With four weeks in the books, the biggest storyline in college football now is that Clemson’s National Title hopes are officially dashed. After the week 1 loss to Georgia, Clemson was definitely still alive in the national title hunt. That’s a “good loss,” considering A. the game was really close, and B. Georgia is an elite team.

But now that Clemson has lost to North Carolina State, there’s no way Clemson can get into the playoff. No 2-loss team has ever made the playoff, and quite honestly, it looks like Clemson is going to lose a few more games this season. Clemson looks like a 9-3ish team, maybe even 8-4. They have clearly taken a significant step back as a program now that Trevor Lawrence is in the NFL.

Overall, Bama and Georgia look like they’re in a tier of their own. Nobody else is on their level.

1. ✅ Alabama, W, 63-14 over Southern Miss: Tide roll. Up next, however, is a home matchup against resurgent Ole Miss, then a trip to play Texas A&M on the road. Bama should be healthy favorites in both games, but there’s a chance we could see some fireworks.
2. ✅ Georgia, W, 62-0 over Vanderbilt: This game was 35-0 in the first quarter. Lol. Georgia is absolutely rollin’ right now, but then again, it was Vanderbilt. Georgia has played UAB, South Carolina and Vanderbilt since the week 1 matchup against Clemson, but now things get real for them as they host Arkansas.
3. ✅ Oregon, W, 41-19 over Arizona: This was a 5-point game going into the 4th quarter and an 8-point game with about 8 minutes to play. It was really only past the midway point of the 4th quarter that Oregon put the game out of reach. Arizona is one of the nation’s worst rushing teams, but somehow they were able to rush for over 200 yards against Oregon, which is concerning.
4. ✅ Oklahoma, W, 16-13 over West Virginia: Oklahoma is the biggest fraud in the rankings right now. They’re going to get beat by somebody soon. Who? I don’t know. All I know is that Oklahoma is cruisin’ for a bruisin’.
5. ✅ Iowa, W, 24-14 over Colorado State: Iowa may have gotten the win, but the #5 team in the country should not be having problems at home with Colorado State, who came into the game 1-2. A little concerning for Iowa. It pains me to say this because I went to Iowa, but Iowa is probably fraudulent as well. They’re not a bad team by any stretch, but I don’t know if they should be in the top-5.
6. ✅ Penn State, W, 38-17 over Villanova: Not a whole lot to say. Penn State took care of business.
7. ❌ Texas A&M, L, 20-10 to Arkansas: Tough loss. A&M was behind all game and it never really felt like they had a chance, even when they cut the Arkansas lead to 17-10. This was supposed to be A&M’s year, but they were soundly beaten by Arkansas. I mean Arkansas was clearly the better team.
8. Cincinnati: bye week, but they have a huge showdown with Notre Dame next week.
9. ❌ Clemson, L, 27-21 to North Carolina State in 2OT: Clemson’s done. Their 6-year streak of making the playoff is over. For some reason, I had a feeling Clemson was going to lose this game so I money-lined NC State. After barely scraping by Georgia Tech last week, it just felt like Clemson was ripe for an upset. The new AP Poll was just released, and Clemson is down to #25. Wow.
10. ✅ Ohio State, W, 59-7 over Akron: It felt like Ohio State finally got back on track in only allowing 7 points, but then again, it was Akron. Akron is one of the worst teams in the FBS. Ohio State’s offense rolled even without CJ Stroud, and their defense took care of business, but they had a really bizarre incident where senior LB K’Vaughn Pope literally quit on the team in the middle of the game. He got into a heated argument with one of the defensive coaches, tossed his gloves into the stands, and then just straight up walked off the field. He then tweeted “Fucc Ohio State.” It was really strange, and makes you wonder about the program. Does Ryan Day have control of his team? Day said it was a “very isolated incident,” and from what I’ve read it has a lot to do with Pope being frustrated over lack of playing time. But you just have to wonder what’s really going on inside that locker room. The Ohio State defense has been an utter disaster this season, and now this? Yikes.
11. ✅ Florida, W, 38-14 over Tennessee: Took care of business. Tennessee is still a bottom-feeding program in the SEC, so this was basically what Florida was expected to do. They just have to continue winning games to keep pace with Georgia in the SEC East, who they play on October 30. That’s the game that will decide UF’s season. 4-0 Kentucky is up next, however.
12. ✅ Notre Dame, W, 41-13 over Wisconsin: Huge win for the Irish, who have looked pretty fraudulent this season. In the first half, it looked like Wisconsin was going to win, but Notre Dame got big plays that made the difference. There was the long TD to make it 10-10, then the kickoff return TD to make it 17-13, then they had a pair of pick-sixes late in the game to make it look like the game was a blowout.
13. Ole Miss: bye week. Big matchup with Alabama next week.
14. ❌ Iowa State, L, 31-29 to Baylor: Another L for the Cyclones, who came into the season ranked inside the top-10 but have already lost twice. What a disappointing season this already is in Ames.
15. ✅ BYU, W, 35-27 over South Florida: BYU was up 35-13 before allowing South Florida to rally back into the game, so there might be some questions about their defense. However, BYU is dealing with a slew of injuries, including starting QB Jaren Hall. So that’s a big deal and shouldn’t be overlooked.
16. ✅ Arkansas, W, 20-10 over Texas A&M: Huge win for the Razorbacks. Is Arkansas back? It sure seems like it. They are rolling under Sam Pittman. They housed Texas 40-21 a couple weeks back, and now A&M. Arkansas looked really good in that game. I’m really impressed with the turnaround that has happened in Fayetteville. Next week is their biggest test of the season, as they go on the road to play Georgia. We already know Arkansas is good, but the game against Georgia will tell us just how good they truly are. Win that game and Arkansas is firmly in the National Title hunt. Arkansas-Georgia and Notre Dame vs. Cincinnati are the two biggest showdowns in week 5.
17. ✅ Coastal Carolina, W, 53-3 over UMass: It was UMass’s 15th straight loss, so really not an impressive win for Coastal, even though it was by 50 points. The main question with Coastal is if someone in their conference is going to challenge them at all this season. Maybe Appalachian State on October 20? Georgia State on November 13? Georgia State hung pretty tough with Auburn this week. However, as for right now, after Clemson’s loss, Coastal Carolina is now the highest-ranked team in the state of South Carolina. Wow.
18. ❌ Wisconsin, L, 41-13 to Notre Dame: As I wrote above, Wisconsin looked like the better team in the first half. I still think Wisconsin is a decent team in spite of the score. That game was close until the very end.
19. ✅ Michigan, W, 20-13 over Rutgers: Bad win for Michigan, or is Rutgers just a program on the rise under Greg Schiano? Schiano coached Rutgers from 2001-2011, and he’s the only coach in the past 40 years who has been able to win at Rutgers. Now that he’s back, Rutgers might not be the doormat of the Big Ten anymore. They were 3-0 coming into this game. Michigan did jump out to a 20-3 lead, but Rutgers fought back made it close. I’d say it was actually a decent win for Michigan. I have a feeling Rutgers is an improved football program.
20. ✅ Michigan State, W, 23-20 over Nebraska in OT: I know Nebraska isn’t great, but Michigan State was just coming off a huge emotional win on the road over Miami. This was kind of a trap game for Sparty, but still they found a way to get it done, even if they needed OT.
21. ❌ North Carolina, L, 45-22 to Georgia Tech: Yikes. UNC loses again, this time in blowout fashion. This should be enough to keep them out of the top-25 for good this season.
22. ✅ Fresno State, W, 38-30 over UNLV: This was a pretty wild game on Friday night. Fresno State came into it favored by 30 points, but got all they could handle from a feisty UNLV squad.
23. ✅ Auburn, W, 34-24 over Georgia State: Auburn was actually losing this game with less than a minute to go. The only reason it looks like Auburn won that game somewhat comfortably was due to a pick-six at the very end to stretch the lead to 10, but otherwise, they were getting beat for most of the game. Not good. Maybe Auburn is fraudulent, which then raises some questions about Penn State.
24. ✅ UCLA, W, 35-24 over Stanford: A nice little bounce-back win for UCLA, who just lost to Fresno State last weekend.
25. ❌ Kansas State, L, 31-20 to Oklahoma State: I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t watch this game at all and I know basically nothing about Kansas State this year. They’ve got Oklahoma next week, though, and Oklahoma is ripe for an upset.