Southeastern 16’s Jay Greeson and Chris Lee power-rank the four teams remaining in the College Football Playoff, which are Indiana, Oregon, Miami and Ole Miss. Topics include the cases for and against each team, which are: Miami has the country’s best pass-rush, led by elite guys in Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. It has outstanding, play-making defensive backs in Keionte Scott and Bryce Fitzgerald. On offense, it has potential NFL first-round tackle Francis Mauigoa, one of the country’s best receivers in Malachi Toney and a future NFL running back in Mark Fletcher, not to mention an experienced quarterback in Carson Beck. However, the Hurricanes lost to a pair of teams that are unranked in the final regular-season AP poll in SMU and Louisville, the latter at home. Indiana is the nation's only unbeaten team and perhaps the most statistically-dominant one, too. Not only did the Hoosiers have the Heisman Trophy winner in Fernando Mendoza, but they’ve got all-American and all-conference players at every position on the field and were strong in offense, defense and special teams. And, of course, Indiana has coach Curt Cignetti, who may be the coach most suited to win in the modern college football environment. The Hoosiers did not have a statistical weakness for the season. However, they were more mortal in spells, such as a 20-15 win at Iowa in which they had 337 yards of total offense and a 27-24 win at Penn State in which they trailed late into the fourth quarter and were out-gained, 336-326. Oregon can challenge Indiana’s statistical dominance in some ways. The Ducks' yards-per-play difference of 2.5 was the same as the Hoosiers and like IU, is strong in the trenches. Oregon also has star power in quarterback Dante Moore and four all-Americans: tight end Kenyon Sadiq, offensive linemen Emanual Pregnon and Iapani Lalolu and defensive lineman Dillon Thieneman. That defense was also salty against Texas Tech, shutting out the Red Raiders in their first playoff game. However, Oregon’s case for the top spot is hurt by the fact the Ducks lost 30-20 to Indiana in the regular season. Ole Miss wasn’t supposed to be here under rookie coach Pete Golding. But the Rebels have buy-in and confidence, a star quarterback in Trinidad Chambliss who’s gotten better as the season has progressed, a wide receiving corps that spreads teams out, a stud running back in Kewan Lacy and a defense that wasn’t outstanding but was consistent. And speaking of consistency, the Rebels were held under 417 yards of offense (that was their lone loss to Georgia during the regular season). The Rebels were more consistent than dominant. They gained 6.7 yards per play and gave up 5.3.
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