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College Football Playoff 2017: Projected Top 4 for Week 9

By Jesse Smith

COLLEGE STATION, TX - OCTOBER 07: Jalen Hurts #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide hands off to Da'Shawn Hand #9 in the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on October 7, 2017 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
COLLEGE STATION, TX - OCTOBER 07: Jalen Hurts #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide hands off to Da'Shawn Hand #9 in the first quarter against the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on October 7, 2017 in College Station, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
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The 2017 College Football Playoff rankings are soon to be released and here’s what our projected top four looks like after Week 8.

It wasn’t much movement in the top 10 this week, Ohio State had a bye week, but Notre Dame beat down USC to break into the top 10, so they are a team we have to keep an eye on. Penn State made light work of one of the best defenses in the country (Michigan’s offense is another story for another time).

I penalized Clemson for having a bye week, but all that really matters to them is the health of quarterback Kelly Bryant if he is cool, they will have a shot to break back into the top 4 in the near future.

It is still a lot of football to be played, who will make the College Football Playoff this season? Well here are the four teams you would have to give the nod to as of right now.

4. TCU Horned Frogs

TCU made easy work of lowly Kansas, 43-0. Pitching a shutout they kept Kansas winless in the Big 12 and in turn didn’t overlook the task at hand. Quarterback Kenny Hill had another great game torching the Kansas secondary for 278 yards on 19-for-26 passing and five touchdowns. Hill also ran for 14 yards on two carries. To be honest, the kid got busy.

Wide receiver John Diarse was the main beneficiary of Hill’s passes as he went for four catches, 130 yards and one touchdown. That’s getting it done, Diarse averaged over 30 yards a catch, that’s over three first downs a reception (ballin’).

The Horned Frogs’ defense didn’t allow Kansas’ offense any leeway as they held the Jayhawks to just 21 yards. No, that isn’t a typo, Kansas had minus-25 yards on 31 rushes, that is a whopping minus-0.8 yards per carry. This team full of Division I players didn’t even average a positive mark per rush, that’s getting dominated.

To make things worse, the passing game only had 45 yards. TCU had four sacks and 11 tackles for loss — they only had 50 total tackles and 11 of them were for loss, hence the negative rushing yards.

Linebacker Travin Howard led the charge with five tackles and one sack.

Long story short, TCU did what they were supposed to do to Kansas and they are one of my playoff teams currently.

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