On Tuesday night, the first edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings for the 2022 season was announced, and for the very first time since the inception of the present model, the University of Tennessee was selected as the best team in the country to compete in the College Football Playoff. The Volunteers, who are currently undefeated and with a victory over No. 6 Alabama under their belts, will face off against No. 3 Georgia on Saturday in the SEC on CBS Game of the Week at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time.
However, it was expected that both the Volunteers and the Bulldogs would be placed among the top four spots in the inaugural rankings. Prior to the release of the rankings on Tuesday, the majority of the attention was focused on where Michigan, Clemson, and TCU would go in the standings among the other unbeaten teams. The Tigers and Wolverines came in at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, while the Horned Frogs came in behind the Crimson Tide at No. 7, which some people found problematic.
Overrated: Clemson
This year it’s been tough to put a finger on the Tigers’ particular brand of play. After one match, they look like they could beat anyone in the world. After that, they give off an air of being fake. Even though quarterback DJ Uiagalelei has made considerable strides forward since last season, he is not even close to becoming the superstar that scouts predicted he would be when he was fresh out of high school. In point of fact, the last time we saw the Tigers, Uiagalelei was not playing because the acclaimed rookie Cade Klubnik was starting in his place.
They had victories over the 20th-ranked Syracuse Orange, the 21st-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and the 22nd-ranked North Carolina State Wolfpack, which is nice but not really notable. The Tigers’ non-conference opponents have been Furman and Louisiana Tech so far, which doesn’t exactly help their cause when it comes to winning the national championship. Because of their long history of success in the College Football Playoff era, Clemson was given a spot in the top four teams. In all honesty, it is impossible to put any faith in this team based on the results of the previous eight games.
Underrated: Michigan
What exactly is the state of Michigan’s problem? The light workload that includes victories against non-conference opponents such as Colorado State, Hawaii, and Connecticut? Okay, but it has navigated its way across that slate with a fair amount of ease. It’s crucial that teams don’t play down to their opponents, and the Wolverines’ only one-score game was their 34-27 victory against Maryland on September 24. It’s also important that teams don’t play down to their opponents. Oh, and Clemson has a lot lower win total than this team has as well. On October 15, the Wolverines defeated No. 15 Penn State with a score of 41-17, which is an accomplishment that Clemson has not been able to match in any way.
It won’t make a difference in the end. The conclusion of the regular season for Michigan will be decided by the team’s performance against No. 15 Illinois and No. 2 Ohio State, which will give an accurate picture of how strong Jim Harbaugh’s squad actually is.
Overrated: LSU
Even though I have nothing but admiration for the Tigers and the job that coach Brian Kelly has done in his first year at the helm, they should not be the top-ranked team in the country given that they have already suffered two defeats. The committee has a habit of going on and on about how complete teams are, but LSU has not even come close to being addressed in connection with this topic. The Tigers’ special teams have been terrible, and their loss to Florida State in Week 1 was primarily because of this failure. The passing attack is still rounding into form, but before this offense can be trusted, quarterback Jayden Daniels needs to demonstrate that he can light up the stat sheet through the air a little bit more.
The Tigers’ dominating 45-20 victory over No. 11 Ole Miss stands out as their most notable victory. This is the only thing that LSU can hang its hat on, so don’t get me wrong: coming back from a 17-3 deficit to dominate the Rebels was great. However, that is the only thing that LSU has going for it.
Underrated: North Carolina
The Tar Heels were obviously written off by the college football world after their performance in Week 1 against Appalachian State, in which they conceded 40 points in the fourth quarter yet still found a way to win. That is completely unjustified. They have won seven of their eight games by a score of 35 points or more, and their first-year starting quarterback Drake Maye has evolved under the tutelage of coach Mack Brown into a legitimate candidate for the Heisman Trophy.
The one black mark on the Tar Heels’ record is a 45-32 defeat at the hands of an unranked Notre Dame squad on September 24. While this is certainly not ideal, I am not advocating for North Carolina to be ranked among the top 10 teams in the country. However, a Power Five club with only one loss and the ability to impose its playing style on its opponent nearly every week should not be ranked as low as No. 17.
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“The fact that the World Cup is currently in the predicament that it is in is, in my opinion, nothing short of an embarrassment. Because of a variety of causes. It seems to me that the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar was done in a dishonest manner, given that we were aware, at the time, when they were campaigning to have it in the summer, that it was physically impossible to hold a World Cup in the summer due to the high temperatures “During their conversation, CBS Sports analyst Jamie Carragher shared his thoughts on the upcoming winter World Cup in Qatar with Thierry Henry.
“It gets moved to the situation where it is now in the middle of the season, and players who spend their entire lives dreaming of playing in the World Cup as we see with Son, players all around Europe and the world could get injured… an injury or a ten-day injury is going to keep players out of the World Cup which should not be happening and it all started with FIFA giving them the World Cup in the first place. Thierry just mentioned Gavi. Players all around Europe and the world could get injured. Then they shift it, and obviously, the things that are going on in their country are completely different issues as well as separate concerns. On the other hand, I find it to be really repulsive.
