Diving more into tiers this week, within each I view the teams as very closely grouped and think you could argue for plenty of different orders.
Tier 1 - These teams have the inside track to the CFP and have reason to believe they can compete at that level.
1.) Georgia - this continues to be a BOTD ranking2.) Ohio State - at some point we have to acknowledge that their defense appears to be quite good, right?3.) Washington4.) Oregon - might look weird to move them up with a loss but I view them as virtually tied with Washington, who I have had as top 5 for a little while. Despite taking a tough L yesterday I think their body of work is more consistent than FSU and unlike Michigan or Penn State they have actually been on the field with another good team.5.) Florida State6.) Michigan7.) Oklahoma8.) Texas9.) Penn State - haven't played anyone and unlike Michigan and UGA they don't have recent pedigree to fall back on. It was a mistake having them ahead of OU and Texas before. We'll see what they are made of this week.10.) North Carolina - maybe a little controversial to include them in this tier but they comfortably beat a pretty good Miami team despite having over 150+ yards in penalties. Mack Brown has won a lot of games with the combo of an elite QB and a strong pass rush and he appears to have that.
Tier 2 - Good teams who are not quite on the level of that first tier for whatever reason; a glaring flaw, inexplicable ugly loss, that sort of thing.
11.) Notre Dame - I continue to think this is actually a very good team but I have no idea wtf that Louisville loss was and I don't trust Freeman as a HC on game day.12.) Alabama13.) Oregon State - road loss to Wazzu was tough (and looking worse after Wazzu got demolished by UA) but this is a very solid team. They just don't have quite the ceiling of a roster full of blue chip recruits.14.) Duke - basically a less athletic Alabama. Who had that comparison on their CFB bingo card to start the year?15.) Ole Miss16.) LSU17.) USC - I've been short on them since early in the year and ND showed why. They can get Oregon or Washington in a shootout on a good day but they are just not a championship team on either LOS.
Tier 3 - Teams that can bite anyone on their best day but you start to see a very large gap between these guys and the best teams.
18.) Clemson - debated putting them in Tier 2 but I am a seller on this group despite picking them for the CFP preseason. Late-Mack Texas vibes strong to quite strong.19.) Utah - I think this was a potential Tier 1 team if not for all of their injury issues, headlined by Rising. Now I think it is too late for them to get going even if he did come back and without him they are DOA against Oregon and Washington. I'd be surprised if they beat USC but that is in the realm of possibility.20.) Miami - I didn't drop them much with the kneel down thing but they were beaten comfortably by UNC. The win over aggy is losing its shine too.
Tier 4 - The thing about Top 25 polls is you have to include 25 teams. I think Kansas probably belongs in this group with Jalon Daniels but with it being so unclear when he'll be back you have to rank them on what's out there now.
21.) Louisville - just as I have no idea wtf ND's loss to this team was, I have no idea how the collapsed against a bad Pitt team. Clearly they have a decently high ceiling but that's a horrible loss.22.) Missouri23.) Kansas State - I have a feeling they are going to get their shit together on offense and roll into Austin 6-2. I don't think the defense is getting fixed this year though.24.) UCLA - I had them ranked well below Oregon State and they lose a competitive game. I don't think that's a reason to drop them out.25.) Tulane - Giving them the nod over undefeated Air Force from the G5 ranks. Nice win over Memphis and they were competitive with Ole Miss without their starting QB.