Kirk Herbstreit ranks his top teams in college football

After a month of riveting games, Kirk Herbstreit revealed his top-six teams in college football on his Twitter account. According to Herbstreit himself, it may be the toughest rankings he’s ever had to come up with.

What a weekend of CFB games!!
After the 1st month of the season this could be the toughest “top 4 + next 2” I’ve had to come up with. As we approach October next weekend.
1-@AlabamaFTBL
2-@GeorgiaFootball
3-@oregonfootball
4-@PennStateFball
Next 2@GoBearcatsFB @GatorsFB

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 26, 2021

First, Herbstreit ranks the Alabama Crimson Tide as the best team in the country. It’s an unsurprising yet necessary choice, as Nick Saban’s squad has proved to be elite once again this season.

Second, the Georgia Bulldogs follow their SEC counterparts in Herbstreit’s rankings. Already with one huge win over Clemson, the Bulldogs have a chance for another this weekend when they face Arkansas.

Third, the Oregon Ducks slot in. Herbstreit watched them defeat his alma-mater in the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Ducks have taken care of business against all their opponents.

Rounding out Herbstreit’s top-four, the Penn State Nittany Lions take the spot. Last week, Herbstreit was on the call for their Whiteout game against Auburn — the Nittany Lions’ second ranked win of the season.

Outside of the top four, the Cincinatti Bearcats and Florida Gators make Herbstreit’s list of the six best teams in college football.

Cincinnati has been a polarizing team, due to the fact that they don’t play in a Power Five conference. However, the Bearcats defeated Indiana already this season, and have a huge opportunity against Notre Dame next weekend.

As for Florida, they’re the only one-loss team on Herbstreit’s rankings. However, their one loss came to Alabama in a hard-fought victory. Evidently, Herbstreit believes a lot will be riding on their October 30th matchup with Georgia.

Who missed the cut?

As Herbstreit mentioned, separating the best from the rest this season has been a tall-task. Inevitably, teams worthy of a spot in the top-six were left off the list.

To illustrate, Oklahoma is nowhere to be found on Herbstreit’s list. The Sooners have struggled this season on offense, but can still be a dangerous team when they figure things out.

Additionally, Notre Dame dismantled Wisconsin to remain undefeated on the season yesterday. However, Herbstreit decided to put one-loss Florida above them in his rankings. With a matchup against Herbstreit’s fifth-ranked Bearcats coming up this Saturday, they’ll look to prove him wrong.

Finally, other undefeated SEC teams such as the Ole Miss Rebels and Arkansas Razorbacks missed the cut as well. However, they can both change things drastically this weekend.

The Rebels have been an offensive juggernaut, but they run into the buzzsaw that is Alabama on Saturday. As for the Razorbacks, they get a chance to upset Georgia in Athens this weekend.

If Ole Miss and Arkansas can pull duel upsets, Kirk Herbstreit’s rankings will be turned on their head. As you can see, next weekend is a gigantic one for the landscape of the college football world.