Clemson given best Playoff odds going into road test

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Sun Nov 04 10:13:55 GMT-04:00 2018

The calendar has moved to November and the College Football Playoff contenders are positioning and re-positioning.

A projected top-three of Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame all pulled away to keep their seasons perfect Saturday, while previous No. 3 LSU found out just how dominant the Crimson Tide are in a 29-0 home loss. With that game scheduled Saturday, the Bayou Bengals' chances weren't high on the CFP projections anyway going in.

ESPN's FiveThirtyEight model still has Clemson as the most likely team to make the Playoff (86) but Alabama's improved by nearly double-digits (76) and they eked ahead of ACC Tigers in chances to win it all (32-31). With a win at BC Saturday night, Clemson's chances are projected to jump into the 90th percentile (93) and would be even on odds with Alabama for the national title.

Notre Dame is given the third-best chance to win out among Playoff contenders (49) and the third-best chance to make the CFP (58) before hosting Florida State Saturday. Oklahoma (41) narrowly edges fellow one-loss teams in Georgia (40) and Michigan (40) for the final CFP spot. Teams that need some chaos include Ohio State (19), Washington State (13) and West Virginia (12).

ESPN's updated Playoff Predictor Sunday gives Clemson the best chance to both make the Playoff (92) and the championship game (63). Michigan is given the nod to make the fourth spot there (50), followed by Georgia (40) and Oklahoma (34).

As for rankings right now, Michigan would appear to be the favorite to take over the top-4 spot vacated by LSU, moving into the No. 4 place in new ESPN analyst rankings from Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway and Jesse Palmer. All three have Georgia as the No. 5 team after a top-10-ranked win at Kentucky Saturday on its collision course with Alabama in Atlanta in early December.

ESPN top-5 ranks

Kirk Herbstreit: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson 3. Notre Dame 4. Michigan 5. Georgia

Joey Galloway: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson Notre Dame 4. Michigan 5. Georgia

Jesse Palmer: 1. Alabama 2. Clemson 3. Notre Dame 4. Michigan 5. Georgia

My top 4 after WEEK 10.

1-@AlabamaFTBL
2–@ClemsonFB
3-@NDFootball
4-@UMichFootball
Next 2@FootballUGA @OU_Football
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) November 4, 2018

Zero change in the top 4 of my #DKtop8 because I use common sense.

1. Bama
2. Clemson

3. Notre Dame
4. Michigan
5. West Va
6. Oklahoma
7. Washington St
8. UCF
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 4, 2018

And I’m going to say it every week until everyone realizes it’s true:

Clemson is just as strong as Bama.
— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 4, 2018

1. Alabama- is a machine
2. Clemson- offense is basically the Golden Sate Warriors on Grass
3. Notre Dame- is good not Lucky
4. Michigan- is the Big 10 champ
— Maria Taylor (@MariaTaylor) November 4, 2018