The college football regular season has come to a close and now we are on the eve of conference title games and bowl season. As excited as I am for the kickoff of the bowl season, I am sad that we will soon enter the void that is the off season. With the end of the regular season means we are getting close to our final College Football Playoff Top 25 and determining who will make the cut for the final four. After the dust settled following rivalry week, we have a familiar face that has emerged back into the top four.
Who’s In?
- Alabama Crimson Tide
For the first time in a while we saw the Crimson Tide face some adversity. It looked like Auburn was going to play spoiler to the Tide’s playoff hopes in the Iron Bowl this weekend, but behind the All American efforts of Amari Cooper the Tide rolled to another victory and all but secured a spot in the playoff.
- Florida State Seminoles
Stop me when you have heard this before from me. The Noles managed to hang on and stay unscathed over the weekend in their rivalry matchup against Florida. Sounds familiar right? Just with a different opponent filled in. Florida State managed to find a way to win despite Jameis Winston throwing four interceptions. Winston has not come close to emulating his 2013 campaign, yet here the Noles sit undefeated as they head into a second consecutive ACC title game.
- Oregon Ducks
The Ducks were never under duress this weekend as they avoided any of the Corvallis magic that Oregon State had saved up for them this year. Marcus Mariota is looking like the Heisman favorite at this point in the year as he now is close to tallying 50 total touchdowns on the year. Oregon has a chance to avenge their only loss on their year as they get a rematch with Arizona in the Pac-12 title game.
- TCU Horned Frogs
The Horned Frogs find themselves back inside the Top 4 after a beating down Texas in Austin on Thanksgiving. The Frogs’ resume is the most impressive to this point and I have them taking the fourth and final spot this year if they finish of the regular season with a win over Iowa State on Saturday.
Who’s Out?
- Ohio State
The Ohio State have managed to make their way into the Big 10 title game despite suffering an early season setback to Virginia Tech at home. The unfortunate news is that now they will have to go the rest of the way without JT Barrett who suffered a season ending ankle injury against Michigan and they’ve struggled over the past couple weeks.
- Baylor
The Bears avoided a big scare over the weekend as they managed to survive against Texas Tech in Jerry World this weekend. The Bears allowed freshmen Pat Mahomes to throw for almost 600 yards on them and was a two point conversion away tying the game up late. This goes along with starting quarterback Bryce Petty being knocked out of the game with a concussion a week before the season finale against a tough Kansas State team. The Bears will need some serious style points in the final week to make one less case for the committee.
- Arizona
The more I watch this team, the more I begin to appreciate the job Rich Rodriguez has done out in the desert. This team boasts a very strong offense with a freshman at quarterback and they also have one of the best defensive players in the country in Scooby Wright. Could a win over Oregon in the Pac-12 title game propel them into the Top 4 conversation? We shall see.