Week 3: Playoff Rankings

Well, the regular season is now behind us and it is time for the post season. I think I saw there will be about 8 bowl games on December 16th to kick off the bowls. But before that, we have two more playoff committee polls and a number of conference championship games to be played. But only 5 of those game really matter and one of those polls.  So what we see tonight will just be a preview to Sunday’s final selections. 

Four teams will be in the top four slots and all they have to do is win this weekend and they get to play for the national championship. Georgia, Michigan, Florida State, Washington, all get in with the win.  Alabama, Oregon, Texas and Ohio State will need some special dominos to fall.  So there will be some dram this weekend and it all starts Friday night.

There was some news hitting social media this morning that the Big Ten is expected to get additional information from the NCAA regarding the sign stealing allegations. It will not stop the current game between Michigan and Iowa but they could end up giving the championship to Iowa.  They next thing would be if that would ban the Wolverines from the post season and perhaps open up a playoff spot.

Jason Harris, who you have seen in our weekly predictions in the past and provides the best OSU Men’s basketball coverage on the web, has a theory. “The two teams Ohio State needs to win the most are Louisville and Oklahoma State. Louisville whose head coach is Jeff Braum knows Ryan pretty well and then you have Oklahoma State who Jim Knowles was the defensive coordinator for, before he came to Columbus so he should still have a decent relationship with Mike. We need to get in the ears of those teams to help prepare them for their conference championships.“

Jason, I hope you are right!  

Here is how our staff voted this week and our composite list of the top six teams.

How We Voted

Buckeye50 Playoff Poll

1. Georgia – Overall, we still have Georgia as the number 1 team, partly because they are unbeaten and partly I am sure, because they are the defending champs.  If they beat Alabama in the SEC championship game, they are clearly in the playoffs and probably once again the #1 seed.  Will be interesting to see if the committee gives any credibilty to Michigan for the top spot as they do have the best win in the country right now, and maybe the combination of the best two wins. But if you look at overall top 4 wins, maybe the Bulldogs will be on top in that view.   

2. Michigan – The Wolverines took care of business Saturday, no questions asked.  There may have been a couple of questionable calls but you will have those in any game.  They were able to secure two turnovers and that more than anything proved to be the difference in the game.  JJ has proven to be more than just a servicable quarterback and clearly showed he was better than Kyle McCord head to head.  There is still some cheating scandal talk going around but I am confident it will not develop into anything for this season.  So like the Bulldogs, if they beat Iowa, they are in the playoffs, probably as the #2 seed

3. Washington – The Huskies had a bit of a break last week as they played a sub-500 squad in Washington State. The Cougars gave them a bit of a scare and quite frankly should have pulled off the mega-upset, but Washington did find a way to win. Some might think that will take some luster away from their season but the more important part is they did find a way to win.  Now that they have played the PAC-2 the past two weeks, the Huskies can once again get ready to play the Ducks.  It is pretty safe to say the winner of this game will be in the playoffs, it will just be a matter of seeding.  

4. Florida State – The Seminoles were able to take care of the Gators last week with relative ease.  We have them 4th in our playoff poll but maybe there will be enough in their resume for the committee to bump them up to #3. At any rate just like the teams above them, if they win this week against Louisville, they will be in the playoffs  Unfortunately they are the one team that if they lose, they are most certainly dropped to a New Years Six Bowl.

5. Ohio State – No Buckeye fan will have anything joyous to say this week as for the third straight year Ohio State failed to beat their rivals.  Somehow it takes away the success of the first 11 weeks, even though we should not take away the accomplishments of this year’s team. The committee may find it in their review to put Oregon or Texas above the Buckeyes but at this stage, it really does matter if you are 5th or 8th at this point.  Ohio State is the only one of the teams left with a chance to get in that is not playing this weekend.  They are past their ability to earn their way into the show.  If they don’t make it though, it will be interesting to see how many players will opt out of the bowl game.  

6. Oregon – Unlike Ohio State, Oregon gets a chance to redeem themselves and their one loss.  The winner of the rematch should be in, but if Oregon wins, the committee may have to make  choice between the Bucks and the Ducks for the final spot.

	1	2	3	4	5	6
Coach Rick	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Ohio State	Oregon
Cory	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Ohio State	Oregon
Gregg	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Ohio State	Oregon
Jason	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Oregon	Ohio State
Josh	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Ohio State	Oregon
Steven	Georgia	Michigan	Washington	Florida State	Oregon	Ohio State
Vaughn	Michigan	Georgia	Washington	Florida State	Oregon	Ohio State

Here is how we voted for this week, let us know how you predict this week’s rankings will go!  Who is your top 4?  Be sure to leave your comments below