2015 Season Thoughts: End of September

With September's college football games in the books, I thought I'd reflect my thoughts on where things stand at month's end.




Top Teams

It's hard to say exactly which teams are the best at this point, and for different reasons.  The top 10 AP teams have either had closer-than-necessary victories (Ohio State, TCU, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, UCLA); haven't played another high-quality team (Baylor, Georgia), or are still uncertain on the quality of their biggest victories (Michigan State, Utah, and LSU).  Needless to say, there is still plenty of opportunity for chaos!

A few more contenders among the unbeatens for the Top 10 include: Florida State, Clemson, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Northwestern.  Ditto for 1-loss Alabama, USC and Michigan.  Unlike last year, nobody's throwing out any Power Conference from CFP contention just yet (though the ACC has little margin for error) - the question is: will we still be able to say this come Halloween?

Just for a little fun, here are my Top 10 teams after September (in no particular order):
Utah, Michigan State, Ohio State, LSU, UCLA, Northwestern, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, TCU

Group of Five

I've been impressed with some of this year's Group of Five contenders.  Particularly Memphis, Houston, Navy, Temple, and Toledo (the 5 undefeated G5 teams after September).  I doubt any of these are Playoff contenders, but I can see any one of them ending the season in the Top 15 if they go 12-1 or better.  Ditto for Boise State, should they be able to run the table.  Unlike last year, we really don't have a Marshall situation, where a team could finish the regular season unbeaten with a bottom-tier schedule.

Early speculation has been that the Peach Bowl will take the Group of Five representative this year, since the Fiesta Bowl did so a year ago.  To the ACC, my early word of warning is (in case the ACC champ does indeed miss the CFP): watch out for these Group of 5 teams if you are matched up in the Peach Bowl, or you WILL lose!

Other Thoughts

I will dig deeper into what could happen with the CFP after October.  Between now and then, however, there are a number of critical games that will surely form/change the landscape of the season.

Looking at the dwindling number of undefeated teams, we're down to only 24 "Power" Teams (P5+Notre Dame). Last season, only two made it to November the same way (FSU and Mississippi State).  How will things shake out this October?