Week seven of the college football season didn’t feature as many upsets as the previous slate of games, but that didn’t mean it was any less entertaining.
Several of this week’s matchups went down to the last play of the game. It started with Alabama nearly getting upset by South Carolina in the 11 a.m. time slot, and the fireworks continued all day long.
In the afternoon slot, Penn State outlasted USC in overtime in a matchup of two college football giants that had an old-school Rose Bowl feel. Though it will take some time to adjust to, the new-look Big Ten figures to be very entertaining.
Another Big Ten bout, Oregon vs Ohio State, was a top-3 matchup and the week seven headliner. It did not disappoint with the Ducks claiming a 32-31 win after a back-and-forth affair.
The nail biters and photo finishes carried late into the night with Tennessee and Kansas State narrowly escaping Florida and Colorado respectively.
Here is my updated College Football Playoff prediction following the dramatic week seven slate.
Seed | Team | Bid Status | Previous Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Texas | SEC Champ | 1 |
2 | Ohio State | Big Ten Champ | 2 |
3 | Miami | ACC Champ | 3 |
4 | BYU | Big 12 Champ | Not ranked |
5 | Oregon | At-large | 6 |
6 | Penn State | At-large | 7 |
7 | Georgia | At-large | 5 |
8 | Clemson | At-large | 9 |
9 | Alabama | At-large | 10 |
10 | Tennessee | At-large | 8 |
11 | Notre Dame | At-large | 11 |
12 | Boise State | Mountain West Champ | 12 |
Texas’ dominant win over Oklahoma further cements its spot as the number-one seed. On a day where no other top-10 teams looked overwhelmingly impressive, Texas did. The Longhorns now own convincing wins over fellow bluebloods Michigan and Oklahoma (both away from home), and are the lone remaining undefeated SEC team.
Though Oregon clipped Ohio State at home and rose to no. 2 in the AP Poll, I still think the Buckeyes will ultimately win the Big Ten. Still, Oregon proved itself is a legitimate contender and takes over the top at-large spot in my prediction.
Miami comes out of its bye week undefeated and is still my projected ACC champ. With Utah falling on Friday night for its second loss of the year, rival BYU is now my Big 12 favorite. Iowa State and Kansas State are both heavily in the mix as well, but I think this will be a one-bid league.
With a road win over USC, Penn State moves up to the no. 6 seed. The Nittany Lions have looked good so far, but their rise is just as much the result of the SEC elites continuing to disappoint.
Struggles continue at the top of the SEC
Alabama and Tennessee are still in the field, but occupy the 9-seed and 10-seed respectively after ugly outings at home. Both teams were slated to have “get right” games coming off of embarrassing losses, but both played sloppy football and nearly lost again to inferior competition.
With the Tide and Vols facing off in week eight, we will soon find out which program is better equipped to respond to adversity.
Georgia wasn’t much better, beating Mississippi State 41-31 at home. Mississippi State is the worst team in the SEC by a fairly wide margin, and it posted its highest scoring output of the season (FBS competition only) against Kirby Smart’s defense.
Georgia was the beneficiary of a questionable holding call while Mississippi State was driving to make it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter. Without it, this one may have gotten interesting.
Still, with no bad losses on its resume, Georgia remains my SEC runner-up.
Clemson remains in the field as my ACC runner-up, and Notre Dame and Boise State continue to occupy the final two spots.
Several teams are just outside the field looking in, including SEC dark horses LSU and Texas A&M, Big 12 contenders Iowa State and Kansas State, and undefeated Big Ten sleeper Indiana.