Clemson Football: Predicting the 3rd CFP Rankings

Teams #21-25

21. Oregon State – I think the Beavers are a strong candidate to re-enter the rankings. Their loss two weekends ago was to Washington, who just defeated Oregon. Oregon State bounced back well and I think they will get the nod over a few other teams which are descending.

22. Tulane – The Green Wave’s wonderful season swerved off-course against UCF. Tulane might fall farther than this, but the team that beat them was ranked, so I tend to think they won’t fall as far as teams like NC State and Illinois.

23. Texas – The Longhorns should not be ranked here. There isn’t a ranking so far where Texas wasn’t ranked over-ranked in my opinion. They played well against Kansas State, but otherwise? Similar to the way I think the committee will look at Tulane, they will convince themselves that the Longhorns were within a touchdown of the #4 team in the rankings, and therefore shouldn’t fall out with their 4th loss. No one said the committee is perfect.

24. Cincinnati – I haven’t been high on the Bearcats either, but they did win a game against an East Carolina team that is better than a lot of people realize. They host Tulane in a couple of weekends.

25. Coastal Carolina – NC State or Illinois might take this spot instead of falling out of the rankings altogether. I’ll simply say that I think the Chants deserve to be here, even though I tend to think the committee probably won’t recognize it.