Clay Travis
Videos by OutKick
What a night of college football. Even if, you know, it was absurdly absurd that all four big games: Oklahoma-Ohio State, Auburn-Clemson, Georgia-Notre Dame and Stanford-USC all kicked off at nearly the same time.
But what a night for college football.
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Remember that at Outkick we only rank teams based on what they’ve actually done on the field. That is, we don’t rate based on what we expect to see, we rate based on what we’ve actually seen. With that in mind, here we go.
1. Alabama
The Tide essentially took a week off after a physical opener against Florida State.
I still think Bama is the best team in college football, but Oklahoma sure is pressing them after that performance tonight in Columbus.
2. Oklahoma
Baker Mayfield was simply phenomenal and when you look at Oklahoma’s schedule the Sooners should be favored by a touchdown or more in every game except Bedlam at Oklahoma State. At Kansas State will clearly be a tough game too, but Oklahoma just became a big favorite to make the playoff.
What a win.
3. Clemson
Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tiger defense beat the crap out of Jarrett Stidham and the Auburn Tiger offense. Remember when everyone, including yours truly, believed Gus Malzahn was an offensive genius. Boy, that sure does seem like a really long time ago now, doesn’t it?
4. Michigan
The Wolverines weren’t great against Cincinnati, but they were never in serious jeopardy of losing the game. The Wolverines will be undefeated when they go on the road to Penn State on October 21st.
5. South Carolina
Do I really believe that South Carolina is a top five team? Nope. But the Gamecocks have two road or neutral big five conference wins. No one else in our top ten has that on their resume.
Hell of a start to year two at South Carolina for Will Muschamp.
6. USC
The Trojans got a huge win over Stanford, a team that had beaten them three straight years.
Now the question is this — can the Trojans live with success.
7. Maryland
I know, I know, but Maryland has one of the best wins so far this year, a drubbing of Texas on the road.
And until there are other teams with better wins, the Terps are staying in my top ten.
8. Georgia
I told you the wrong team was favored in South Bend. Georgia wasn’t perfect, in fact far from it, but the Dogs added a big road win and helped the SEC to end the absurd argument that the conference had collapsed on the national stage.
Georgia should be undefeated when they head up to Knoxville the last day in September.
9. Penn State
The Nittany Lions got revenge over Pittsburgh and should be 6-0 when Michigan rolls into Happy Valley.
Also, this James Franklin line after the win was pure savagery. “For their win last year (Pitt’s) it was like winning the Super Bowl. For us this year, it was like beating Akron.”
10. LSU
I still believe the Bayou Bengals might be the most underrated team in college football so far.
But against Chattanooga they didn’t get a chance to show much of their arsenal.
