My College Football Playoff Rankings:

Here’s my rankings after after conference championship weekend:
Conf. USA: West. KY vs. Jax State
Mount. West: UNLV vs. Boise State
AAC: Tulane vs. Army
Big 12: Iowa State vs. Arizona State
Big 10: Oregon vs. Penn State
ACC: Clemson vs. SMU
SEC: Georgia vs. Texas
Winners:
Conf. USA: West. KY
Mount. West: Boise State
AAC: Army
Big 12: Iowa State
Big 10: Oregon
ACC: SMU
SEC: Texas
CFP Top 4:
Oregon
Texas
SMU
Boise State

Saturday’s Winners/Thoughts:

• Conf. USA: West. KY vs. Jax State
  • Winner/Thoughts: Jacksonville State took home the win against Western Kentucky in what was a simple route. I never watched a game from either side so I simply did a coin flip on which one to choose from and so it landed on West. KY.
• AAC (American Athletic Conference): Tulane vs. #24 Army
  • Winner/Thoughts: The Army Golden Knights were a dominant team running the triple-option scheme all season long, finishing the weekend with an 11-1 record and one more game to go against rival Navy. In my opinion, the Army has a strong enough case to make to put them in the College Football Playoffs. The only thing that will keep them out is their strength of schedule. According to sportsbettingdime.com, Army started the season with the #121 rated strength of schedule in all of college football. They are now ranked #78 according to teamrankings.com. That’s not going to be impressive in the eyes of the CFP committee.
• Mount. West: #20 UNLV vs. #10 Boise State
  • Winner/Thoughts: this was a rematch from the game in week seven where Boise defeated UNLV 29-24 but the rematch in the conference championship was a different story when the broncos won the game 21-7. Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty carried the ball 32 times for 209 yds and one touchdown. He carried the ball one extra time but ran it for a considerable amount more than the first game. In my opinion, I wouldn’t want to play Boise State because they are a dark horse in the whole field but like Army there strength of schedule wasn’t very impressive.
• Big 12: Iowa State vs. Arizona State
  • Winner/Thoughts: Arizona State took home the win and it was carried by their star quarterback Sam Leavitt that threw for 219 yds, 3 tds, and had a QBR of 99.1. Their running back Cam Skattebo ran the ball in the first half 140 yds and finished the game with a total of 170 with 2 tds. The story isn’t necessarily about this specific team but rather about the university being the black sheep of the conference. The history of the football program isn’t very impressive in regards to their success in getting to the championship game but it’s worth noting that this team last year finished the year 3-9 so it’s a very important point to note that this is their first year in the Big 12.
• Big 10: #3 Penn State vs. #1 Oregon
  • Winner/Thoughts: This was easily the most important game heading into conference championship weekend other than the Georgia-Texas matchup. But this was predicted to be a defensive game and not a high scoring one but it ultimately ended up being an offensive shootout with #1 Oregon sealing the game with a 45-37 win. Oregon is dangerous on both sides of the ball and with another Heisman hopeful Dillon Gabriel throwing for a total of 283 yds, 4 tds, and 0 int. Oregon is poised for the lock at the top spot in the CFP rankings.
• ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference): #8 SMU vs. #17 Clemson
  • Winner/Thoughts: This was SMU’s first season in the ACC and it didn’t disappoint and what better team to go up against for the conference title than the team that’s basically been the team to beat in recent years than the Clemson Tigers. Clemson ended the first half with a 24-7 lead but ultimately had to beat SMU with a walk-off 56 yard field goal to win the title. I don’t see the Tigers going far in the playoffs as they are a wildcard in terms of whether or not they show up to play.
• SEC (Southeastern Conference): #5 Georgia vs. #2 Texas
  • Winner/Thoughts: This was my most anticipated game of the weekend with this being another rematch from earlier in the season. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers played another lackluster performance against Kirby Smarts defense but made the passes that needed to be made. Georgia in the end won the game in overtime 22-19 with a backup quarterback after starter Carson Beck was ruled out for the second half from a shoulder injury after a halftime hit. Now this is going to be a hot take but let me be clear: Georgia didn’t win that game. Texas lost it for themselves with many self-inflicted penalties and a quarterback whose performance was lackluster.

According to ESPN, this is the final 12 team playoff bracket. I totally agree with this decision. The ultimate decision for the final spot came down between Alabama and SMU. Alabama had a much stronger strength of schedule but had some ugly losses and SMU made it to their respective conference championship game but there strength of schedule wasn’t anything special. At the end of the day this is the final bracket listing and I don’t have a problem with this.