Michigan is still too one dimensional on offense. I fear our three yards and a cloud of field turf rubber pellets offense is not going to cut it against Ohio State.
I tracked scores today, but only got to watch a little of Cincy/Navy. If that's the #2 team, then give Georgia the trophy right now and shut it down. I can tell you the Aggies played a complete game today (for 48 minutes). With 12 minutes left in the 4th it was 44-0, and 7 Aggie players each individually had more yards than South Carolina did as a TEAM. Unfortunately, Jimbo literally emptied the bench (with guys I believe are scout teamers) on defense and with the help of some very dumb penalties the Cocks got some yards and 14 points. If the Aggies play like that going forward... the opponents are going to have their hands full. I still expect Bama to run the table, and play Uga for the SEC title. As of now I'd give that to the Dawgs, but who knows in a month. I switched my pick at the last second, and took Pitt to beat Clemson... that's about all I got right!
I agree that Oklahoma struggled against Kansas and did not look sharp although their QB had a very good game especially running the ball. Cincinnati did struggle against Navy but the win over Notre Dame shows what they are capable of. Their problem is that Notre Dame is the only ranked team on their schedule. Ohio State and Michigan did what they were supposed to do, that is convincingly beat teams they were supposed to beat. Alabama fell behind in the first quarter and it took three 4th quarter touchdowns for Alabama to make this one look good on paper. Tennessee scored quickly and easily in the first half. Thankfully the Alabama offense was able to keep it close. Tennessee gave up on the run game, their quarterback had more rushing attempts than their running backs, and they were able to throw almost at will. Their wide receivers were wide open behind the Alabama defensive backs repeatedly. If Tennessee had continued to play in the second half like they played in the first half, they probably win. There are a bunch of teams that can beat Alabama. Our defense will not stop many top teams from scoring. I think our defensive backs are not capable of man-to-man coverage which has always been a signature of a Saban defense. Let me say that Bryce Young is a great quarterback. He is deadly accurate in short and medium-range passing and reads defenses extremely well. He also has the ability to keep an even keel no matter what. He reminds me of Jalen Hurts in that respect. Lately, he has shown a talent for scrambling and running when he has to. The only reason he has not made headline-breaking numbers is he does not have elite wide receivers as Alabama has had in the last 4 or 5 years. Anyway, I think Alabama still loses at least one more game this year.
Right now I'm just not seeing a dominant team in college football like we were seeing from LSU in 2019 and Alabama in 2020. Georgia is great on defense, but they aren't even close to as good on offense as LSU 2019 and Alabama 2020. Cincinnati is a really good team and I don't begrudge them their lofty ranking, but just from what I saw vs a very flawed Irish team, they aren't really a top 4 team. Alabama is really good on offense, different than years past but still a very good team. I guess their defense is not as good as some of the previous Tide teams but still a solid bunch, kp might disagree of course. Ohio State is coming around on offense now and I don't know about their defense which was suspect early on and looks better now but they haven't played the top of the Big 10 yet. Michigan as Bob pointed out currently is somewhat one dimensional on offense with a good defense but so far they haven't played a ranked team. OU could be really dynamic on offense as Caleb Williams develops but they so far haven't looked like a championship defense. The rest of the teams are good teams, but I can't see them as Nat'l Title Now all of these teams have some big games coming up and things will sort themselves out over the next 4 weeks. I think Georgia has a good shot at an undefeated regular season. I just have a feeling that OU is going to trip up somewhere between games with Iowa State, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Michigan has to get by Ohio State. I can easily see a Georgia at 12-0 and everybody else at 11-1 at the end of the regular season. I think Cincinnati will likely get tripped up somewhere as well, that 1 loss will remove them from the playoffs. Could Michigan State run the table? Sure Could Iowa get back on track and go into the Big 10 Championship game 11-1 and beat whoever comes out of the East. Sure. If they do they probably end up in the top 4. I think we are headed to a very chaotic ending and a lot of 1 loss teams who are unhappy about being left out of the playoffs. One question, what happens if Alabama goes to the SEC Championship game with that 1 loss and plays and loses in a well played close game to Georgia? 2 loss team in the playoffs? Probably not.
Cincinnati should win out. They have already played their only ranked team. A 2 loss team should not be in the playoffs.