Top 10 College Football Teams and Heisman Contenders

We had another great college football Saturday.  Georgia's dream season almost ended in smoke (Tennessee smoke jerseys to be precise) as they got a couple of miracles at the end of regulation and overtime and hung on to beat a horrible Vols squad.  UGA was decimated with injuries as they lost starting tailback Keith Marshall for the season with an ACL injury and also starting receiver Justin Scott-Wesley to the same injury.  WR Michael Bennett had surgery on a torn meniscus and RB Todd Gurley is still out with a sprained ankle.  The Bulldogs will definitely be on UPSET alert this week as a somewhat hot and undefeated Mizzou team comes to Athens.

Here are my top 10 teams. These are how I would rank them in terms of overall performance and the strength of schedule they have faced.

1. Oregon

2. Alabama

3. Stanford

4. Clemson

5. Baylor

6. Georgia

7. Ohio State

8. Florida State

9. Texas A&M

10. LSU

I dropped Georgia one spot and moved Baylor up to 5.  Despite all the injuries there is no good specific reason why UGA should struggle mightily vs Tennessee.  The Volunteers are god awful and Georgia's defense is still suspect.  Baylor still hasn't played anybody great but they once again put up over 70 points (3rd time in 4 games, other game they scored 69) while demolishing West Virginia.  Their offense is unstoppable and I don't really see the logic of having them rated below Miami of all teams.  Baylor would destroy a team like the Hurricanes.  

FSU makes their first appearance in the top 10 after manhandling a decent Maryland team 63-0.  Jameis Winston had another Heisman-worthy performance and will get the week off before an epic battle next Saturday vs Clemson.  Whoever wins that game could be playing for a National Title come January.

I also got Ohio State in the top 10 for the first time at #7 after a tough road win in Northwestern.  I basically swapped them with UCLA after they squeezed by a bad Utah team.  UCLA and Washington both dropped out while the undefeated Buckeyes and Seminoles make it in there.  Both teams still have a long road ahead in order to get to the top 2.  The Buckeyes schedule is a joke so they are going to need a lot of teams to not only lose but look bad while doing it.

4 SEC Teams.

2 PAC-12 Teams.

2 ACC Teams.

1 Big 12 Team.

1 Big Ten Team.

I would also rank the conferences in strength to this top 10.  The SEC is still the breadwinner but the PAC-12 and ACC are much better this season to year's past.

TOP 5 HEISMAN CONTENDERS

1. Johnny Manziel - Johnny had plenty of time to sign autographs as the Aggies were off last week.

2. Marcus Mariota - 5 TD passes with no turnovers in another blowout.  He should get a lot of hype this week as they travel to Washington along with ESPN GameDay.

3. Jameis Winston - Tore up an undefeated Maryland team.  Only a redshirt freshman Winston is already a household name.

4. Tajh Boyd - Clemson continues to roll as Boyd threw for 5 TDs in a blowout win vs Syracuse.

5. Aaron Murray - Murray has come up big in crucial moments all season.  He did it again in Knoxville.