This college football season has so far been full of unbelievable outcomes and huge upsets, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about what has happened to the top teams so far this year!

First up, the king of them all, the Alabama Crimson Tide. As of week 4, Alabama has been ranked #1 since the preseason in the AP Poll and its not hard to see why. They are obviously the defending national champions after beating Ohio State in January 52-24 at Miami. Currently, they are a totally new team, with many important pieces of last years winning season gone and drafted to the NFL. Some of these key players were QB Mac Jones, RB Najee Harris, WR Jaylen Waddle, WR DeVonta Smith, CB Patrick Surtain, OL Alex Leatherwood, C Landon Dickerson, and DT Christian Barmore. Alabama though doesn’t rebuild/they reload, and with Nick Saban leading the way, Alabama should be just fine. Now, they have vital players, like new sophomore QB Bryce Young, RB Brian Robinson, and WR John Metchie. This team so far has done very well, with a big win over at the time #13 Miami 44-13 in Atlanta. They have also destroyed FBS teams Mercer 48-14 and Southern Miss 63-14. Their only huge challenge this year was against at the time #11 Florida, who they went down to the wire with. Fortunately for Bama, they were able to escape with a win 31-29 after blowing a lead in the second half, but a missed extra point early in the game by Florida was the decider. Some of their positives this season have been the offense, which is strong and dominating teams behind QB Bryce Young. Some problems have been the defense [mostly against Florida,] giving up too many points and several injuries. Upcoming for the Crimson Tide are huge matchups in Tuscaloosa against currently #13 ranked Ole Miss on October 2nd and #8 Arkansas on November 20th. They will also host LSU, Tennessee, and New Mexico State later on this season. Some of their big games on the road are #15 ranked Texas A&M at College Station and #22 Auburn for the Iron Bowl. They will also face Mississippi State on the road.

Next up, another great SEC team, the Georgia Bulldogs. Currently, Georgia is ranked as the #2 team in the country! They got to this point by winning a key game and destroying other unranked teams. In the preseason poll, they were ranked #5 behind Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, and Ohio State. Coming into the 2021 season, Georgia has had very successful rosters under head coach Kirby Smart, but they have never been able to get over the hump. They earned a New Years Six Bowl Spot in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl last season against Cincinnati and ended up going down to the wire with them until they won the game 24-21, with a game winning field goal. Georgia’s big problem in 2020 however was inconsistent play from their quarterbacks, but they may have found the answer to this situation after going with junior quarterback JT Daniels, who’s play to end the 2020 season was a big factor in the choice. To start off 2021, the Bulldogs opened the season in Charlotte, North Carolina, against the #3 team in the nation Clemson, who coming off losing Trevor Lawrence to the NFL has QB DJ Uiagalelei under center. This game was a defensive game, but the big difference was the Pick 6 by Christopher Smith for Georgia that allowed the Bulldogs to keep the lead that was being challenged by the Clemson towards the end of the game and hold on for a 10-3 victory. This victory skyrocketed Georgia from the #5 team to the #2 team in the nation, right behind Alabama. Since then, the Bulldogs have been absolutely dismantling other teams, beating UAB 56-7, South Carolina 40-13, and Vanderbilt 62-0! Some of their strengths in these game have been the explosive play of QB JT Daniels, and even backup QB Stetson Bennett. They have also been led by a strong running game from RB Zamir White and RB James Cook as well as a very good receiver in TE Brock Bowers. The defense for Georgia has been maybe even a bigger standout than the offense because of their great play and ability to force pressure and turnovers to help their offense and defeat their opponents. The big negative for the Bulldogs has been the health of JT Daniels, which if he’s not healthy could really hurt Georgia. Upcoming for UGA is games at home against #8 Arkansas, which will be a huge SEC showdown between two top 10 teams. They will also host Kentucky, Missouri, and Charleston Southern in Athens. On the road, they will face challenges against Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and Florida for their huge rivalry game in Jacksonville.

Another team that needs to be talked about is, the current Big 12, but soon to be SEC, Oklahoma Sooners. In Week 4, Oklahoma is ranked #6 in the country. They have gotten to this point because of being a good team with good players, but almost losing close games to unranked teams. Before the season, the Sooners were ranked #2 in the AP Poll and have obviously been going up and down ever since. Coming in, they had a lot of promise for a national championship after a down season in 2020. By week 3 of the 2020 season, they had two losses in Big 12 play to the Kansas State Wildcats and the Iowa State Cyclones, killing any chance of a CFP appearance. The Sooners however, were able to win the Red River Showdown 53-45 in 4 OVERTIMES over Texas. From then on out, they didn’t lose another game for the rest of the season and ended up winning the Big 12 over Iowa State 27-21, who beat them earlier in the season and also getting a New Years Six Bowl Game against Florida in the Cotton Bowl and destroying them 55-20. Onto the 2021 season, they were ready to put their trust in second year QB Spencer Rattler, who after a slow start in 2020 was able to turn it around and have a decent season. This led to Rattler becoming the Heisman favorite. Some other pieces are RB Kennedy Brooks, WR Marvin Mims, WR Mario Williams, WR Jadon Haselwood, and TE Austin Stogner. They are also bringing in a stout defense led by DL Isiah Thomas and S Pat Fields. In Week 1, Oklahoma faced unranked Tulane in Norman, ready to destroy them, and the game turned out like this, well almost. Oklahoma was pounding Tulane in the 1st half, but a great second half by Tulane had Oklahoma in deep trouble. Tulane was almost able to win the game, but the Sooners defense came up big on 4th down, after QB for Tulane Michael Pratt ran for 12 yards and was stopped 1 YARD SHORT on a 4th and 13! The Sooners were then able to escape with a 40-35 victory. This turned many people off of Oklahoma’s hype train, but a 76-0 demolition of Western Carolina reinstalled some faith. They were also able to beat Nebraska 23-16, but almost lost again because the offense could not get going. They did have a bit of a distraction from this though, with a possible highlight of the college football season play by CB D.J. Graham, who jumped up into the air and intercepted Cornhuskers QB Adrian Martinez with ONE HAND! The offensive woes were promptly exposed though the next week by West Virginia, who they barely beat 16-13 in Norman in front of their home fans, with boos and chants for backup QB Caleb Williams being present all night. Fortunately for the Sooners, their defense has played very well since Week 1, holding teams under 25 points and forcing game changing turnovers. The glaring problem for Oklahoma is the offense, who don’t look anywhere near as explosive as they used to. Spencer Rattler also doesn’t look like a Heisman candidate and continues to force balls and turnovers. Upcoming for Oklahoma in Norman are games against Kansas State, Texas Tech, TCU, and Iowa State who also don’t look nearly as good as they did last season. On the road, they will face Kansas, #21 Baylor, #19 Oklahoma State, and the Texas Longhorns at a neutral site in Dallas for another entry in the Red River Showdown.

One of the most surprising teams in college football this season are the Arkansas Razorbacks. As of Week 4, Arkansas is ranked #8 in the rankings. Last season, the Razorbacks were not very good because they were only able to beat some of the lesser teams in the SEC, but couldn’t do anything against the powerhouses in Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, and Alabama. They also ended the 2020 season on a 4 game losing streak, so it makes sense that Arkansas wasn’t ranked coming into the 2021 college football season. They do however have a new QB under center though, with KJ Jefferson stepping up to take the role. So far, Arkansas has exceeded expectations, starting off with a pretty easy 38-17 victory over Rice. Then, they had a big task to overcome in Week 2, a battle against at the time the #15 Texas Longhorns in Fayetteville. Good thing for Arkansas, they were prepared and led by a great running game and fantastic performance from their defense, the Razorbacks were able to handle Texas and cruise to a 40-21 victory. This big win, led to Arkansas making its way into the AP Poll, getting put at the #20 spot in the country. To prove themselves even more, they destroyed Georgia Southern 45-10 in front of their home crowd. KJ Jefferson was a big part in the win, with a 3 TD performance. Finally, in Week 4, the Razorbacks faced #7 Texas A&M in Arlington, who had beaten them 9 straight times since 2012. Fortunately for the Razorbacks, Texas A&M wasn’t in the best position at QB, after losing Haynes King to a leg injury and having to go with backup QB Zach Calzada. Arkansas never trailed the entire game because of a great first half by their defense, who held the Aggies offense to 3 points and even with an attempt of a comeback from A&M, Arkansas stood strong and were able to pull off a 20-10 victory and beat Texas A&M for the first time since 2011. Some of their strengths have been great defensive plays, the improved play of QB KJ Jefferson after a little bit of a rough start, and some decent production from RB Trelon Smith and WR Treylon Burks. One big thing that Arkansas could work on is getting more of their receivers involved. Upcoming for the Razorbacks in Fayetteville are matchups against current #22 ranked Auburn, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Mississippi State, and Missouri. On the road, Arkansas will face many of the tougher teams in the SEC, with games against #12 Ole Miss, LSU, #1 Alabama, and a big matchup in Athens on College Gameday against #2 Georgia.

One of the two Big 10 teams worth mentioning is the Penn State Nittany Lions. In week 4, The Nittany Lions have risen up to the #4 spot in the country! This a huge surprise for many fans because during the 2020 season, Penn State reached one of it lowest points in program history, 0-5 through their first 5 games, which is their worst start ever. They got to this point after losing a heartbreaker to Indiana when Hoosiers QB Michael Penix beat them in overtime using his legs and running into the end zone for a controversial touchdown. Penn State was #8 before the loss and dropped 10 spots to the #18 spot the following week. This loss killed their season, and behind horrible QB play from usually good Sean Clifford and bad play from the defense in the red zone, Penn State dropped their next 4 games, 25-38 against #3 Ohio State, 19-35 versus Maryland, 23-30 against lowly Nebraska, and a 21-41 demolition by Iowa. After this, Penn State actually put together a string of wins versus Michigan, Rutgers, Michigan State, and Illinois to end the shortened Big 10 season 4-5 and unranked. This along with great LB Micah Parsons leaving for the NFL had the Nittany Lions ranked #19 to start the 2021 season, with low expectations. To start their season, Penn State opened up at Madison for a Week 1 showdown against #12 Wisconsin. This game should have been won by the Badgers, but great defense and the ability to force big turnovers throughout the game [including two huge interceptions in the 4th Quarter on Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz by safety Jaquan Brisker and safety Ji’Ayir Brown]. This allowed Penn State to escape with a 16-10 win over Wisconsin and greatly improve their expectations for the season. Penn State went on to destroy a decent Mid-American team in Ball State, by beating them 44-13 in University Park. The Nittany Lions, now #10 in the country, look ahead to Week 3, where they are looking at their first white-out game since 2019, against the Auburn Tigers. This matchup was the first time they played each other since 1979 and the first time in the regular season ever. This game was also given attention nationally, as University Park was the site for College Gameday that week. To win this game, QB Sean Clifford would have to perform at his best. As the game started, the Nittany Lions got off to a decent start by getting the first TD of the game to WR Jahan Dotson, who had a great night with 10 receptions for 78 yards and 1 touchdown. As the game went on, the two teams traded shot for shot until the 4th Quarter when after a touchdown by RB Noah Cain, Auburn was down, but they had a chance to tie up the game with a 4th and Goal opportunity and 2 point conversion if they scored. Auburn QB Bo Nix snapped the ball, he looked to throw, he found WR Kobe Hudson, but the pass was way above his head! After that big stop, PSU was able to hold on by stopping another Tigers drive with under 2 minutes left in game time to win the game 28-20. This win soared Penn State up from #10 to #6. The following week, they throttled Villanova 38-17 at home and got to the #4 spot that are at currently. Some of their biggest strengths have been the improved play of QB Sean Clifford, the amazing play from their biggest weapon WR Jahan Dotson, and good play from their defense has them out to a great 4-0 start. One thing the Nittany Lions could improve on is getting more explosive plays from their running game, which includes trying to get more production for RB Noah Cain. Upcoming for Penn State in University Park are matchups against Illinois, Rutgers, Indiana, and a big matchup against a tough defense #14 Michigan Wolverines. On the road, the Nittany Lions will head to Iowa City in Week 6 for a top 5 Big 10 showdown against the Hawkeyes. They will also face the rival #10 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus, a pretty good Maryland team in College Park, and the rejuvenated #17 Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing.

Another team that looks very good in the Big 10 is the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is ranked #5 team in the country as of week 4. The Hawkeyes have been able to reach this point by getting big wins and improving their resume. Iowa gained expectations from a pretty good 2020 season. In 2020, the Hawkeyes got off to a pretty heartbreaking start, losing two close games against Purdue 24-20 and Northwestern 21-20 in back to back weeks. These losses were mainly at the fault of the Hawkeyes, who continued to shoot themselves in the foot because of red zone turnovers and an abundance of penalties. After this, Iowa actually turned their season around, by winning 6 straight against, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, Nebraska, Illinois, and Wisconsin to end the season with a record of 6-2. The Hawkeyes also finished the season ranked at the #16 spot in the country. This string of victories led to Iowa opening the 2021 season as #18 in the country. Their first game though would be a tough one against Indiana, who were red hot and ready for a great season after their fantastic play in 2020 before QB Michael Penix got injured. The Hawkeyes were up for the challenge and led by a pretty good running game from RB Tyler Goodson and fantastic play from their defense, who forced three interceptions during the game and returned two for touchdowns, they were able to put Indiana in its place and win the game with a comfortable 34-6 victory in Iowa City. In Week 2, a historic rivalry game was on the line, with a battle between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones taking place in Ames. Iowa in recent years have been in complete control of the series, holding a five game win streak over the Cyclones. Also, this was the highest both teams had been ranked in the AP Poll when versing each other, with Iowa State at the #9 spot and Iowa at the #10 spot. This game was mainly a defensive battle, with many punts throughout it, but the one big reason why the Hawkeyes ended up winning the game was their ability to force Iowa State to commit turnovers. The Iowa defense in Week 2 forced three interceptions out of Cyclones QB Brock Purdy and forced a fumble out of Iowa State RB Breece Hall’s hands and returned it to the end zone for a TD. These mistakes for Iowa State led to Iowa claiming their sixth straight win in the series and winning the CY-HAWK Trophy once again, with a 27-17 victory. Finally, over the past couple of weeks Iowa has been destroying teams in Iowa City, with a 30-7 victory over Kent State and a little bit more challenging, but alright win over Colorado State 24-14. Iowa has risen to the #5 team in the country because of their two big wins to start the season. Their big strength has been the defense, which has been absolutely dominating teams and forcing them to turnover the ball multiple times. One thing the Hawkeyes need to work on is spreading the ball out more to their receivers because their top pass catchers are TE Sam Laporta with 263 yards and RB Tyler Goodson who has 146 yards. Upcoming for the Hawkeyes at home will be one of the biggest matchups of the Big 1o season, a showdown with #4 Penn State, which should be a game with pretty good scoring, but a lot of good defensive plays. They also play Purdue, Minnesota, and Illinois in Iowa City. On the road, they have it pretty easy because they will only play unranked teams in Maryland, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Nebraska.

One more team that I am very excited to talk about is the Cincinnati Bearcats. Currently, the Bearcats are ranked #7 in the AP Poll. Cincinnati however has not been underestimated by the public or a surprise team this season, even though they play in the American Athletic Conference. They gained  this support from fans after an incredible season in 2020. The Bearcats started the season by destroying Austin Peay 55-20 in front of no fans unfortunately because of virus concerns. The next week, they had a tough matchup against Army, but Cincinnati was able to escape with a win because of good plays from their passing game. Then, the next three weeks they went on to destroy South Florida 28-7, SMU 42-13, and Memphis 49-10. The Bearcats in a rhythm continued to roll with two wins against Houston 38-10 and East Carolina 55-17. The next week though would be their biggest matchup of the season yet, with a game versus the UCF Knights in Orlando. The game went down to the wire, but the Bearcats were able to pull through and win the game 36-33. The reason they won this game was because of a great game from their QB Desmond Ridder, who threw two touchdowns and ran for two touchdowns. This led to Cincinnati getting a matchup against Tulsa in the AAC Championship game, which many predicted the Bearcats to win. This game was way to close for comfort for Cincinnati, but they were eventually able to defeat the Golden Hurricanes 27-24, winning the American Athletic Conference in the process. Cincinnati was not able to get into the College Football Playoffs, but they efforts were not in vain, as they earned a huge matchup versus the Georgia Bulldogs in a New Years Six Bowl Game in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl. This game was controlled by Cincinnati, but a great second half from the Georgia defense and offense led to their kicker Jack Podlesny making a 53 yard field goal to win the game and end the Bearcats undefeated season in heartbreaking fashion. In 2021, the Bearcats had many fans excited for a team outside the Power 5 to make it to the college football playoffs. Cincinnati did still have QB Desmond Ridder, who was ready for another break out season and a fantastic head coach in Luke Fickell. The Bearcats did experience a couple of losses though, with coach Marcus Freeman leaving to go to Notre Dame and be their new defensive coordinator and some transfers from backup players. In the preseason, the Bearcats opened up as the #8 team in the country! In Week 1, they were able to prove themselves after beating Miami Ohio 49-14 with the home crowd finally back. The next week, they went up a spot to #7 and were able to beat Murray State pretty convincingly in the second half with a 42-7 victory. This game could have been way better for Cincinnati though, as they got off to a very slow start in the first half, with the game tied up at 7 by halftime. This slow start dropped the Bearcats back down to #8, where they would now look ahead to their second biggest game of the season, a matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers in Bloomington. If Cincinnati wanted a chance to make it to the playoffs, they would have to start by beating the Hoosiers. Indiana however was determined to win because their defense really stepped up in the first half, limiting Ridder and the Bearcats offense to 7 points in the 1st half, which came with under two minutes left to go until halftime. The Bearcats were down, but they weren’t gonna give up. After halftime, Cincinnati got some much needed help from their defense in the second half, who started to step up their play by forcing an interception, fumble, and turnover on downs to lead Cincinnati to a much needed 38-24 victory. Some of their strengths this season so far have been pretty good play from QB Desmond Ridder, a great running game led by  RB Jerome Ford, and the defense being able to make the right plays at the right time. One thing I believe the Bearcats need to improve on is getting more scores from their receivers, with the top receivers only having 2 touchdowns so far. Upcoming for the Bearcats in Cincinnati are games against Temple, UCF, Tulsa, and SMU. On the road, they will travel to Navy, Tulane, South Florida, East Carolina, and an amazing ranked showdown against the Fighting Irish in South Bend, where Cincinnati will look to improve their resume even more.

Finally, one of the teams that hasn’t lived up to their preseason expectations and aspirations are the Clemson Tigers. Clemson is ranked #25 as of week 4, and has not played even close to how most people thought they would. Last year for the Tigers was a year full of huge highs and some lows. To start off the season, the Tigers were ranked as the #1 team in the country and they played like it by blowing many of their opponents out of the water like Wake Forest 37-13, The Citadel 49-0, Virginia 41-23, at the time #7 Miami 42-17, Georgia Tech 73-7, and Syracuse 47-21. Tragedy then struck Clemson, as they discovered QB Trevor Lawrence tested positive for COVID and would be out for the next two games. This led to the Tigers having to role with freshman QB DJ Uiagalelei. Now against Boston College, Clemson did not play their best game, and as a result were down 28-13 at halftime. Fortunately, Clemson was able to rally behind DJ who had three touchdowns on the day and a great running game by RB Travis Etienne to beat the Eagles 28-34 and accomplish their largest comeback since 1966. The next week however was a way bigger matchup, a big showdown against Notre Dame in South Bend. This game went back and forth between these two great programs, but Clemson finally couldn’t keep up. This allowed Notre Dame to take advantage and beat the Clemson Tigers in double overtime with a 47-40 win. This loss was very hurtful to Clemson, but if they could almost beat a really good Fighting Irish team with their backup quarterback, what would they do to them with Trevor  Lawrence? As QB Trevor Lawrence returned, the Tigers then closed the season on a 2 game winning streak, where they beat Pittsburgh 52-17 and Virginia Tech 45-10. The Tigers then had another big matchup ahead of them, a rematch against Notre Dame in the ACC Championship Game. Clemson came into the game as the #3 team in the country, behind the Fighting Irish and Alabama. Anyway, this edition of the ACC Championship in Charlotte wasn’t a close game. Clemson got off to a quick start and didn’t look back, leading to the Tigers getting their revenge and routing the Fighting Irish 34-10. This win all but confirmed that Clemson would be in the playoffs, and they ended up with the #2 seed in the playoffs, with a showdown against Ohio State in New Orleans. The Sugar Bowl was a very good game, but the Ohio State Buckeyes were battle tested. The Buckeyes really started to pull away from Clemson in the 2nd quarter, when Justin Fields had 3 touchdown passes to WR Jeremy Ruckert, WR Chris Olave, and another TD to Ruckert. This stretch in the 2nd quarter is what decided the game, and maybe playing the best game of his career, Buckeyes QB Justin Fields [22-28 385 yards, 6 TD, and 1 interception,] led Ohio State to a huge 49-28 victory over the Tigers, handing Trevor Lawrence his second loss in New Orleans, which is the only place he lost in his entire Clemson career. After the season, the Tigers lost many pieces on offense, with the big one being QB Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence along with RB Travis Etienne and WR Amari Rodgers were some of the big players Clemson lost on the offensive side of the ball to the NFL. The Tigers however, were still given respect in the preseason poll, being ranked #3 right out of the gate behind only Oklahoma and Alabama. They also decided to let now sophomore QB DJ Uiagalelei take the reins for the offense after a great couple games in place of Trevor Lawrence.  To start the 2021 season, Clemson opened the season with a top five showdown against #5 Georgia. This game was played in Charlotte and this place was basically Clemson’s home away from home in recent years. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they struggled mightily on offense and didn’t end up scoring a touchdown the entire game. QB DJ Uiagalelei was pressured all night and couldn’t get anything going. The defense played pretty well, but the big play of the game came from the Georgia defense, when DB Christopher Smith intercepted Uiagalelei and returned it to the end zone for a Pick 6. This play led to Georgia coming up with a tough 10-3 victory over Clemson. The Tigers fell 3 spots in the AP Poll to #6, but proceeded to take out their aggression on South Carolina State, defeating them 49-3. Clemson the next week however would be exposed by a pretty bad Georgia Tech team. As a result of this, Clemson almost ended up losing to Georgia Tech, but the defense for the Tigers was able to come up big and make sure the Yellow Jackets couldn’t get into the end zone. Thus, the Tigers escaped with a low scoring 14-8 victory. This close victory dropped Clemson another few spots to #9. The next week though, the offensive woes caught up to them. Against NC State in Raleigh, the Tigers struggled on offense. This kept the game close and NC State almost won the game in regulation, but a missed 51 yard field goal by their kicker Christopher Dunn sent the game into overtime. In the second overtime period, the NC State Wolfpack had a quick two play drive that resulted in a 22 yard touchdown to WR Devin Carter to put themselves up 27-21. After the Wolfpack missed the 2 point conversion, Clemson had a chance to win it if they could score a touchdown and complete a two point conversion. This did not end up happening however, as the NC State defense was able to hold, and on a 4th and 5, put pressure on QB DJ Uiagalelei so that his pass intended for WR Justyn Ross was incomplete, leading to the Wolfpack finally defeating the Tigers 27-21 in 2OT. This loss was big for Clemson because they were basically eliminated from the playoffs before September even ended because no 2 loss team has ever made the CFP. The big weaknesses for Clemson have been inconsistent play from QB DJ Uiagalelei, who isn’t the main person to blame for this because he is under pressure so much. Another huge issue for the Tigers is an inexistent running game that severely misses RB Travis Etienne. One positive for Clemson would have to be the defense, which has kept games close even with the offensive woes. Upcoming for Clemson at home are games against Boston College, Florida State, UConn, and Wake Forest. On the road, the Tigers will visit Syracuse after a bye week, Pittsburgh, Louisville, and their in-state rival South Carolina.

In conclusion, this college football season has been one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory, and I am confident that there will be many more interesting outcomes and fantastic games between the top teams in the sport as this season rolls on.