College Football Playoff: Buying or selling top 10 teams
By Josh Yourish
No. 2 Georgia: Selling
The top two teams have the same problem. Their first-year starting quarterback just isn’t ready to handle pressure against good teams. Carson Beck has been very impressive and has put up bigger numbers than Stetson Bennett did last season. I just worry about how good he’ll perform against Alabama’s dominant pass rush in the SEC title game.
Georgia is great and it’s nearly impossible for me to sell a team in the heart of one of the most dominant stretches in the history of college football, but if I’m buying Alabama, I have to sell the Bulldogs.
No. 1 Ohio State: Selling
Jim Knowles deserves the same amount of praise I heaped onto Tommy Rees earlier. Knowles has overhauled the defensive philosophy. After watching the Ohio State defense crumble against Michigan and Georgia last year.
Ohio State gave up too many big plays and was at times too aggressive with blitzes in Knowles first season. Now, Knowles has changed his stripes, which is difficult for a tiger to do but maybe even harder for a stubborn defensive coordinator. This breakdown from Urban Meyer shows how Knowles has continued to get pressure, without selling out and allowing breakdowns in the secondary.
The reason I’m selling is because Kyle McCord is not a good quarterback and the Ohio State offense is fraudulent. It’s a house of cards built on Marvin Harrison Jr. making ridiculous contested catches constantly and it’s not sustainable. Especially if you get pressure on McCord.