The College Football Playoff selection committee released its initial set of rankings on Tuesday and while it has certainly created somewhat of a firestorm in terms of debating where teams should be, the reality is that they will be updating their rankings on a weekly basis all the way through until the regular season. There is still plenty of time for change and that change will come this week. We’ve got three matchups featuring Top 25 teams, which means we’ll see plenty of change.
Make sure you’re tuned in this weekend for what should be the best Saturday of the season:
Duke Blue Devils @ No. 21 North Carolina Tar Heels
Saturday, 12:00 PM ET
Since when is a Duke-North Carolina football game important? Duke is coming off an absolute robbery in their last-second loss to Miami. The ACC officially suspended the referees from the game as a result of the botched call that changed the outcome bit they opted not to officially reverse the result as some had called for. In reality, this should be yet another Top 25 matchup. Regardless, the Blue Devils will have to travel to North Carolina facing an uphill climb to swing the momentum back in their favor. The Tar Heels have raised their game this season with a tough defense and quarterback Marquise Williams playing at a high level, they should have all of the momentum in the world heading in to this showdown at Chapel Hill.
No. 8 TCU Horned Frogs @ No. 14 Oklahoma State Cowboys
Saturday, 3:30 PM ET
There have been plenty of complaints about the fact that there isn’t a single Big 12 team in the initial playoff rankings despite that Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State are all undefeated. However, all three teams can continue to make their case this weekend including in a showdown between the Horned Frogs and Cowboys. Oklahoma State will get the national respect they deserve if they find a way to take down TCU but the Horned Frogs are playing with a massive chip on their shoulder. Senior quarterback Trevone Boykin has hit his stride heading in to this clash. Only one team can emerge undefeated. We have certainly seen some incredible games in the Big 12 this year but this has the potential to top them all.
No. 16 Florida State Seminoles @ No. 1 Clemson Tigers
Saturday, 3:30 PM ET
As if TCU versus Oklahoma State at 3:30 PM ET wasn’t enough, the college football schedule makers have also set an epic ACC showdown between Florida State and Clemson for the same time with all eyes trained on the Tigers to see if they can live up to their billing as the top-ranked program. Clemson has proven over the past couple of weeks that it can win in different ways but Florida State will be its toughest test to this point. They will have to prove they can take the Seminoles down in order to stay at No. 1.
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No. 2 LSU Tigers @ No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide
Saturday, 8:00 PM ET
The fireworks will wrap up with the SEC showdown the world has been waiting for. LSU and Alabama are set to clash in a meeting of teams that the CFP selection committee feels are both be worthy of a spot in the playoff. The Tigers are loaded on both sides of the football led by star running back Leonard Fournette but do they have enough weapons to go in to Tuscaloosa and hand Alabama its second loss of the season? The Tide get their shot at redemption in this one. We’ll see if they’ve grown since their earlier home loss to Ole Miss. There is a good chance that only one of these teams will survive this week still ranked in the top four and the smart money has to be on LSU based on what we have seen up until this point in the season – even though they are on the road.
