‘You’re damn right’ Alabama’s Derrick Henry is nation’s top running back, QB

However, only expect the top four in the College Football Rankings to shuffle, not change.

No. 13 Memphis was crushed by Navy 45-20, and so any conversation of the Tigers somehow sneaking into the Playoff is finished. The Tigers had previously been the No. 2 team in the rankings. Here are the three biggest takeaways from Week 10. With Baylor and Oklahoma yet undefeated, will LSU remain in the Top 4? The Rebels learned that the hard way, dropping their second conference game in a heartbreaking overtime loss to Arkansas. That would pit the Irish in a rematch with Clemson, which beat Notre Dame earlier this season. Now, with two losses, Alabama had the edge. The eye test places the Crimson Tide second-to-none.

Alabama’s defense swallowed Heisman Trophy favorite Leonard Fournette for the entire evening, limiting him to only 31 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries.

“Heisman doesn’t faze me”, Fournette said. If they should take serious pause with any game outright lousy, how much pause should they take when that lousy game comes in the most important game against the most formidable opposition? Putting that (Alabama) game behind us is a necessity. He’s a heck of a player. He can obviously still go try for a Heisman trophy but he makes it a lot tougher on himself after that dud. Forget the final score against Houston, the Dores are getting better. I’m glad I have the guys that I have in the locker room and they held it to theirselves.

And then came No. 4 Alabama, who bullied its way past No. 2 LSU behind a huge effort from Derrick Henry (210 yards, three touchdowns).

Alabama, though, controls LSU’s destiny now.

Alabama is rarely a team that beats itself (with the exception of this year’s loss against Ole Miss). LSU’s stellar sophomore running back-and the Heisman frontrunner since September-didn’t step up on his biggest stage of the season against Alabama. The Tide defense has become dominant up front, and Derrick Henry has transformed into arguably the nation’s top running back. It is no secret, the SEC gets preferential treatment in the polls due to its reputation and its depth, but Alabama should not be ranked ahead of Baylor or Ohio State, should they jump the Buckeyes, simply because its lone loss is not a good loss. “Oklahoma State gets the nod over Ohio State and Baylor for having a better win”. That’s eight in a row for the Heels, who are on a collision course with Clemson in the ACC title game and for a shot at redemption in the stadium where their season started.

This was a nightmare for TCU. Instead, Boykin threw four. He only had five in 297 attempts coming into this game. Florida’s defense allowed just 30 passing yards and a season-low 2.8 yards per play in that ugly win against Vandy.

“Oklahoma State had a good win”, Long said. The Cowboys certainly gained more respect after this game. Eddie Jackson leads the team with 5 interceptions, but Minkah Fitzpatrick has helped out, too, with 2 interceptions of his own.

The pizza party is still a go. The Crimson Tide dominated LSU behind Henry’s 200-yard, three-touchdown performance.

It was tight all game long, but Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson was the difference-maker yet again, keeping Florida State’s defense off-balance with his running (107 yards) and passing (297 yards, one touchdown). In fact, the problem is that LSU’s next two opponents-Arkansas and Ole Miss-feature the SEC’s two most prolific passers, Brandon Allen and Chad Kelly.

What this means is Clemson is not messing around this year. Florida State was the last real test as the rest of the regular season schedule includes games against Syracuse, Wake Forest and SC. You knew it was going to be that kind of day when North Carolina scored a touchdown on an 89-yard flea flicker on its first play from scrimmage.

“We did not block them”, Miles said flatly. “The best is yet to come”.