Yes, the South Carolina loss was awful. But Georgia’s case for No. 4 is strong.
Somebody has to be ranked No. 4 behind college football’s three unbeaten behemoths.
A jumble of seven 1-loss teams are lined up behind LSU, Clemson and Ohio State, all with quality wins and each with that lone loss to parse.
Georgia lost at home to South Carolina. That’s a bad loss no matter how you look at it. But after the Bulldogs went on the road to beat Auburn 21-14 on Saturday, they have wins over three ranked teams (Notre Dame, Florida, Auburn).
That’s impressive.
Oklahoma made a case by rallying from 25 points down, on the road, to beat previously unbeaten Baylor 34-31. The Sooners’ lone loss is to Kansas State, which isn’t as bad as South Carolina. Now that Texas has tumbled, that Baylor win becomes the Sooners’ best. Not good enough.
Alabama remains out there having only lost to LSU. But the Tide lack quality wins and, with Tua Tagovailoa’s awful, unfortunate hip injury, this team doesn’t look as good.
Utah and Oregon are just behind and look to settle their differences in the Pac-12 title game.
Minnesota was the darling of the ball for exactly one week before Iowa took down the Gophers, 23-19, on Saturday. Then there’s Penn State, which has only lost to Minnesota.
Expect the placement of those seven teams will change between now and when the College Football Playoff committee decides which of them will make the playoff.
Elsewhere on my ballot, Texas’ 23-19 loss to Iowa State gives the Longhorns four losses and means they are out of my top 25. Navy turned out to be a one-week wonder in terms of my rankings after Notre Dame demolished the Midshipmen 52-20.
I’m keeping Indiana in there because it only lost by a touchdown (34-27) at Penn State. The Hoosiers also survive because other possibilities for the bottom of the poll -- Kansas State, Louisiana Tech and Wake Forest -- all lost.
I’ve replaced Navy and Texas with two 7-3 teams -- Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh.
The Panthers were my choice over Virginia Tech (7-3) because I was in Lane Stadium when the Hokies lost 45-10 to Duke. Pitt’s three losses are to Penn State, Virginia and Miami, so my decision needs no further explanation.
With Pitt and Virginia Tech playing this Saturday, the decision of who is better will be decided on the field.
Here’s the ballot I submitted to the Associated Press on Sunday morning, with last week’s ranking on my ballot in parenthesis:
LSU (1)
Clemson (2)
Ohio State (3)
Georgia (9)
Oklahoma (10)
Alabama (4)
Utah (6)
Oregon (7)
Minnesota (5)
Penn State (8)
Florida (11)
Baylor (13)
Michigan (14)
Notre Dame (15)
Iowa (22)
Cincinnati (16)
Auburn (12)
Memphis (17)
Wisconsin (18)
Boise State (19)
SMU (20)
Appalachian State (23)
Oklahoma State (NR)
Indiana (24)
Pittsburgh (NR)