We are now down to seven Power 5 teams with unblemished records following Oklahoma’s upset loss in the Little Apple. It took longer than usual to begin shaking up the top of the rankings but it’s happening as we tumble towards another edition of the College Football Playoffs. But first, a recap of this past week and a look ahead to a quiet slate of games across the nation.

This Week’s Biggest Winner: Ed Orgeron, Head Coach, LSU

Although Texas is no longer ranked and that win in Austin has lost some of its luster, the Tigers still have a pair of ranked wins in the last 3 weeks ahead of their bye week. They are deservedly the No. 1 team in the country now. They’re also 4th nationally in scoring while only allowing 20 points per game with a very tough schedule to date. I don’t know how we got here with Orgeron but he has LSU humming in a way we haven’t seen in many, many years.

This Week’s Biggest Loser: Pat Fitzgerald, Head Coach, Northwestern

Avoiding the Brian Kelly ‘you make me sad.gif’ if you don’t mind. There were good vibes coming out of Evanston last year and now they are obliterated as Fitzgerald has apparently decided his final form as a coach will be Angry Boomer. Well, the Wildcats have scored 7.6 points per game through a win-less Big Ten season among just 8 offensive touchdowns total on the season. I’d be upset, too.

18 Stripes Top 20 Poll

OUT: Texas, Memphis

IN: Michigan, Iowa

Using the current 18S rankings we will have a No. 1 vs. No. 3 and No. 2 vs. No. 5 matchup coming up very soon. Things look like smooth sailing for Clemson at the moment with only 3 games remaining against Power 5 opponents, although home to Wake Forest and away to South Carolina could be somewhat interesting challenges to finish the regular season.

Here’s a brief look at the current league championship game matchups:

AAC
#18 Cincinnati vs. #13 SMU

ACC
Virginia vs. #4 Clemson

Big 12
#9 Oklahoma vs. #11 Baylor

Big Ten
#12 Minnesota vs. #2 Ohio State

Mountain West
San Diego State vs. Boise State

Pac-12 
USC vs. #8 Oregon

SEC
#6 Florida vs. #3 Alabama

Cincinnati has a one-game lead over UCF whom they’ve already defeated but will have to cross over divisions against a tough Memphis team to finish the season. SMU plays Memphis this weekend and Navy in a month, both programs only a game back in their division.

Virginia visits North Carolina this weekend which will help separate the ACC Coastal division. Virginia Tech’s win over North Carolina two weekends ago was the only matchup from the tied 4 teams in the division thus far.

Baylor is suddenly in pole position in the Big 12, especially with wins over K-State and Iowa State already. If they were to beat Texas–and not hiccup more than once in their remaining games–a slot in the conference championship would be locked up.

Obviously, the Penn State/Ohio State game likely decides the Big Ten East division. Right now, Minnesota has opened up a two-game lead in the West division but it won’t be easy hanging on with Penn State, Iowa, and Wisconsin still remaining.

Boise State has already defeated Air Force but still has Wyoming and Utah State remaining who are just a game back for the division lead. The same is true in the West division of the Mountain West where San Diego State holds a one-game lead over Hawaii and Fresno State.

Remarkably, USC leads the Pac-12 South in a tie with Utah due to the Trojans victory over the Utes. Oregon has a 2-game lead in the North division (really a 3-game lead over Stanford and Washington I’m not sure Oregon State will remain only 2 games back) and should coast to the league title game. The Ducks face off against USC this weekend which has major ramifications for the South division.

This weekend should figure out if it’ll be Georgia or Florida winning the SEC East, either the Dawgs or Gators have taken the division each of the last four years. Auburn is probably out of the West race 2 games back from Alabama and LSU, but you never know.

Week 10 Games to Watch

Georgia (-6.5) vs. Florida [Jacksonville, FL] – Georgia has felt like it’s weirdly off the radar for the No. 7 team who has the chance to vault itself into the spot as the best 1-loss team in the country this Saturday. They still control their own destiny to make the playoffs barring something absurd happening around the rest of the country. Nothing about 2019 makes me feel like Florida will go 11-1 and cruise to the SEC Championship. Although, 6.5 points feels like a ton to me. Bulldogs 27-23.

Utah (-3.5) at Washington – Our first of two road favorites highlighted this week in the Pac-12 conference. The Utes are just lingering in the national polls but need help in their own division still, as mentioned above. It’s a weird spot but maybe not as weird as Washington really losing a lot of respect so far this year. I think UW takes this coming off a bye and we move a step closer to an eventual 8-4 USC team going to the Pac-12 title game. Huskies 23-21.

SMU (+6) at Memphis – At first glance, the disrespect of this line! But, it does make some sense as Memphis has been a much stronger program in recent years and they’ve only lost one home game since the start of 2017. The case could be made Memphis is flat out better anyway. And I’ll agree. Tigers 54-45.

Oregon (-4.5) at USC – If my picks are correct, USC is going to lose this game, dropping them to 5-4 and still be ahead of Utah for the division lead. It’s happening, folks. Ducks 33-28.