The official college football playoff rankings are now live, are ever so present and of course, have given many NCAAF stats fanatics plenty to talk about. Starting with the committee initially snubbing the Cincinnati Bearcats, something that while is uncalled for and unfair, especially taking into account the season they’ve posted, you know, with the whole still going undefeated and everything. Moving on to Alabama making their way into the rankings for yet another year, with some critics voicing out their displeasure, especially if you take into account that the Crimson Tide is one of three one-loss teams in the rankings alongside Oregon and Ohio State. And finally, Oklahoma not being shown the respect it deserves, especially with it being the other top contending undefeated team aside from Georgia and Cincinnati. But hey, who’s keeping scores anyways?
With all this said, and with the college football playoffs still a couple of months away, let’s get to talking about the three teams best positioned to win the CFP title this season, even if right now they’re not in the top four of the rankings.
Georgia Bulldogs
If you go into any website that covers college football or any online sports betting platform, you’ll find that there has been one team and one team alone commanding all of the favoritism towards winning the 2021/22 CFP title, the Georgia Bulldogs. From an offensive point of view, Kirby Smart’s team is not that much better than the other teams in the CFP rankings. Let’s scratch that, Georgia could run into serious problems if it had to face the likes of Alabama, Oklahoma, or Ohio State in a potential CFP title game, but it’s on the defensive side of the ball where Georgia can brag about being the absolute best college football team in the US. Simply put, while Georgia might not be a team where scoring a boatload of points is usual, not getting scored on is a definite, making whichever team they have to face in the CFP matchups already come in with a disadvantage.
In an era where college football games can turn into point-scoring festivals, the Georgia Bulldogs’ defense has become a generational unit that all other college football programs, respect, try to emulate and fear. This defense doesn’t necessarily understand the idea of letting opposing teams score on them, but what they do understand to perfection is the art of suffocating offenses to the point of perennial four and outs. Coach Smart has also been adamant about making sure all players on this defense understand that the biggest star in the unit, is the unit itself. This defense plays together and shines together, with everyone sharing in on the stardom, making it an almost perfect defensive line to watch, yes, I say almost perfect because completely perfect can’t be achieved.
Alabama Crimson Tide
One thing that’s very true about the University of Alabama and its football program is that even before the CFP was created, Alabama already had a spot in the Top 4. Not a year has gone by in which Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide team has not been a part of the CFP matchups. While haters of the team will usually talk about how there’s an unspoken advantage or rule for favoring Alabama over other teams, even if they’re undefeated, there’s no denying the kind of championship pedigree that the Crimson Tide brings every season.
Their loss against Texas A&M earlier in the season has been the dark spot in yet another stellar season for the Crimson Tide, but that one loss has been the main factor into considering if Alabama truly deserves their spot in the CFP rankings. Basically put and without too many thrills, there is no real danger of Alabama losing another game until the end of the season, where an SEC Championship matchup against Georgia could end up defining if Alabama moves on to the CFP games or stays behind. For now, if there’s one thing that’s definitely true is that one more loss and Alabama is out, as simple as that.
Oklahoma Sooners
Personally, it was a toss-up between the Sooners and the Ohio State Buckeyes, but given that the Buckeyes still have to worry about facing Michigan State and Michigan in the two last games of their season, two teams who could also have some aspirations for a CFP birth, I have to go with Oklahoma for my last pick. I think all Sooners fans can agree upon the fact that as soon as Caleb Williams took over the starting QB spot this team has been completely different, in a very positive way. While Spencer Rattler was not a bad QB for the Sooners this season, at times it felt that the pressure was getting to him more and more and it ultimately made Oklahoma slip in moments where slips are not necessarily welcomed.
While Oklahoma still have a very tough end of the regular season schedule, with a season finale matchup against Oklahoma State that screams out thriller from wherever you look at it, this team knows that they have their destiny in their hands. Mark these words as if they were truer than true, if Alabama loses to Georgia in the SEC Championship or Ohio State falls against either of the Michigan teams, Oklahoma will definitely be a part of the CFP matchups and could end up going all the way to winning the title. That is unless, the run into Georgia’s defense at any point along the way.
