This is an opinion column.

There was something weirdly romantic about how this college football season began.

Odd because the whole thing was set the Titanic sinking in the distance, yet September brought hope. Maybe the demise of the Pac-12 and the unknown of next year’s expanded playoff wouldn’t actually topple this wonderfully goofy house of cards.

Now, as a cold front sweeps the nation as November dawns, what’s left of that early exuberance? Will the first playoff rankings released Tuesday evening reflect the journey we’re on?

Because it’s getting serious now.

But let’s also not forget the ride even as the destination comes into hazy focus because that’s the beauty within this sport’s spectacular imperfections.

Lest we forget the ride Colorado took from Labor Day Weekend on. Deion Sanders took the nation through a full story arc from stunning defending runner-up TCU on the surface of the sun Sept. 2 to losing four of its last five. The full range of the transfer portal pros and cons were splayed on the table for all to see.

Love him or hate him, Sanders made that sleepy outpost the center of college football fascination for a month plus. That was fun because this sport has been stuck in a rotation of the old guard trading turns on the throne.

What’s funny is through all the fluctuations, the same top-3 from the preseason AP poll occupy the same spot today. Top-ranked Georgia’s barely been tested. No. 2 Michigan even less. And third-ranked Ohio State’s slipped as low as sixth but is back at No. 3 with a spotless record.

To get stuck at the top of the pyramid would miss the intrigue at the base.

You’ve seen preseason No. 8 Clemson teeter off the cliff and into mediocrity. The Tigers’ Labor Day collapse at Duke captured the attention of the nation. A week later, the Texas statement in Tuscaloosa appeared to usher Alabama through the same trap door, but while Clemson sits at 4-4, the No. 8 Crimson Tide survived weekly flirtations with the death a second loss would bring.

A 6:30 p.m. visit from equally confounding No. 13 LSU will sort some of this out. Those Tigers opened the season at No. 5 and promptly took a 21-point beating from resurgent Florida State. From there, they built the nation’s top-ranked offenses and, at least briefly, one of the worst defenses. A 55-49 loss to Ole Miss was followed by a 49-39 win at a Missouri team that didn’t receive a single preseason AP vote. But those Tigers are now 7-1 and No. 14 in the AP poll.

Air Force didn’t get a single vote in August before rising to 17th this week as the highest-ranked Group of Five team standing. They could make a New Year’s Six bowl if this continues.

No. 23 James Madison, who got on preseason vote at No. 25, won’t go anywhere after the regular season ends. The undefeated Dukes slip into one of those NCAA rabbit holes that appear like an iceberg on the horizon. They’re not allowed to go to a bowl game since they’re still transitioning to the FBS. The same goes for Jacksonville State, a 7-2 team that can make a statement in the battle of the Gamecocks at 11 a.m. CT Saturday at South Carolina.

It’s a shame.

So was the NCAA’s handling of North Carolina receiver Tez Walker’s transfer.

Now our ride is being tainted by shenanigans at the top. Not that Michigan and Jim Harbaugh were darlings of good favor before this whole scouting scandal emerged but when your season gets tossed into a sentence with the 2017 Houston Astros, the goofy clown takes a more sinister turn.

This stain will unfortunately overshadow performances from the likes of Oregon’s Bo Nix, the Birmingham-area prep star who’s living up to the hype that originally followed him to Auburn. Michael Penix is another transfer who traveled west from Indiana to Washington to pump excitement into the husk of the Pac-12 and its Irish wake of a finale.

Perhaps it’s the story of this long-dormant conference’s return to relevance just as it’s decapitated that’s the story of the season. Pillaged for parts in the weeks before kickoff, Oregon and Washington are serious contenders for the league’s first playoff spot since 2016. USC was fool’s gold without a defense, peaking at No. 5 in the AP poll before losing consecutive games at Notre Dame and Utah before barely surviving a 50-49 game Saturday at Cal.

Rebuilds of Texas and Florida State empires are in the hunt.

So is Alabama and Oklahoma and Penn State.

As we stand here on All Hallows Eve, this would be the perfect year to start the 12-team bracket.

But it’s not.

Just an imperfect run through three months of absolute madness with the music rising in the background to match the November tension.

Georgia’s an unconvincing No. 1.

Michigan’s an even-less-tested No. 2 with asterisks dancing in their future.

Ohio State is just third.

It’s fair to assume the College Football Playoff committee will at least shuffle the order of the top teams in trick-or-treat time.

But through the smoke of the off-field nonsense, there’s room for a glorious end to this phase of the playoff era.

That starts with Tuesday’s playoff first draft and continues with a November to untangle the knots.

So there’s still room to embrace the romance of this journey through the chaos of a college football season you simply can’t replicate on the professional level.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.