College Football Plus: Is Tide ready to roll into CFP playoffs?

They aren't in the house yet, ,but they are in the neighborhood.

Here's a word of warning to the main contenders for Final Four slots in the College Football Playoffs--Michigan, Ohio State,  Georgia  Florida State, Oregon and Washington--watch out for Alabama.

Alabama came off a week's bye, filled with the coaching wisdom of Nick Saban and re-established itself as top dawg in the Southeastern Conference West with a solid, well earned 42-28 victory over LSU on Saturday night in Tuscaloosa.

And before we hear the protests that the victory was achieved because LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter, stop.

And injuries do happen but in the case of Alabama, Saban and company would have found a way to win a 51-48  as well.

Saban may be doing his best job coaching this season with less talent than he has had in a decade.

The Tide should be favored in their three remaining regular season games which would put them in the SEC title game in Atlanta presumably against Georgia.

The Bulldogs were seriously for the first time on Saturday against Missouri. Another challenge will come this week when Ole Miss comes to Athens, with an even bigger test coming in two weeks at Tennessee.

Even a regular season finale against  Georgia Tech is going to require some effort, which would bring their challenge for a third consecutive national championship against an incoming Tide.

It would be foolish to think that will be an easy task.

Who's Hot

Oregon.

The Ducks only loss was a last minute defeat at  Washington, which has kept them behind the still unbeaten Huskies in the CFP rankings. But in the much talked about  eye-test, Oregon looks like one of the four best teams in college football and quarterback Bo Nix threw four TD passes and ran for two more in a 63-19 thrashing of Cal on Saturday.

Nix is also among the leaders to win the Heisman Trophy, with a showdown rematch against Washington in the Pac-12 title game, probably deciding it.

Oklahoma State

The Cowboys' 27-24 win over Oklahoma in the final 'Bedlam'' game for the foreseeable future  eliminated Oklahoma as contenders, but put OSU in the prime spot to challenge Texas in the Big 12 title game.

Who's Not

USC

The Trojans' are done following a 52-42 loss to Washington in a game in which defense was only a concept for the Trojans. How does that happen  school after school, year after year with Lincoln Riley coached teams, who has better credentials as an OC than HC.

As our buddy Tom Luicci described Riley as "Kia Riley, since he has been downgraded from a Lincoln.'

And speaking of downgrading, it was interesting to see last year's Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams in tears with his mother consoling him after the loss to Washington?

Just wondering if those tears were generated because Williams, a probable high first round NFL pick, might have decided that Saturday was his last game for the Trojans? Just wondering.

Michigan, b

The Wolverines continue to beat up on inferior opposition as they ride out the storm caused by accusations of sign-stealing.

What happens in the next few weeks when the Wolverines must deal with Penn State and then Ohio State remains to be seen, but the feeding frenzy in Ann Arbor is reaching epic proportion

Sadly, this would all be a non-issue if the coaches drop their opposition to have football helmets electronically wired, which would end the nonsense of sign stealing.

UConn, UMass

The two New England schools, forced to play as independents scheduled pay day games against Power 5 schools such as Tennessee and Penn State this season.

The pay day--more than $1.5 million per game--was high, but at what cost to the "student-athlete''' at each school.

Tennessee beat UConn 59-3, which added to Penn State's 63-0 win over the Minutemen last month was a beating by a combined score of 113-3.

Play it Forward (Games of Note next week)

Ole Miss at Georgia--Another potential season-breaking pot hole for the Dawgs to deal with.

USC at Oregon--With or without Caleb Williams, looks like another bad defensive day for the Trojans.

Michigan at Penn State--White out in State College, blowout for Wolverines on the field?