By: Luke Brumm
Now that week three has come to a close, it’s time again to look back and rank top teams using tiers. This will be ranging from my Championship Contenders to Sleepers. Let’s see where these teams sit after two weeks of football.
Tier 1 – Championship Contenders
Georgia, Michigan, Florida State, Texas, & Ohio State
The top four remain the same. Georgia, Michigan, and Texas looked shaky in the first half but picked up wins. Florida State looked shaky all game but still prevailed. Ohio State blew out Western Kentucky by fifty-three and Kyle McCord showed signs of improvement so they move up to tier one.
Tier 2 – Playoff Contenders
USC, Washington, Penn State, & Notre Dame
All of these teams were playoff contenders last week too, there are no newcomers here. Washington, and more specifically Michael Penix Jr., looked really good vs. Michigan State. Penn State and Notre Dame both won by double digits, and USC had a bye. As previously mentioned, Ohio State was promoted to Tier 1, but another team dropped to Tier 4.
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Tier 3 – A Step Below the Playoff Contenders
Oregon, Utah, LSU, & Oklahoma
We have some newcomers to tier three. LSU and Oklahoma join the group that I believe is a step behind the playoff contenders. It seemed like LSU had almost been written off after their week one loss to Florida State, but they have won both of their next two games in blowout fashion, including a 41-14 win vs Mississippi State.
Oklahoma continues to impress on offense and, even though they haven’t played anyone good, I will move them up for now. I’m still not 100% sold on the Sooners, but 60+ points in two out of three games can’t be ignored. Oregon and Utah keep handling business, so they will stay until need be.
Tier 4 – Pretenders
Alabama & Clemson
I was going to add Tennessee here too, but I don’t think they even deserve a mention until they clean some things up. So here I have Alabama and Clemson. Who would have thought this back in 2018? Clemson hasn’t looked good after that week one loss to Duke and they have a good chance of accumulating another loss on Saturday when they take on fourth-ranked Florida State.
Alabama, of course, lost to Texas two weeks ago and then followed that up with a less-than-impressive 17-3 win vs. South Florida. Alabama looked soft and this was a one-score game until midway through the fourth quarter. Right now, Alabama is a pretender.
Tier 5 – Sleepers
Colorado, North Carolina, Oregon State, Ole Miss, & Miami
Colorado did win, but that game should not have been close. For that reason, Colorado falls to a sleeper, especially with Travis Hunter out for their next three games. Oh, and Oregon and USC happen to be the next two games. I can see Colorado pulling an upset or two throughout the season, but I think that schedule will get the best of them, and they won’t be a top-25 team by the end of the season.
North Carolina, Oregon State, Ole Miss, and Miami round out my sleepers tier. I can also see them pulling some upsets and ruining a top team’s season. For example, Oregon State over Oregon again, Ole Miss over LSU, or maybe Miami over Florida State.
