College Football Playoff Projections: Unafraid Top 10 Week 8

The College Football Playoff picture is supposed to be getting easier to pin down, instead upsets through the Week 8 projections into chaos.

What a crazy week in college football. There were so many exciting games despite there being no games between ranked teams. We saw four teams (San Diego State, Washington, Washington State, Clemson) in the #Unafraid College Football Playoff Top 10 take a loss. It appears that 2017 will be the doomsday for the College Football Playoff Committee. They will have to decide between 2-loss teams for three of the four top spots.

Before we get started let me read you the #Unafraid College Football Playoff Top 10 fine print:

If you are a real College Football fan, the #Unafraid Top 10 is for you. Our Top 10 is accurate and decided exclusively by accomplishment rather than potential like most well-known polls. Future schedules and games are not accounted for. The only things that matter are the results. The #Unafraid Top 10 does what the College Football Playoff Committee has neglected to do. Teams that play and beat tough competition are rewarded. Teams that schedule poor competition are Top 10 road kill. 

Finally, the Buckeyes much awaited reentry into the #Unafraid College Football Playoff Top 10 . After getting a few games into their Big Ten schedule, their offense is firing on all cylinders. Aside from a game against Oklahoma, this team has not been tested much. However, after their BYE week the road gets tougher. They have Penn State, Michigan State, and Michigan over the last five weeks of the season.

Baker Mayfield and the Sooners narrowly escaped Texas with a 29-24 win. At the end of the day a win is a win. You have to applaud Oklahoma for not losing focus on the season after a deflating loss to Iowa State in week 6. The Sooners have another dangerous game coming up as they head to Manhattan to play Kansas State. It would be hard to fathom a situation where the Big 12 gets left out of the playoff.

A 27-24 loss on a Friday night at an up and coming Syracuse team is greater than a the Oklahoma loss to Iowa State. The #Unafraid College Football Playoff Top 10 doesn’t care when losses happen, we care about your resume. Over the last few weeks the Tigers offensive has not put up huge numbers. However, nobody really talked about it because they won convincingly. If Clemson is to recover and win the ACC, Kelly Bryant will need to put up better numbers

The good news is Miami beat Georgia Tech 25-24. The bad news is that they have to play Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in week 8. In case you were living under a rock, Syracuse beat No. 2 Clemson there last week. Malik Rosier and Travis Homer have become a lethal 1-2 punch for the Hurricanes offense. Miami has a schedule good enough to get to the coveted Top 4 of the #Unafraid College Football Playoffs Rankings.

Oklahoma State is a prime example of why we can’t just rank teams higher because they are undefeated. The Cowboys lone loss is to TCU. At the time, we did not believe TCU was as good as they are. Since their loss, Mason Rudolph and the Oklahoma State offense has looked like the offense we expected to see. Beating Baylor 59- 16 in Week 7 was a great showing for the Cowboys. Both of the #Unafraid preseason national championship teams are still alive!

I know most of you have not watched any Wisconsin games this year. If you have not heard the name Jonathan Taylor write it down and remember it. He has been stellar all season. In the 17-9 win over Purdue he piled up 219 yards and a touchdown. The Badgers are by far the most under the radar team in all of college football.

The Bulldogs stated slowly but finished very strong with a 53-28 victory at Missouri. For Georgia to stay in the Top 4 of the #Unafraid College Football Playoffs Rankings they will have to be more explosive in the passing game versus good teams. Sony Michel and Nick Chubb are both running the ball really well. The pressure will start to mount for Georgia as the season wears on…

Saquon Barkley got a much deserved week off. He has been the definition of a workhorse this season. Penn State’s Week 8 matchup against Michigan should tell a lot about their championship potential. Michigan’s offense is awful, but their defense is legit. We have already seen the Nittany Lions’ offense struggle against Iowa, so it will be interesting to see how their fair against arguably the nation’s top defense.

TCU easily handled Kansas 26-6. Kenny Hill had another solid performance. The Horned Frogs has the most important characteristic of a championship caliber team. They force a lot of turnovers and don’t turn the ball over very much. With the struggles Oklahoma and Oklahoma State have had with middle of the road Big XII talent it appears TCU will have a real shot to make the College Football Playoff.

Next: Latest 2018 NFL Mock Draft after Week 7

There’s a new No. 1 in the #Unafraid College Football Playoffs Rankings. Another dominant performance by the Crimson Tide beating Arkansas 41-9  . While their dominance has been on display their opponents (with the exception of Texas A&M) have looked frightened, underwhelming, and ill-equipped to be on the field. Alabama’s defense has looked more physical and athletic than they were a year ago. I will be excited to see how the Crimson Tide fare against a good offense.