Urban Meyer breaks down his College Football Playoff contenders

When assessing the College Football Playoff contenders, Urban Meyer is like so many others: Unsure of how to weigh the eye test against the resumes. But in the end, his top teams shook out much like the committee’s rankings, with a few notable differences.

For one, Meyer currently has Ohio State and Michigan bracketed as No. 1 and No. 1A, a distinction he explained on “Urban’s Take with Tim May.” The simplest answer: Ohio State has the best resume, but Michigan has looked better than maybe any other team.

“Well Ohio State has the best resume, two Top 10 wins. The Wolverines on film, they’re as good as anybody in the country. They might be the best — on videotape. But you have to look who they’re playing. They’re just, I mean, they are beating teams badly. So I think the winner of that game is the No. 1 team in the country,” Meyer said.

The two-time defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs are right in tow with those top two, Meyer said.

But Florida State and Washington — the other two undefeated teams — bringing up the rear for the five Power 5 teams that are yet to lose, aren’t as convincing to Meyer. He thinks both Oregon and Texas, one-loss teams, could be on a similar plane to the Seminoles and Huskies.

“And I think Georgia is right there, they’re getting — they’re the man until you beat the man. Behind that, now, it’s tough. I see a Florida State team, I see a Washington team. I see, in my opinion Oregon is, on tape, I compare them to the Wolverines. They’re one of the best teams on video tape that I’ve seen, offensively and defensively. I give that coach credit,” Meyer said, speaking highly of Dan Lanning’s operation in Eugene.

Meyer was effusive in his praise for the Ducks, explaining that they embody the teams that would give him headaches as a head coach.

“When I was a coach, I would always go sit in the defensive room, Tim, and I would listen. And I wanted to know what bothered the defense. Because whatever bothered the defense, I’d walk right — the way we had our meeting rooms, I had them so you just simply walked through one door. And I would go ‘Hey this bothers the defense. Lets put it in.’ And so we wanted to create conflict. And I would also spend time with the offense and when something shows up on video tape that drove us crazy on offense, the defense, I’d walk right over to Luke Fickell and say ‘Do this.’ Because — and I watch Oregon play, they’re that team right now in the country. They’re the team that causes the most conflict, offense-defense,” Meyer said.

One team that he notably left out: No. 8 Alabama, also with one loss.