Coming off of a massive win against the LSU Tigers the Alabama Football team is looking for some help from outsiders to continue to climb the College Football Playoff Rankings. Ranked eighth the Alabama Football team should make the playoff if they win out, but it would be nice to get closer to striking distance before a potential SEC Championship game. With this weekend’s game on the road against an unranked Kentucky team, it’s unlikely Alabama will get any bump unless another team ahead of the Alabama Football team loses. As the season winds down many of the teams ranked ahead of the Crimson Tide have some of their toughest tests of the season in the upcoming weeks.
Alabama Football: Crimson Tide will jump a few spots as long as they win
Before the Conference Championship, Alabama Football will continue to move up the rankings as long as they win their remaining three games. The three teams Alabama Football plays are all unranked, so they won’t move up unless they beat Georgia in a potential SEC Championship Game. The way the Crimson Tide will move up is by watching other schools take losses in these last three weeks. Alabama Football has already played its toughest games losing to Texas and beating Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Tennessee, and LSU. Some of the teams ahead of Alabama, however, haven’t played many if not any tough games through week 10. This weekend five teams ranked ahead of Alabama have really tough matchups with four potentially having massive outcomes for the Alabama Football team should an upset occur.
The third-ranked Michigan Wolverines will travel to Beaver Stadium to face the eleventh-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. This would be a tough game for Michigan to begin with, add in the distraction of an ongoing cheating scandal and this could be a disaster spot for the Wolverines. The closest game for Michigan this season has been a 24-point win over Rutgers. The Wolverines haven’t been battle-tested yet and that should be a massive concern for Jim Harbaugh’s squad.
The Penn State offense has been explosive in nearly every game averaging 40.2 points per game with their worst game coming against its toughest opponent in Ohio State. Drew Allar has led a dominant passing attack for Penn State throwing only one interception while the offensive line has only allowed Allar to get sacked 12 times. Penn State could come out fast and punch an untested Michigan team in the mouth. The Penn State defense will provide problems for the Michigan offense allowing only 11.88 points per game with NFL talent all over their defense led by Chop Robinson and Kalen King
A Penn State win would be massive for the Alabama Football team as it would cause for potential disaster for the Big Ten. A Nittany Lions victory would leave both them and the Wolverines with a loss before a matchup between Ohio State and Michigan which could lead to all three of the top teams in the Big Ten taking a loss. This would come into play should Alabama Football win the conference championship as it would then be a debate between a one-loss SEC champion and a one-loss Big Ten Champion
The Washington Huskies remain undefeated despite a few close calls this season against Oregon, Arizona, USC, Stanford, and Arizona State. The Utah Utes love nothing more than playing spoiler while they also still have an outside chance at a bid to the final Pac-12 championship. For the Huskies, this is game two of a three-game stretch of ranked opponents knocking off the USC Trojans last weekend. The Utah Utes have been anything but normal on offense as returning starter Cam Rising has yet to play this season and Quarterbacks Nate Johnson and Bryson Barnes have both played a significant number of snaps in his absence. The key for Utah as always will be defense, they’ve held six opponents to 14 points or less allowing Johnson and Barnes to play stress free football. The Washington defense hasn’t exactly played great as of late allowing 33 points to Stanford and 42 points to USC. Should Utah slow the high-powered Washington the Washington defense should give them many chances to stay close in this game and potentially end Washington’s undefeated season.
A Utah win would be massive for the Alabama Football team because again it would guarantee another conference would have a one-loss champion if the Crimson Tide can handle its own business. The Utah defense could provide some help for Jalen Milroe as he’s moved into the top ten of the Heisman trophy odds and could continue to climb if the favorite Penix struggles against the Utah defense.
The Texas Longhorns should on paper be able to dominate a TCU team that is 4-5 and drastically worse than the team that finished runner-up in the National Title game. However, with quarterback Quinn Ewers injured, every game for the Longhorns poses a scare for the 7th-ranked team in the country. Stepping in for the injured Ewers is Freshman Maalik Murphy, a former four-star quarterback in the 2022 recruiting class. Many fans would have expected true Freshman Arch Manning to fill the role, but Steve Sarkisian opted for Murphy instead. Murphy has been shaky in his two games of significant playing time passing 35-62 for 418 yards, while throwing three touchdowns and three interceptions. Last weekend the Longhorns narrowly escaped in overtime against Kansas State, this weekend could be a similar style of game.
The path to victory for the Horned Frogs would be running the football early and often. The TCU team is led by running back Emani Bailey who’s rushed for 908 yards and four touchdowns adding another 141 yards receiving. The passing game has struggled for TCU which is a concern as Texas held Kansas State to 43 yards rushing on 28 attempts.
A TCU win would provide the Alabama Football team a massive bump as it would hand Texas its second loss all but eliminating them from playoff contention. If Texas doesn’t take a second loss there could be a potential scenario where the committee is deciding between a one-loss SEC Champion Alabama and a one-loss Big 12 champion. If that team is the Longhorns, it could be very tough for Alabama to beat the Longhorns out for a potential final spot in the playoff. The argument for Alabama Football would be the game was played in week two and Alabama has gotten better since. In a perfect world, the Crimson Tide would have the best win should it beat Georgia for the SEC Crown.
Another massive game in the Pac-12 and a second straight chance for the USC Trojans to knock off one of their conference rivals as their season has gone downhill. Last week the USC Trojan offense gave Washington a real scare as Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams passed for 312 yards and scored four touchdowns. Earlier this week the Trojans fired their defensive coordinator Alex Grinch whose defense ranked near the bottom in all metrics among teams in the power five. With a change a defensive coordinator and the motivation of potentially ending Oregon’s season, I fully expect the Trojans to come out hot.
The Oregon Ducks have a potential Heisman of their own as Bo Nix ranks highly in the final few weeks of the season. The Ducks have played nearly perfect complimentary football as its defense allows only 16 points per game while its offense averages 47.5 points per game. An offense this explosive could provide a major issue for a USC defense that just fired its coordinator and has struggled all season getting opposing offenses off the field.
The Trojans pulling off the upset could be massive for the Alabama Football team as it looks to leapfrog higher-ranked teams. An Oregon Ducks loss would also provide the opportunity for a potential two-loss Pac-12 champion that would not gain a playoff berth.