CFB WEEK 13 SB POLL COLUMN
Ohio State's national championship hopes dwindle; Michigan's door to glory is now wide open; Oklahoma State wins Bedlam; Lincoln Riley bolts for USC; Brian Kelly heads to Baton Rouge
I normally publish the weekly poll column on Mondays, but I needed a few extra days to think of how to explain what happened this weekend. All of my teams lost in the most heartbreaking of ways (Ohio State basketball off of a buzzer beater to Florida, the 15-point loss to Michigan and then the Browns to the Ravens on Sunday) The coaching carousel is spinning out of control
— Michigan is now going to make the CFP and win the B1G with a win over Iowa. The Game altered legacies and is transforming the fabric of the college football landscape. This loss will forever be a stain on Ryan Day’s career. Jim Harbaugh will be immortalized up in Ann Arbor for this once in a decade victory. The success Harbaugh has had this season is impressive and has quieted a sizable amount of the narratives surrounding him and the program (can he win the big game?). Aidan Hutchinson has even vaulted himself into the Heisman conversation with his dominance on the highest stage and throughout the season, but I doubt they would give it to him. The Wolverines are most likely going to beat Iowa and if Cincinnati beats Houston and Georgia beats Alabama, there is a great chance that UC and Michigan could meet as the 2-3 matchup in the CFP. Michigan has such a good chance to win a playoff game and potentially more with how everything is shaping up
— Ohio State’s season is now considered a massive failure, 10-2 is not acceptable. Winning another Rose Bowl won’t even be satisfying for the fans or anyone on the team. This team had championship aspirations and they got outplayed in the same fashion twice. Now, they won’t even win the Big Ten and the chances of making the CFP are incredibly low. So much has to happen for the Buckeyes to even have a chance to make it; they would likely need Georgia to beat Alabama, Iowa to beat Michigan, Houston to beat Cincinnati and Baylor to beat Oklahoma State. They are virtually eliminated. The holes that were seemingly patched up after the Oregon game were fully exposed again. Ryan Day will have to make some huge changes, starting with figuring out the defensive coordinator situation (will he promote Matt Barnes to full-time or go outside the box?) I believe some of the Buckeyes’ struggles can be attributed to being one of the youngest teams in the sport. A large portion of their offensive and defensive production came from underclassmen. If C.J. Stroud, TreVeyon Henderson, Tyleik Williams and JSN were this good this year, the sky is the limit next year. The Buckeyes will have to use the transfer portal to fill some holes if they want to get back to glory (go get Elias Ricks and/or Branden Jennings).. I am confident that this will be the lowest point of the Day era. The Buckeyes have a lot of work to do this offseason
The Updated SB Top 25 Poll:
1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. Alabama
4. Cincinnati
5. Ohio State
6. Oklahoma State
7. Notre Dame
8. Ole Miss
9. Oregon
10. Michigan State
11. Baylor
12. Oklahoma
13. Utah
14. Iowa
15. Wake Forest
16. Pittsburgh
17. Houston
18. San Diego State
19. BYU
20. Arkansas
21. Kentucky
22. Louisiana
23. Texas A&M
24. NC State
25. Clemson
COACHING CAROUSEL TAKES + TEAM ANALYSIS
— I am not high on Oklahoma State at all, but they had a really good comeback win against a very downbad Oklahoma team. I have heard great things about their defensive coordinator. A win over Baylor could put them in the CFP. I think they would be the worst team to ever make the playoff, it’s either them or that Washington team that made it with a young Jake Browning starting at QB
— Lincoln Riley seemingly had a foot out the door for at least a couple weeks and is taking almost all of the California players he recruited for Oklahoma with him to USC (Malachi Nelson, Raleek Brown, Makai Lemon, etc).. Who will the Sooners hire (Dan Lanning or Brent Venables?) Bob Stoops is clearly not happy with how Riley handled everything and now he has to step in and coach OU during its bowl game, which will be a glorious sight to see, but this never should have happened. Stoops should only be worrying about what he will say on FOX Big Noon Kickoff, but now he has to coach a game for the first time in 4 years after his appointed successor ditched the program. I don’t blame Lincoln Riley for leaving for greener pastures, but the way he did it was not right at all. I am confident that Riley will make USC the destination to be within a few years, it’s already the shiny new thing. The highly-ranked Southern California kids that Lincoln was convincing to come to Norman are rapidly deciding to stay home and make USC great again (Malachi Nelson, Raleek Brown, etc.)
— LSU has won national championships with coaches way worse than Brian Kelly, but is he the right hire? It’s obviously a good hire with his track record, but I still don’t know if he will ever really win anything significant there and that’s mainly because he has to go through Alabama and Georgia every season. They should still go at least 10-2 in almost every season now, the standards will be raised. They won’t have any “bad” seasons anymore with the stability he brings. I say he wins the SEC maybe one time in five or six years there. One thing is for sure, he won’t have any problems with recruiting people to LSU, no coach ever has.. Surely they won’t have players opting out like crazy anymore, unless things go south again.. The Tigers can’t really get worse than they were this year. They did close the year out really strong for Coach O and sent him off on a good note, it’s going to be sad not hearing him in postgame interviews as the coach of LSU anymore. Things are trending upwards in Baton Rouge and they should have more stability than they have ever had in recent memory
— The winner of Georgia-Alabama is most likely going to win the National Championship, but Michigan’s door is now wide open.. If they can play like they did against the Buckeyes, they can beat anyone.. I already think the Wolverines would handle Cincinnati.. If they can shutdown the Buckeyes, they can give UGA or Bama a run for their money
— Promoting Marcus Freeman is the smartest thing ND could have done after Kelly left and they get to keep Tommy Rees on staff as OC.. The Irish are in great hands. Their upcoming recruiting classes are still really good and with them keeping Freeman, they should be more than fine. They still have a solid chance of making the CFP this year even without Brian Kelly in charge, but they do need some chaos to happen to get in
— Akron getting Oregon OC Joe Moorhead to be their next head coach is such a massive win for the Zips
— Kent State is competing for the MAC Championship against Northern Illinois this week, I am so excited for that.. The work that Sean Lewis has done with this team is remarkable.. They run plays in less than 20 seconds.. For them to be bowl eligible after getting through the toughest non-conference schedule I have seen is incredible
— Virginia Tech getting Brent Pry from Penn State as their next HC is a great move.. He is so well respected and will surely be much better than Fuente ever was there
Heisman Watch:
1. Bryce Young
2. C.J. Stroud
3. Aidan Hutchinson
4. Will Anderson Jr.