Fansided

College Football Playoff: Ranking contenders by tier

By John Buhler

Penn State's Juwan Johnson (84) tries to comfort cornerback Amani Oruwariye (21) after a 21-17 loss to Michigan State at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. (Abby Drey/Centre Daily Times/TNS via Getty Images)
Penn State's Juwan Johnson (84) tries to comfort cornerback Amani Oruwariye (21) after a 21-17 loss to Michigan State at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018. (Abby Drey/Centre Daily Times/TNS via Getty Images) /
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College Football Playoff
BATON ROUGE, LA – OCTOBER 13: Jake Fromm #11 of the Georgia Bulldogs throws the ball as Devin White #40 of the LSU Tigers defends during the first half at Tiger Stadium on October 13, 2018 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

Not quite elite yet (4)

Georgia Bulldogs (6-1): Georgia suffered its first loss of the season on the road to LSU this week. Though they are 4-0 in SEC East play, the Dawgs still need to beat both Florida and Kentucky to make sure they get back to Atlanta. With their schedule only getting harder, the Dawgs’ Playoff dreams are in life support, but the résumé should get them in if they win out.

LSU Tigers (6-1): LSU beat Georgia at home after falling to Florida on the road last week. The Tigers will need to beat rivals Alabama and Texas A&M to even think about getting to Atlanta. However, this feels like a top-10 team in the country that should win 10 games no matter what this fall.

Michigan Wolverines (6-1): Michigan’s only loss is on the road to independent Notre Dame, who would be one of the four teams in if the season ended today. Unscathed in the early part of Big Ten play only helps the Wolverines’ chances of getting in. However, the Wolverines haven’t played any of their three big division rivals yet in Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State.

Oklahoma Sooners (5-1): Oklahoma was on a bye after its neutral-site loss to rival Texas in Dallas. The Sooners could be one of the two teams playing for the Big 12 Championship in Arlington. However, they have little to no wiggle room after losing the Red River Rivalry to probably a better team than them in Texas.

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