College Football Rankings: CFB Playoff Predictions Week 10

No. 9 UCF Knights (AP Poll: 10th)

No. 10 Ohio State Buckeyes (AP Poll: 11th)

UCF represents one of the most polarizing teams in college football at the moment. Despite winning 20 straight games, the Knights have had their fair share of critics, citing a less than stellar strength of schedule.

The conversation is much more nuanced than often gets discussed in sound-bite friendly clips. UCF does have a weak schedule, but it is difficult for teams like the Knights to find quality Power Five opponents to schedule. UCF's game against North Carolina was canceled because of the hurricane, marking the second straight season a game against a Power-Five opponent was canceled. When given the opportunity, UCF has a strong track record against Power Five teams with wins over Auburn, Baylor, Georgia, Pitt and Maryland just to name a few over the last decade.

UCF's schedule does pick up in November with matchups against the top teams in the AAC. History has shown us that the committee tends to dismiss teams from the Group of Five. It will be interesting to see if the Knights are given the benefit of the doubt since they have gone nearly two years without a loss. The College Football Playoff's executive director Bill Hancock said earlier this season that there is a path for a team like UCF to be one of the top four teams.

"Yes, there is a path,'' Hancock told Sports Illustrated. "UCF got full consideration from the committee last year. I believe the committee at the end of the season had ranked UCF higher than the sports writers and the coaches had. So they got every consideration and they had a wonderful season...For the path, play a good schedule, win your games, and you're going to be in the hunt for the College Football Playoff."

My sense is the committee is not going to be too motivated to rank UCF highly after the Knights spent the offseason poking the bear. It will be intriguing to see how this year's group compares UCF to one-loss Power Five teams like Ohio State. This year's committee has two former Group of Five coaches along with former UCF athletic director Todd Stansbury (now at Georgia Tech), so there are some voices in the room that could plead UCF's case.

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Ohio State Can Still Make a Run at the College Football Playoff

The Buckeyes can still build some momentum to make the College Football Playoff, but right now they do not have the most impressive resume of the top teams. Ohio State's biggest win came against Penn State, but their win over TCU is looking less impressive as the Horned Frogs continue to lose.

Ohio State's blowout loss to a Purdue team that is just .500 is hard to ignore. The good news for the Buckeyes is they still have games against Michigan State and Michigan remaining on their schedule. If Ohio State wins out, their matchup against Michigan will likely be for a trip to the Big Ten title game. Urban Meyer believes his team can rely on past experience to get back into the playoff picture.

"We've got good players, good coaches, and we'll get to work," Meyer told ESPN. "We lost a game last year and came right back. We have good guys -- we're going to work at it and get this thing right."

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