I think we can compete with Louisville once Jackson leaves.
Clemson and Bama are CFB's Golden State and Cleveland.
FSU is a factory school like OSU, Michigan, Oklahoma etc.
Miami and Va Tech could become Top 10 type schools but I don't know that they'll ever reach "factory level".
Everyone else, we should be able to compete with once Babers cycles his guys in.
There's a YouTube channel that basically has every noteworthy college football game condensed to 30 minutes which is perfect for my commute and someone like myself who loves college football and gambling to see a lot of teams/games. This early in season it's so hard to gauge teams because who you think everyone is changes week to week but below are some of my thoughts FWIW
Alabama - I follow them relatively close because a buddy of mine's cousin who I met a couple times is in their army of analysts. They're really good but the DL is a major step back from last year, as expected. Secondary is full of pros but is being made to cover longer without the pass rushers they had a year ago. We'll see once their LB's get back how the defense looks. Last night the numbers are deceiving because most of it was against the 2's and 3's in the 4th. Their offense is going to be really explosive come November/December when Daboll settles in. He's still learning all his weapons but they're loaded on that side. OL has been good not great. They'll probably shift their RT Womack to RG and slide the freshman Wills who's done well in camp at RT at some point. Against FSU they had guys running free in the secondary all over but their OL couldn't give Hurts any time to throw. They'll be in CFP and then it's all match ups.
FSU - I actually think pre-Francois injury they were better than Clemson. They haven't played since week 1 and everyone just remembers their 4Q meltdown but for 3 quarters they stood tall with Alabama in the ring and traded punch for punch on a truly neutral field. They had some huge flukey ST momentum swings that are fixable or else that outcome may have been different. Their defense is incredible and they have great skill guys on offense. Nobody has a better front 7 I've seen than FSU. Not sure how this new freshman will be at QB so jury's still out but they've had 3 weeks to get him ready for this weekend so we'll see.
Clemson - defense is great and will probably be dominant week in and week out. Not sold on their offense yet and how it will do against the stronger defenses it might face. Kent St was a tomato can and Louisville is ranked as high as they are because of LJ but the rest of their team is probably not in top 25 which will show against good teams like last night when they lose a lot of their match ups. UNC moved the ball pretty easy on Lville too. Meanwhile, Auburn who is a pretty good defense locked Clemson up at Clemson in prime time. Depending on how the new FSU QB is I could see their defense giving Clemson major problems as it's a better version of Auburns and their offense will probably be a level better than Auburns mess on that side right now which won't let Clemson dominate field position like it did against Auburn. FSU backs are better than Auburns too and Auburn had some success running on Clemson in first half but couldn't sustain it. Their schedule is favorable though so if they get by FSU at home and at VT they should coast and maybe get a tough one in ACCCG then go on to CFP. I admittedly don't know anything about VT though so that might be easy or a tough one on the road.
USC - Darnold is a stud and they have freaks all over at the skill spots but their OL got exposed last night. Everyone thought it was good because it beat up on Stanford but then SD St did the same thing yesterday. Texas DL dominated USC in run game and had pressure on Darnold all night. If that doesn't get better they'll struggle against Clemson or Bama in CFP or even slip up before then if the perfect storm hits. Their defense is good not great. They have a bunch of former stud recruits at db but a good team can run on them and sustain drives.
Oklahoma - They'll have a chance in every game because of Mayfield and his ability to put up points. They're in that top tier but I don't know if I would expect them to beat Bama, Clemson and it'd be a toss up with USC, FSU, etc. The OSU win isn't as good as people think because I think OSU was a great match up for them and they'll see a lot of teams give OSU problems this year. Mayfield can dice you up and OSU secondary is bad. OSU offense doesn't have the pieces to keep up in a shootout like that and it showed. A team with a good defense who can control the clock or keep up with them throwing the ball like Ok St will be interesting.
Ohio St - Can't stop the pass, OL cant pass protect and Barrett can't beat you with his arm. I think it's reasonable to ask how much of Barrett's success a few years ago was him and how much was due to his supporting cast of Zeke, Michael Thomas, OL drafted in first couple rounds, Marshall was an NFL guy and so on. They have great recruiting classes there but don't have that NFL type of talent at this point in their careers now and he's struggling. They have a great DL but they get neutralized if you spread them out and make their DB's cover which they can't do yet. I think their personnel is better suited to make Dobbins and their other backs the focal point of the offense and control clock by pounding teams and mixing in play action and not relying on the pass so much but they seem set on their current style so we'll see. I haven't seen their game against Army yet.
Michigan - Good defense but offense is mediocre. Teams that can force them to score enough points to win will probably have a good shot at knocking them down.
Penn St - Pretty good but tier below the Bama, Clemson, potentially FSU, USC, Oklahoma crew. Maybe same as Oklahoma idk. A pretty good offense will score on their defense and a top defense like the first three in that tier will be able to contain them.
