College Football: Top 10 national title contenders after Week 1

The conclusion of most of the Week 1 action showed us why some programs were overrated entering the 2017 college football season.

The first week of college football is wrapping up. There’s three major games yet to be played but we are starting to get a good idea of how things will shape up entering Week 2. The biggest game of the weekend, Alabama vs. Florida State, did not pan out as expected.

Some teams showed that they can be relevant contenders, even if unranked, with their Week 1 performance. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Mississippi State Bulldogs, South Carolina Gamecocks and Iowa Hawkeyes are just a few examples of sleeper teams that showed encouraging signs over the weekend.

Most of the top 10 should stay in tact. Even with Florida State’s loss to Alabama, they should stay ranked, easily, in the top 10. More than anything, the loss of star sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois could cost the Noles.

It’s way too early still to say who is an actual contender for the College Football Playoff. Most top 10 teams got real slow starts in the first half. USC was not able to pull away from Western Michigan until late. Washington kept Rutgers in the game for a while. Wisconsin kept close with Utah State early.

Shaking off preseason rust can take some time. Certain teams get hot at certain points in the season. Last year’s Playoff field featured four teams ranked inside the preseason AP Top 25. Staving off upsets to inferior opponents is the biggest thing some teams need to worry about.

Some teams with high expectations like the No. 23 Texas Longhorns didn’t even make it out of Week 1 without a blemish on their record. The Maryland Terrapins pulled off the upset in head coach Tom Herman’s first game in Austin.

Most teams ranked in the top 10 were put there for a reason. Now, let’s take a look at 10 teams that look like National Title contenders after the conclusion of Week 1 action.