Prediction: Given Trevor Lawrence missed the UND game, the best Irish defensive performance (UNC)  suggests the Irish do not have a ‘Playoff-Quality’ Defense.