The calendar has flipped from September to October, and while there's still a ways to go in the 2017 season, the first month cleared a lot of things up.

At this point of the season, we typically have a better picture of teams. Yes, some of them can still improve as the year finishes, while others have time to fall apart, but we know who is a title threat and who isn't. Or at least I do.

So to help those of you who don't, I've decided to break down the contenders from the pretenders, putting them in tiers for all of you. If your school isn't listed here, it isn't winning a national title.

Sorry, Florida State fans.

Of course, even if your team is listed here, odds are it's not winning a national title this season, but it hasn't officially been eliminated from contention yet. Which is why I'm putting this list of teams into tiers.

The Favorites -- Alabama, Clemson: This tier is rather self-explanatory, isn't it? These are the two teams that have played in the last two title games, and nothing I've seen to this point has convinced me they won't be going at it for the third time this year.

The Usual Suspects -- Ohio State, Oklahoma, Washington: These are the teams that have been there before and still look the part so far this season. Both Oklahoma and Washington are undefeated to this point, though Oklahoma has the far more impressive resume with a win at Ohio State. Washington has looked fantastic in recent weeks, but it's best win is 3-2 Colorado. As for Ohio State, yes, it already has a loss, but that loss was to Oklahoma. That loss was not to anybody in the Big Ten, and if the Buckeyes go undefeated in the conference, we all know they're going to the playoff.

Definite Threats -- Georgia, Michigan, Penn State: Three teams that are very much alive in the playoff race and therefore in the hunt to win it all. Of these three, Penn State is the only one to have won its conference in recent history, but it's also the only one of the three without a resume win this year. Georgia has knocked off both Notre Dame and Mississippi State, while Michigan got Florida.

Worthy Challengers with Flaws -- Auburn, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon, TCU, USC, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin: What we have here are eight teams that could end up in the playoff this year, but I have some doubts about.

  • USC has a lot of talent but only looked great in one game.
  • Auburn has gotten its act together but still has to get through Alabama.
  • Oklahoma State has looked iffy two weeks in a row, narrowly escaping a second loss at Texas Tech.
  • Notre Dame has crushed bad teams but couldn't move the ball against Georgia.
  • Virginia Tech has a freshman quarterback, and it showed against Clemson.
  • Oregon had an excellent start, but it just lost its starting quarterback for 4-6 weeks.
  • Miami looks good so far, but just haven't seen enough of it yet.

Then there are TCU and Wisconsin. I toyed with the idea of putting both of these teams in the tier above, but in the end, I'm putting them here because I'm just not a believer at this point. TCU's win over Oklahoma State is impressive, but as I just wrote, the Cowboys nearly lost to Texas Tech on Saturday. Maybe beating them isn't as complicated as it seemed at the time TCU did it. Or maybe TCU broke them? Time will tell.

As for Wisconsin, it has looked very Wisconsin-ish to start the season, but it's done so against Utah State, FAU, BYU, and Northwestern. Those four teams have a combined record of 8-11. The Badgers could easily move up a tier as the season progresses, but until they beat somebody that matters, I'm taking a glass-half-empty approach with them.

Alive ... For Now -- Florida, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Utah, Washington State: These are nine teams that are mathematically alive at this point, but I expect to be crossing their names off this list of contenders soon enough. Hell, considering it was just out-gained at home by Eastern Michigan, Kentucky should be grateful I'm even giving it this much credit.

As for the rest, the two biggest threats on this list right now are Florida and Utah. Florida because it plays in the SEC East, and it seems capable of uglying (it's a word, invented by the Florida offense) its way to 10-2 record and an SEC East title. Those two losses would be acceptable to the committee if the Gators them somehow figured out a way to beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. Good luck.

As for Utah, it's one of twoundefeated teams in this tier, so it has a little more breathing room than the others. Still, even with that being the case, the Utes still have to play Stanford, USC, Oregon, Washington State and Washington. History suggests they won't be getting through that schedule with less than two losses. 

And speaking of the Cougs, while that was a huge win over USC on Friday night, I'm skeptical for all the same reasons.

Born on the Wrong Side of the Tracks -- Navy, San Diego State, UCF, South Florida: Sorry, kids, you play in the wrong conference.

Saquon Barkley Highlight of the Week

The Heisman front-runner did a lot of fun things on Saturday, but I think this had to be my favorite. While you don't see the run after the catch, you don't need to. The important part of this play is how Barkley pulls the ball in with one hand, and then immediately comes to a stop and changes direction.

That is ridiculously hard to do.

Hot Seat of the Week

It's not Butch Jones, though I already wrote about that. It isn't Ed Orgeron, either, nor is it someone like Larry Fedora or Todd Graham. It isn't a coach at all this week, but rather an athletic director. You see, while Ed Orgeron may not be popular with a lot of LSU fans after the Tigers lost to Troy on Saturday night, the fact LSU would have to pay him $12 million to go away right now provides him with ample job security.

It also puts a huge target on the back of the man that gave him that security, and that would be LSU AD Joe Alleva.

I don't want to relive everything that happened at LSU over the last year, but here's a Cliff's Notes version if you don't know. It fired Les Miles because no matter what Les had done in Baton Rouge already, lately it hadn't been good enough. LSU then went after Tom Herman (and depending who you ask, Jimbo Fisher as well -- for a second time), and thought it had Herman locked up. Then Texas fired Charlie Strong and like six hours later the Longhorns were announcing Tom Herman as their new coach.

Hey, it happens. You normally don't get the coach you want and have to move on to other options. But that was not what LSU did! Instead of moving on, LSU and Alleva reacted emotionally and hired Orgeron. And not only did he hire Orgeron, he gave him the kind of contract you would end up giving a coach when you're trying to lure him away from another job and you're in a bidding war -- except Ed Orgeron didn't have any other head coaching offers. At least, not on par with the LSU gig.

So Alleva gave a lot of money to a guy who had a record of 22-29 as a head coach at the time, and that included his 6-2 record with LSU last year. Now LSU is losing at home to Troy to fall to 3-2 on the season and could easily be 3-3 at this time next week because it has to go on the road to play Florida this weekend. And why does LSU have to play Florida on the road this weekend?

Because Alleva demanded that Florida play in Baton Rouge last year after a hurricane postponed the annual tilt between the schools, which was scheduled for The Swamp. When the SEC finally made a call that the game needed to be played later in the regular season during the teams' mutual week scheduled against nonconference opponents, Alleva would not play it in Gainesville as he did not want to lose a home game -- at a point when LSU didn't have anything significant for which to play -- as the Gators already had weeks earlier. Instead, Florida relented and lost two home games in 2016 to play in Baton Rouge, and the SEC agreed that the following year's game would be switched.

The Gators won in Tiger Stadium on a goal-line stand to end the 2016 game, and now LSU is scheduled to travel to Florida in both 2017 (this week) and 2018 (as scheduled) when the Tigers were supposed to be in better position to have the game be meaningful for their seasons.

What I'm trying to tell you is that Alleva has made a lot of suspect decisions lately, and since it's nearly impossible to fire the coach, Alleva's head is next on the chopping block.

Punt of the Week

That's East Carolina's season so far in one highlight clip.

Fans of the Week

Tennessee fans are fighting each other so that they know what it's like to be able to feel anything again. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say they were fighting? That's fake news! They're just falling on helmets. Sorry, Butch.

Random Ranking of the Week

This week we're ranking the best whiskey you can afford to buy without offering your significant other explanation. All rankings are final!

1. Maker's Mark
2. Knob Creek
3. Buffalo Trace
4. Four Roses
5. Wild Turkey 101

AP Voter of the Week

This week's award goes to Sammy Batten of The Fayetteville Observer. When looking at Mr. Batten's ballot, you see what is mostly a perfectly reasonable list of teams in order. Sure, you could argue that he has Ohio State, West Virginia or NC State ranked a bit too high, but they're all reasonable positions to take. They are positions he can defend with logic and honor.

But then you get to the bottom, and you see something that causes you to tilt your head to the side and say "hmm."

That's where you'll find Memphis ranked No. 24. 

Now, on its own, putting a 3-1 Memphis at the bottom of your ballot isn't some horrible offense. What makes it troubling is that Batten doesn't have UCF anywhere on his ballot. I would love to hear the explanation for why a 3-1 Memphis deserves to be ranked No. 24 while a 3-0 UCF team that just beat it by 27 points doesn't get a spot anywhere.

Thing You'll Never Unsee of the Week

I live in Illinois, and now that's all I'll ever see when I see the state on a map.

Eulogy of the Week

As a kid growing up in Chicago, I was introduced to college football via the Big Ten and Notre Dame. Those were the televised games in my area back then, and they were the games that showed me what college football was all about. You had your option teams, and then your "three yards and a cloud of dust" teams.

But then Joe Tiller came along at Purdue. I was 17 at the time, and Tiller opened my mind to two things I never knew existed in the universe of college football. The first one was that Purdue didn't have to suck every season, but more importantly, Tiller opened my mind to the realization that you could throw the ball and win.

While the spread and Air Raid offenses are everywhere in college football these days, they didn't exist in a lot of places back then, and they certainly weren't in the Big Ten. It was so much fun to watch Tiller's Purdue teams play, and even if I never met the man, I'll always be grateful to him for opening my mind to new possibilities at the time.

Thank you, coach.

College Football Playoff Projection of the Week

1. Clemson
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma
4. Penn State

Until the next Monday After!