Things are beginning to take shape and teams are beginning to rise to the top of the 2016 college football mountaintop. We’re at that sweet spot in the season when the big non-league games are past us and we’ve seen a glimpse into a few of the more important conference games.

There’s no better place to begin than at the top of the current AP Poll where half a dozen teams have jockeyed their way to the front of the College Football Playoff discussions.

The top 3 in the country is locked up right now. I’ve tried to make a case for Alabama not to be in the top spot and I can’t really make a great one. Although, their 53 first-place votes seems a little excessive. For the Tide, their two best wins (USC & Ole Miss) look somewhat better after strong performances from the Trojans and Rebels this weekend.

With Clemson’s win over Louisville this Saturday they sort of feel like the No. 1 team now. We know their recent history (22 wins in their last 23 games) and they now have the unquestioned best win of the season. Interestingly, it was almost like the Tigers suffered a championship hangover to start the season without actually winning the title. To be fair, their gritty road win at Auburn looks a little better now.

Ohio State is quietly kicking ass once again despite a pretty weak schedule highlighted by their road win at Oklahoma. The Buckeyes are +191 in point differential and +3.6 YPP differential which are both national championship worthy indicators. I don’t know how any non-Michigan team is going to touch them in the Big Ten yet they still have (as of right now) 4 more ranked teams to play.

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Welcome back to the nation’s elite, Washington! In case you missed it the Huskies out-gained Stanford by over 200 yards and won last Friday by 38 points. They have a swarming, attacking defense, smart and accurate quarterback, plus several speedy playmakers on offense. Surprisingly, you’d think Washington could put a clamp on the Pac-12 North this weekend against Oregon but the Ducks are already 0-2 in league play!

So, let’s talk about Michigan for a second. They got past Wisconsin 14-7 but the score flattered the Badgers. Michigan severely out-gained them and limited Wisconsin to just 159 total yards. I’m not sure there’s anyone remaining on the Michigan schedule before the final week who can score more than a couple touchdowns on them. A 11-0 start seems highly likely before Ohio State shows them how average their offense is this year.

Things get pretty interesting when you look at Louisville and Houston, of course they will be playing each other in a de facto knockout game in a few weeks. The bigger question is what happens with the winner? The Big Ten, SEC, and ACC all look well positioned to place someone into the playoffs. If Washington trips up (let’s say on the road at Utah) but otherwise breezes through the Pac-12 would they make it over undefeated Houston or 1-loss Louisville? It’d be crazy to see an on-fire Tom Herman left out while Louisville would by far have the best loss and be riding a decent winning streak even while sitting at home for conference championship week.

The collection of Texas A&M, Tennessee, Miami, Nebraska, and Baylor are being eyed suspiciously while currently undefeated. Baylor looks like the Big 12’s only hope for a playoff spot and that’s not trending particularly well after a near-loss in Ames. Let’s set the over/under on the regular season losses for the 5 teams above at 9.5 where would you bet?

Wisconsin and Stanford are still in the Top 15 after getting beaten up pretty badly. Can you trust their offenses? They now sit 105th and 99th respectively in yards per play.

We live in a world where not only is Colorado ranked but they could really put themselves in the driver’s seat to win the Pac-12 South this weekend. In doing so, they’d also pretty much bury USC in the process. This is fun!

If you want to buy North Carolina stock do so quickly because they face two more big tests in the next couple weeks and then cruise over their last 5 games with a very manageable schedule. Larry Fedora is also picking up steam as a hot coach who could jump to a bigger job at the end of the season, too. The offense has always been there but they’re giving up 31 points per game which is difficult to trust.

With three teams in the Top 10 and 6 teams overall in the Top 25 is this the year of the ACC?