after week 12 burner rankings

welcome back to the burner blog. i am just a normal guy who watches a ton of sports. i have a lot of takes and i’m just looking for a place to let those takes get out there. i am not going to use capital letters so if you don’t like that i do not care.

do we know if anyone besides ohio state is good?

the fact that we have to include a g5 team in the playoff is also stupid. there may never be 12 teams with a chance to win the national championship. i understand that. most people do. we get 12 teams so we can play more games. i’ll never complain about that. but even if there aren’t 12 teams with a realistic shot at the title, why would we include a team that actually has a 0% chance?

i’m going to go out on a limb here with a hot take. there will never be a group of 5 team that wins the national championship.

super hot take, i know. here are the updated rankings.

1. ohio state (last week — 1)

we know how good they are. everyone is just chasing them at this point.

i am going to say two things about ohio state.

they have a chance to be one of the best teams we’ve ever seen. saying it now to beat everyone else to it. once they win the title, people will say it. just remember burner said it now.

i think there is a possibility that jeremiah smith is the #1 pick in the 2027 nfl draft. he’s that good. i don’t really know the specifics of next year’s draft class at this point (who does?). but i think he’s that good. he is about as much of a lock as we’ve ever seen to be a great nfl player.

2. indiana (last week — 3)

they didn’t almost lose to south carolina. credit to them. i wish wisconsin didn’t stop them from hitting the over. disappointing.

mendoza is going to be a heisman finalist. that’s pretty cool! curt cignetti really is a wizard. he’s got indiana in the playoff again and he’s got a heisman finalist quarterback at indiana. INDIANA.

3. georgia (last week — 5)

yeah. i’ve seen enough. kirby smart has done it again. he’s got them knocking on the door. nobody is going to want to play them in the playoff. if they don’t get a bye, it’s going to be so hard to beat them in athens. good luck if that’s the case. texas had obviously been playing good ball as of late, and georgia just dominated them.

4. texas a&m (last week — 2)

equal parts almost losing to south carolina and equal parts georgia looking better than them which is why they drop two spots (i wish i could drop them further, but they’re 10–0).

marcel reed did the impossible in one game. he completely lost himself a heisman candidacy, then also put himself back into the picture in the second half.

but we can’t let shane beamer off the hook. you just blew a 27 point lead. 27 points. twenty-seven. give a little credit to a&m, sure. but holy fucking shit. shane beamer probably has to be fired. or he just shouldn’t show up to work this week. how can you look yourself in the mirror?

5. notre dame (last week — 7)

i know they beat a team from a worthless conference, but they are really good. ball knowers know this. the defense has come a long way. i am really curious to see what they look like against a formidable opponent though. they haven’t played anyone with a pulse in weeks and won’t play anyone until their home playoff game.

also, congrats to jeremiyah love on locking up his invitation to the heisman ceremony. i have no idea if he will win. i just know that his spin move run was just the type of play he needed to lock up the invite. congrats jeremiyah.

6. ole miss (last week — 6)

i’m not trying to knock them for playing a pretty close game with florida. i just put notre dame ahead of them because i think if they played head to head, the irish win. i still like the rebels, and they’re going to the playoff. really happy for lane. he deserves it. curious to see which job he takes!

7. texas tech (last week — 8)

at this point, if they mess it up and don’t win the big 12 i will be really disappointed. they deserve it. they’re clearly the best team in the league. they just kick the shit out of everyone they play.

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12–1 texas tech is definitely a top 4 seed right?

8. oregon (last week — 9)

kicked the shit out of minnesota on friday night! other teams also kick the shit out of minnesota so i’m not going to give them much credit for it. all eyes will be on them when usc comes to town. i expect dan lanning to out coach lincoln riley and win.

9. oklahoma (last week — 10)

they got a massive win on the road at bama. most people would assume they would’ve jumped up higher. not this week. i do want to give brent venables a lot of credit for going on the road. i do. and i am, but i felt like it had a lot to do with poor alabama play. did oklahoma cause it? in some ways, yes. i still don’t view oklahoma as a real threat in the playoff though, which is why they don’t jump up higher.

10. alabama (last week — 4)

played bad. turnovers. i still think they’re making the playoff. i still think they are good. they aren’t saban’s bama, but they are good.

imagine hosting a team as talented as them in the playoff? you’d be terrified.

11. utah (last week — 11)

i love the utes. i want the best for them. they deserve to get a shot. sadly, the format will give a dogshit group of 5 team a shot over teams like utah.

i need the utes to get a rematch with texas tech. we need some help. but that’s what we need. the big 12 deserves it. get their two best teams in.

maybe we can convince the big 12 to have a byu/utah rematch for the right to play texas tech. can we start a petition or something?

12. miami (last week — unranked)

it truly is disgusting that i had to rank an acc team. i also think they’re still good, they messed around and had two terrible losses but they deserve to be here at 12. the only problem with this is that they still might not even make the acc title game. pretty hilarious if you ask me. leave it up to a horrible conference like the acc to not even get their best representative in the playoff.

ask yourself this — are there any acc teams you think could win a playoff game? the only choice is miami.

…

here is my updated predicted bracket

1. ohio state
2. indiana
3. texas a&m
4. georgia

5. texas tech vs. 12. james madison

6. ole miss vs. 11. miami

7. oregon vs. 10. alabama

8. notre dame vs. 9. oklahoma

those matchups would be absolutely awesome (aside from the absolute beating texas tech would put on poor james madison).

thanks for reading this edition of the #burnerrankings.