Column: Buckle your chin straps for college football’s second half

The views of the author may not be the views of AllOnGeorgia.

I didn’t know that the college football season has a halfway point, but supposedly it does.

Apparently, this week the second half begins.

And, I suppose it makes sense. Georgia has played seven games, and this week the Bulldogs will be off in Week 9 of the season. Remember, there were a handful of games the weekend before Labor Day, so technically that was the opening week.

Next week, when Georgia and Florida meet in their little annual game down in Jacksonville, it will be Game 8 for the Bulldogs in the 10th week of the regular season. Georgia will close with five straight games which takes the Dogs through 14 weeks.

All of the conference championship games, including that for the SEC, will take place in Week 15 and the annual Army-Navy game will close out college football’s regular season in the 16^th and final week.

So here we are at the so-called midpoint and it looks like the top four teams in the respective polls would appear to be good bets to make the college football playoff, doesn’t it?

I mean, no one is going to beat top-ranked Alabama, right? The Crimson Tide are winning their games by an average of 39 points.

And isn’t Ohio State going to win out?

The Buckeyes got along just fine without Urban Meyer while he was suspended for his stupidity. They’ve already eked out a win over Penn State. You would think they can take care of current No. 24 Michigan State in a few weeks and you have to believe No. 6 Michigan can’t beat them even if they have only one loss to Notre Dame at the moment because they never do, right?

Then, of course, the Buckeyes should put a big red bow on their season with a win over whoever they get from the other division in the Big Ten championship game.

Surely, Clemson won’t get beat either, hey?

The Tigers snuck by Syracuse a few weeks back, and now they are ready to roll with their freshman quarterback, right? No way N.C. State beats them at home this week, right?

You know wins over Florida State, Louisville and Boston College are basically gimme putts. Duke gives reason to pause, but it’s a home game and South Carolina has turned out not to be the second-best team in the SEC East, so that figures to be a cakewalk for the Tigers.

Then, you have good ole Notre Dame.

Yep, the Fighting Irish are unbeaten and sitting pretty in the fourth spot. The remaining schedule includes Navy, Northwestern, Florida State, Syracuse in Yankee Stadium and USC.

Sure, the Trojans could knock them off, but if they make it that far unscathed, surely the Luck of the Irish will get them through one more game, huh?

I’m already gonna start praying to Touchdown Jesus, though, that we don’t get another Alabama-Notre Dame national title game. And, something tells me all of the Catholic priests out there have probably been doing that since the last time the Crimson Tide rolled over them in said game.

If you don’t like one or more of these teams, I’ll pray for you, too, that you can keep your cool come Selection Sunday when the playoff pairings and bowl matchups are announced and some combination of these teams are placed on the four coveted lines.

I’d be willing to bet at this point that all four teams will make it through unscathed and will be in the final four for college football.

But, just so you know, there’s a really good chance I would be wrong. Past history says as much. And, that’s probably why I won’t be betting on this proposition.

I saw on Tuesday where only three teams in the previous four years of the playoff system made it through the regular season undefeated – Florida State in 2014, Clemson in 2015 and Alabama in 2016.

Furthermore, none of those teams went on to win the national championship which is interesting, too.

And for the record, there haven’t been multiple teams from the Power 5 conferences to make it through the regular season unbeaten since 2012.

Sure, any of these teams could lose a game and still make it to the playoff. But let one or more lose as history says they will, and the chaos will ensue and the debate will take off as to who should be the four playoff teams.

To tell the truth, I really don’t see Alabama losing any of the remaining games on their schedule. Nor do I see them losing to Georgia, Florida or Kentucky in the SEC title game.

Clemson won’t lose if they get by N.C. State this weekend, and that includes the ACC title game against any underdog team from the Coastal Division.

Ohio State and Notre Dame might lose, though. The Spartans could amount to a potential stumbling block for the Buckeyes and they do have to go to the Big House to play the Wolverines to close out their schedule.

The Fighting Irish might have more than one opponent left who can beat them also, but I think the rivalry game in the season finale against the Trojans looks like the best possibility at the moment.

And, I’ll just throw this out there as food for thought. What would the selection committee do if it had to decide between a one-loss Notre Dame team that won’t play in a conference championship and a Michigan team that lost to the Irish back on Labor Day weekend, but didn’t lose another game while beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten title game in back-to-back weeks to finish things out?

Chew on that while you enjoy the second half of the 2018 college football season.

And lastly to all you Georgia Bulldog fans out there, take a chill pill while Kirby’s Kennel takes this Saturday off.

You have to be tired after all the venting since last Saturday and you need to rest up for the Cocktail Party, anyway.

The Gators are ready to chomp, and your Bulldogs better bring all their bite. That goes for you, too.