College football season is finally over (took ‘em long enough, am I right?) and that means we need to check in on the Playground Rankings. What the heck are those, you ask? Well, watch your tongue around us, but they’re basically which fanbase has bragging rights over another. You know how kids on playgrounds instinctively know who holds the power? That’s how this works.
Is this subjective? No. If people disagree with these, they’re simply wrong. Some fanbases might be able to convince themselves they’re on top of others, but when they look their rival in the eye: The truth comes out. That’s how Playground Rankings work.
Importantly, Playground Rankings aren’t linear. We can’t go 1-131 through FBS schools. There’s too much circularity. For example: Texas has it over Kansas State right now, and TCU has it over Texas, but Kansas State has it over TCU. In the pack, it gets messy. Only at the top is it clear, so at the top we shall stay.
Not Ranked: Everybody Not Listed Here, But Particularly Oklahoma and Michigan
Oklahoma could still return, but they erased themselves from the map this season after finishing sixth last year. They’re down in the circular depths.
One other team of note: Michigan still hasn’t cracked the list, because TCU has major bragging rights over Michigan and other teams (Kansas State) have bragging rights over TCU.
5. Clemson
Clemson’s holding on, but it’s looking grim. Every year since that dominant 2018 team, Clemson has gotten a little bit worse, and it’s unclear if the cavalry’s coming. Add in that they play in a league that was pretty mid-major this season, and Clemson’s questionable. Still, nobody besides these four teams ahead of them can come for Clemson right now. Not Tennessee, not Notre Dame, not even South Carolina. Clemson has those titles, and those aren’t going anywhere just yet.
Teams who could wipe Clemson off the list? Notre Dame could with another head-to-head win next year, but only if it looks like Notre Dame has big potential going forward. South Carolina could with another head-to-head win next year, but again, only if it looks like the Gamecocks are going to be nationally competitive for a change. Florida State could, if it convincingly re-seizes the ACC, and that could be our best bet. “We’ll have our league back now,” Florida State could say. “Thanks for keeping it warm for us.”
4. LSU
It is a hair-splitting decision between LSU and Ohio State, but weighing LSU down is that while they have plenty of reasons to believe they’ll ascend again, Brian Kelly is really hard to like and a very unnatural fit for Baton Rouge. LSU is supposed to be fun. Brian Kelly is not a fun man. So, while LSU can tell Ohio State they won one more recently and are just as poised to win another one soon, it’s hard to hear them say all that while BK’s out at center court talking about fam-uh-ly.
If things go badly for Brian Kelly, by the way? If he doesn’t pan out over there? These guys will sink like a rock. For a moment, anyway. They and Auburn are always threats.
3. Ohio State
Yes, Ohio State lost twice in a row to Michigan and retained bragging rights. They almost beat Georgia! And that shouldn’t matter too much, but hours before the Buckeyes did that the Wolverines went to Phoenix and laid the biggest egg in CFP history against a TCU team they should have obliterated. TCU played great, credit to TCU, but Michigan blew its chance, and Ohio State’s going to walk into Ann Arbor next fall feeling, against all odds, like the favorite. Michigan had its chance to vanquish the Bucks. They didn’t take it.
2. Georgia
1. Alabama
I know, I know. Georgia’s rolling, Georgia’s unstoppable, etc. etc. etc.
You know how many titles Georgia’s won in the last eight years? Two. You know how many Alabama’s won? Three. And the gap only gets bigger as you go back in recent time. We are not living in the Georgia era. Not yet, anyway. We’re still living in Alabama’s era, and if you don’t think the Tide are going to come out next fall and blow the doors off the SEC, you and I are picking up different vibes.
One thing that could have changed this would have been Georgia going *through* Alabama to make the playoff field. They didn’t, though. Alabama successfully dodged direct engagement, so nobody has any lasting image of Kirby Smart stifling a smile as he heads out to shake Nick Saban’s hand. With no direct triumph *this* season, Georgia enters next year with something still to prove. It’s a something-to-prove-off in the SEC. What a time for us all.
