Rival Views: Which CFB Playoff contender suffered the worst loss?

Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell and National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney don’t always see eye to eye. In this edition of Rival Views, the two debate about which College Football Playoff contender suffered the worst loss this weekend.

MORE RIVAL VIEWS: Could Bama contain Lamar Jackson? | Should LSU hire Orgeron?

I’m going with Clemson losing to Pitt for many reasons. First, the Tigers' loss came at home against a team that has struggled to stop passing offenses. Second, Clemson had already passed its two biggest ACC tests with wins over Louisville and Florida State. All the Tigers had to do was win out as expected and they blew it.

Clemson has escaped in many games this season, most notably a game against NC State which should have been a loss. The team's sloppy, inconsistent play on offense and a struggling back seven finally caught up to them against the Panthers.

I like this Pitt team, don’t get me wrong. I picked them to win the ACC Coastal at the beginning of the season because I liked their senior leadership. I felt the Panthers were dangerous offensively, but injuries in the defensive backfield took their toll in games against North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Miami and even Virginia. I expected Pitt to struggle against Clemson's passing offense and, as it turned out, the team had zero answer for wide receiver Mike Williams (15 catches for 202 yards). But, for some reason, the Tigers just kept Pitt around in this game over and over again.

If you play with fire, you will eventually get burned. It finally happened to Clemson. The sloppy play and turnovers make this a very disappointing loss for the Tigers and a great win for a Pitt team that now has wins over two teams ranked in the top 10.

There were definitely some major concerns surrounding Michigan’s performance at Iowa on Saturday night, even more than the actual loss.

The Wolverines looked sluggish for long portions of the game, had only 10 players on the field for the last-second field goal that won it for Iowa and generally did not look like a dominant national championship contender.

I understand that Michigan has struggled in Iowa City and I realize Michigan wasn’t going to roll through every week in the Big Ten, but the Wolverines just looked different on Saturday night. It makes me wonder if Ohio State will roll Michigan if it continues to play this way.

Iowa has not been playing great football and looked terrible two weekends ago in a blowout loss at Penn State. But at home Saturday night, the Hawkeyes looked energized, tough and battle-ready and Michigan just did not. And the Wolverines lost.

Michigan averaged just 2.8 yards per carry. Inexcusable. The Wolverines had just 103 passing yards. Definitely not good. In total, Jim Harbaugh’s club only had 201 total yards of offense.

That’s hard to believe. Michigan came into the game outscoring opponents 48-11 and averaging more than five yards per carry.

The players did not look exceptional on Saturday night, there were some coaching miscues that helped Iowa to victory. The Wolverines made unusual errors that showed they weren’t ready for drag-em-out Big Ten battle.

The good news for Michigan is if it beats Indiana and Ohio State and then wins the Big Ten title game, the Wolverines will almost absolutely be in the College Football Playoff.

For months, Michigan looked destined for a national championship battle against Alabama. On Saturday night, the Wolverines looked like they would get wiped off the field by the undefeated Crimson Tide.

If that Michigan team shows up against Ohio State, the Wolverines will lose again.