Rob's Rankings: Most intriguing regular-season games remaining

CLASS OF 2019 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position | Team

CLASS OF 2020 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | State | Position

With the regular season more than halfway over, the College Football Playoff hunt is starting to take shape. Everyone has their predictions, which are so common that they’ve become boring. We here at Rob’s Rankings offer no guesses as to who the final four teams will be. Instead, we’ve ranked the seven most intriguing games left on the regular-season schedule. Conference title games were not considered for inclusion.

MORE: Farrell's Three-Point Stance | Predictions for close of 2019 cycle in SEC

The forced pomp and circumstance that sometimes surrounds this game can get annoying on occasion, but this year isn’t one of those times. Aside from whatever petty pre-game squabble takes place – and there almost certainly will be one of those – the storylines here are plentiful.

Odds are, both sides will enter the game with just one loss and in-tact playoff hopes. For the first time in the rivalry’s modern history, the game’s two most polarizing coaches won’t be the main draw. Instead, the on-field implications will reduce Jim Harbaugh vs. Urban Meyer to a side plot, which is net positive for everyone involved.

One of these teams is probably getting into the playoff, and whichever one it ends up being will likely play a heel role. As long as neither team loses between now and Nov. 24, you won’t find a more interesting or important game on the schedule.

Alabama has been invincible this season, but a night game at 7-1 LSU should provide the Crimson Tide with some semblance of a test … I think … maybe. If the meeting isn’t at least a little interesting, what are we even doing here? LSU and its incredible defense needs a victory to keep their national title hopes alive. A loss won’t remove Nick Saban’s juggernaut from contention, but it would shave its margin of error down to zero for the remainder of the year. Night games in Baton Rouge are a bear, as things tend to get weird under the Tiger Stadium Lights.

Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa hasn’t played a fourth-quarter snap this season. If he’s not needed on Saturday, we should consider fast-forwarding to the national title game because there’s no point in wasting everyone’s time by making Tagovailoa and company play out the regular season.

Like it or not, Texas playing nationally relevant games late in the season is great for the Big 12 and good for college football fans that enjoy rooting for or against the Longhorns. Somebody’s playoff hopes will be officially erased here and the winner is a near-lock to play for the conference title. That’s more than enough to land the contest on this list. Come for the meaningful high-level football that could shape the playoff. Stay for the “is Texas back?” meme, which, by then, will be even older and more tired than it is now.

Far be it for anyone to besmirch a cocktail party, and this one is particularly inviting. Florida is the SEC’s version of Texas, and its sudden resurrection under Dan Mullen packs intrigue.

The Gators aren’t especially likely to make the playoff, but that sort of buzz will begin should they upset Georgia in Jacksonville. The Bulldogs are the more likely playoff entry, but will only get in should the SEC manage to send two teams, a scenario that could take place if UGA finishes 12-1 with a win over Alabama in the conference championship. Simple enough.

USC is objectively bad. Only the most optimistic Trojan fan will argue with that, but the reason Clay Helton’s team finds its way onto this list is twofold.

First, a late-season road game at Memorial Coliseum is still the largest obstacle standing between Notre Dame and the College Football Playoff. That will obviously be the game’s most pressing storyline, but Helton’s attempt to change fan perception and increase his job security is also notable.

Say what you want about the Irish and Trojans’ recent past, but, historically, the teams are two of the sport’s most important programs. It’s part of why all eyes will be on Los Angeles come game time. There’s always national interest in a playoff-bound Notre Dame team, and everyone loves the possibility of a USC coaching search.

If both teams come into the contest with one loss, this will be a College Football Playoff elimination game. Depending on how things break between now and kickoff, there’s even a possibility that the entire conference’s playoff chances could hinge on the outcome. Either way, there will be plenty of intrigue.

West Virginia could easily settle into the role of the season’s plucky underdog, so the Mountaineers being in the thick of the title chase would mold an interesting storyline. As much fun as watching people hatch conspiracy theories about a playoff featuring Alabama, Texas, Michigan and Notre Dame would be, every tale needs a protagonist. Dana Holgorsen could fill that role … somehow. Watching perennial Big 12 bully Oklahoma attempt to get over the hump and back into the national title game is also appealing.

Just as everyone expected, the Pac-12’s playoff hopes rest in the hands of Washington State. Are the Cougars a longshot? They sure are. But assuming they find their way past Stanford this weekend, the Apple Cup could end up being all that stands between Mike Leach and an 11-1 regular season. If Washington State takes such a mark into the Pac-12 title game, the playoff buzz around it will become very real and extremely intriguing. The Cougars somehow make West Virginia look like an evil powerhouse with every advantage, so it wouldn’t be hard to root for the season’s biggest surprise and most lovable underdog.