We are only three weeks into the 2023 college football season, but some of the heavy hitters this sport has grown accustomed to have not exactly held up their end of the bargain just yet.
With every passing week, someone of note will fall to someone lesser. Just when you thought there would be a boring slate in college football, you have ranked teams like Kansas State and Tennessee lose, as well as teams like Alabama and Georgia look less than stellar vs. inferior opponents. Survive and advance, sure, but not every program has the depth and talent to overcome a down performance.
Here are five Power Five programs who still need to show us something to prove they have what it takes to make the final four-team College Football Playoff.
5. Tennessee Volunteers needed to punt on Joe Milton III yesterday
Get off the Tennessee hype train before it crashes and burns into a fiery blaze. Vol Nation drank up that Joe Milton III Kool-Aid and it was a bad time... The sixth-year senior and two-time transfer quarterback looked like, well, Joe Milton III. On the road against SEC East rival Florida, Milton was outplayed by... Graham Mertz. The Vols fell to 2-1 on the year in their 29-16 defeat to the Gators.
While Florida could be better than we all thought after the Gators' dreadful performance in Salt Lake to Utah, you simply don't lose to a team like that if you want to make the playoff this early on in the season. The Gators could use this win and might be something special by mid-season under Billy Napier, but Tennessee now has no margin for error to make the final four-team playoff this season.
With teams like Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky left on their schedule, what leads anyone to believe Tennessee will knock off two of them, much less all three? Eventually, head coach Josh Heupel is going to need to give way to Nico Iamaleava under center and throw the last little bit of dirt on the Milton era in Knoxville. Vol Nation wishes he could have been Hendon Hooker, 2.0, but he is not it.
Tennessee could still make a New Year's Six bowl, but the Vols are probably not making the playoff.
4. The Nick Saban/Alabama Crimson Tide dynasty is officially dead, aight
Nick Saban may really want to be on an ESPN TV studio set now, as his Alabama Crimson Tide look nothing like a College Football Playoff contender. The Tide already lost at home to Texas in Week 2 and nearly fell to... South Florida... in Tampa?! Yes, the Charlie Strong sleeper agent theories are running wild this morning. Alabama did hold on to beat USF 17-3, but it should have been a cakewalk.
With Saban punting on Jalen Milroe already and Tyler Buchner simply not being it, what are the Crimson Tide to do? See what Ty Simpson can do going forward? How about see if Dylan Lonergan is the best of the bunch? We have been presented problems and offered no solutions when it comes to the Crimson Tide offense, one that Tommy Rees looks completely over his skis trying to run for them.
Overall, there is nothing we have seen out of the first quarter of the season that leads us to believe Alabama will beat the likes of LSU and Ole Miss in SEC West play, or even prevent a rare losing streak to Tennessee in the Third Saturday in October. The last time we saw a three-loss Alabama team, Cam Newton played for arch-rival Auburn. This really feels like a bad season some 13 years in the making.
Unless Alabama gets it right in 2024, we may have seen the last Saban championship in Tuscaloosa.
3. Michigan Wolverines has shown us nothing in the non-conference
This should be the year that Michigan unites and takes over college football. While the Wolverines still most definitely could, their incredibly weak non-conference schedule really did nothing for us at all. Whether it be East Carolina, UNLV or Bowling Green, Michigan scored in the 30s and surrendered less than 10. Again, we have seen three preseason games without Jim Harbaugh at the helm, and that is it!
While I still view them as the favorite to come out of the Big Ten for the third year in a row and make the College Football Playoff, what have we seen that leads us to believe that the Wolverines will not be one-and-done in the postseason again? Big Ten play will define their season, but it remains to be seen if they will have what it takes to beat the likes of Ohio State and Penn State once again this year.
Ultimately, Michigan is still in great shape, especially with Harbaugh coming back from his three-week burger party. However, it is going to be hard to give this team the benefit of the doubt if they were to slip up. Keep in mind that Ohio State and Penn State actually had the stones to call someone up in the Power Five to play them in the non-conference. Michigan may be the best, but they need to prove it.
Michigan should still be seen as the second-best team in the nation, but needs to build on last year.
2. Georgia Bulldogs are not looking like a team that will three-peat
It is still very early, but this year's Georgia team looks vastly different than the last two. Kirby Smart and company remain, but Stetson Bennett IV and Todd Monken are nowhere to be found. Surely, in time, the Carson Beck/Mike Bobo partnership should work out wonderfully, but the new starting quarterback and offensive coordinator are clearly working through some growing pains in real time.
Beck has had his moments, but whether it be against UT-Martin, Ball State or South Carolina, he has not been able to show an innate ability to separate and elevate. The Georgia defense still looks solid, but the kicking game has been utterly atrocious. In short, Beck may not be ready to take this team on his back in lead the Dawgs into a hostile environment. That South Carolina game was scary at times...
Georgia played infinitely better in the second half to improve to 3-0, but the Dawgs may not be able to play like that and prove victorious over the better SEC opponnents on this year's schedule, whether that be Kentucky, Ole Miss or Tennessee. Next up for Dawg Nation is Auburn down on The Plains. The Dawgs should beat the Tigers, but the South Carolina game left us with nothing but major questions.
Odds are that Georgia should be just fine, but the Dawgs have shown us that this team can get got.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes will likely drop a game or two this season ... again
Ohio State may have cleaned Western Kentucky's clock in Week 3, but up next for the Buckeyes is none other than Notre Dame in South Bend. ESPN's College GameDay will be there to take it all in, but we have to wonder if Ohio State will have enough firepower offensively to keep pace with the newfound aerial attack of the Irish with Sam Hartman very much at the helm of it. This could be wild!
While Ohio State rattled off commanding victoriers over Youngstown State and Western Kentucky, the head-scratcher vs. Indiana in Bloomington still looms large. Surely, Kyle McCord will continue to get better with each in-game rep he attains, but he will be going up against one of the best passers college football has seen in a decade in Hartman. Ohio State will be at a quarterback disadvantage.
Ultimately, as long as Ohio State can run the football with conviction and play good defense, then the Buckeyes should be fine, however, I am apprehensive when it comes to them knocking off both Michigan and Penn State, in addition to clipping Notre Dame in South Bend. They could drop one of those games and should be alright, but it feels more likely that they will suffer multiple defeats here.
Ohio State's best chance to win a national title came last season, and the Buckeyes totally blew it.
