1. Alabama Crimson Tide– Remember during the off-season, I said they’d try their absolute hardest to demolish any and everything in their path? Well so far, it’s happened and they’ve turned every team on their schedule into their personal punching bag. Talk about playing with that serious chip on their shoulder. Ole Miss was the latest victim to fall to Nick Saban and the Tide and let’s also mention that they Rebels were the last team to actually beat the Crimson Tide at home in 2015. That wasn’t going to happen this past weekend. The offense had another big day. 613 yards of total offense and Jalen Hurts had 297 yards of those. It’s time for their battle with Aggies of Texas A&M now. I would say this is a trap game of some sorts and I could see A&M playing them tough, but Saban and company will prevail.
2. Clemson Tigers– Another week, another win for the defending champions. They’ve recently won their third straight game over a top 15 team in September and right now, the ACC is their’s for the taking. I do need to see a bit more consistency from their offense, but their defense is still getting the job done. Coming into their game against Virginia Tech, the Hokies have done a phenomenal job at taking care of the football. The Tigers forced three turnovers and their defense ranks in the top 20 in five major defensive statiscial categories. I really don’t see this team losing anytime soon and they’ll cruise to the conference title game and the only time I see them getting a challenge is when the playoffs are near.
3. Penn State Nittany Lions– They got the easy victory over the Indiana Hoosiers last week and they were able to win the game without their best player having a major impact. Saquon Barkley ran the opening kickoff for a touchdown and even threw a touchdown pass, but didn’t have an impact running the ball. Trace McSorley took matters into his own hands and took the game over. He threw three touchdown passes. Today, they’ll be on the road for just the second time all season long when they face Clayton Thorson and the Northwestern Wildcats.
4. Oklahoma Sooners– The bye week couldn’t come at a better time last week. Yes, there’s still a zero in the loss column and that’s all dandy, but during this week off, they need to focus on two things. The first is getting the secondary to play better across the board and secondly, they need to get back to showing an interest in the running game. It can’t all be on Baker Mayfield. When they get those fixed, all will be well once again in Norman. They are back in action against Iowa State.
5. Washington Huskies– Now, people are starting to notice who they are once again. As long as they have Jake Browning, they’ll be in the hunt to make the playoffs once again. They were able to break open their game against Oregon State after it was a close game for so long. Jake Browning had 293 yards and three touchdowns, each of them to wideout Dante Pettis.
