Jake Russell
@oreojakesters
There has been so much parity in college football this year due to a plethora of reasons that have all resulted in what can only be described as chaos as we look to figure out the 12 best teams that will make the playoff and their pathway towards it. All we want as fans ultimately is for us to be able to say that there’s a chance. The reality of the new age of college football is that you have to schedule as many resume-building games as possible, and often that means it’s exceedingly difficult to leave the season unscathed, and that means losses in the record books. It’s new for some of us.
So, if there are losses, who is actually good? Is there anyone that’s great? We’re going to have to travel back to the old school way of determining social status: how many pelts have you hunted for and can hang on the wall as a hungry dawg? Do you have a win that was a beatdown of a formidable opponent? Have you played a tough schedule? Those count as pelts. Let’s check-in with the top ten and count how many pelts have been skinned by the elite.
Ohio State- 2
Really the only “resume” win was the stifling of preseason number 1 Texas that doesn’t look near as impressive now with the downfall of what we thought we knew about Texas, but the defending champs were prepared and beat them down. The other pelt just comes with being the reigning champs and having a defense of NFL draft prospects that could possibly be historic by the end of the year.
Indiana- 2
While we thought Indiana had a soft schedule last year, this season they’ve already gotten a 63-10 win over top 10 Illinois at the time where Cignetti only wished he had scored more, and a win in Autzen Stadium to catapult them to the top of the conference next to Ohio State. The B1G championship appearance is theirs for the taking.
Texas A&M- 2
The back-and-forth shootout win over Notre Dame on the road proved that Texas A&M can win the big game that it normally loses this year, and the second pelt comes from just being unscathed despite the hardest strength of schedule through 2025. It won’t get any easier, but they’ve won through both offensive fire power and a defensive war in the trenches.
Alabama- 4
This is where it gets interesting: Alabama had the opening EMBARRASSMENT loss where Tommy Castellanos obliterated the Tide week 1 to the point where Kalen Daboer was on the hot seat in week 1 of just year 2 and Tuscaloosans where calling for his head on a silver platter, and have only looked like the most-impressive team since with wins over Georgia, Vanderbilt, Missouri, and Tennessee all in a row. It’s safe to say that we should probably give that week 1 game where Florida State probably spent the entire offseason getting ready for as a mulligan.
Georgia- 2
Georgia doesn’t escape this exercise without chinks in the armor with a defense that still looks vulnerable and a loss to Alabama, but wins over Ole Miss and Tennessee in shootouts have given them an offense where the Dawg fans aren’t as up in arms about the Mike Bobo offense and Gunnar Stockton may be this year’s Baker Mayfield.
Oregon- 1
Sure, that one marquee win in Happy Valley looks a lot less impressive now that the Penn State program no longer has Drew Allar, James Franklin, or a pulse, but at the time, it was still the Penn State that we thought we knew in one of the toughest road environments in college football.
Georgia Tech- 1
The Clemson win by the Jackets is looking like it’s going to amount to nothing, but their pelt on the wall is… kind of just being able to risk their lives in Haynes King fashion every single week in order to win and surviving? Is that sustainable? Probably not! But it hasn’t failed them since in an ACC ripe for the taking!
Ole Miss- 1
There are more pelts asking to be taken on Ole Miss’s schedule going forward, but it’s truly just been Lane getting his social media victory and on-field victory against LSU. They went toe-to-toe with Georgia and lost what would have been the game where we could claim this Ole Miss team is different, but there’s still more out there to be seen.
Miami- 3
We thought Miami was great! An impressive win against the Irish where Carson Beck loved football again and the trenches were dominated! A dismantling of ranked USF at the time to shove the little brother in the state into a locker! A rivalry win against a Florida State team where the wheels were still on the track!
And then Mario Cristobal and Carson Beck brought our trust in them back to reality. The detractors in their loss to Louisville were in fact proven right.
Vanderbilt- 1
The revenge loss from Alabama was a tough one, but Diego Pavia proved in the game against LSU and the rest of the competition that he’s actively tried to burn that it’s him against the world. Take away the Vanderbilt logo on the helmet and we’d still think of this program a lot differently.
