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What a week. Things are much, much clearer for one week now that a Top 4 team has lost. The Penn State takedown of Ohio State has shaken up the playoff picture but also cleared things up as well. The past three weeks we have had two to three teams in Michigan, Clemson and Washington vying for the third and fourth playoff spots but the loss of one of those certainly cleared the picture up for a week. Here is how things look from our "writer" predictions:
| "Writer" | Number 1 Seed | Number 2 Seed | Number 3 Seed | Number 4 Seed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Yorke | Alabama | Washington | Clemson | Michigan |
| WSR | Alabama | Washington | Michigan | Clemson |
| MNW | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| Creightonm | Alabama | Michigan | Clemson | Washington |
| alnamais | Alabama | Washington | Michigan | Clemson |
| DJ | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| Candy | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| GF3 | Alabama | Michigan | Clemson | Washington |
| Insertname | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| LPW | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| Thump | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| Stew | Michigan | Alabama | Clemson | Louisville |
| Speth | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| zuzu | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
| BigRedTwice | Alabama | Michigan | Washington | Clemson |
Summarized: Thanks Buckeyes! You made this so much easier. Thanks to you, literally only one other team received one vote. Here is the OffTackleEmpire (and the right) Top 4:
| Rank | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 55 |
| 2 | Michigan | 42 |
| 3 | Washington | 28 |
| 4 | Clemson | 17 |
Here are some key games coming up in Week 8:
- Alabama: Bye. Yep, #1 is intact.
- #2 Michigan Wolverines take on in state rival Michigan State. MSU just lost to Maryland and....uh, this one doesn’t look close. Don’t worry Sparty, OSU/PSU looked that way too!
- #3 Clemson takes on #12 Florida State. By far this is the game of the week and the game that can shake this picture up the most. If Clemson loses? 1 loss Louisville and Ohio State are right back in it but so are undefeated [for now] Nebraska, Baylor, and West Virginia. What a game.
- Next closest to that? #4 Washington at #17 Utah. Same implications and, wow, if both lose the playoff picture next week sure will be fun.
- #7 Nebraska at #11 Wisconsin. If Nebraska can win this game they’ll slap Wisconsin in the face and also lay claim to at least a conversation regarding the playoffs. Think Penn State fans are bad after a big win? I can only imagine a relevant Nebraska.