Four Big Takeaways From the New College Football Playoff Rankings
By Tucker Harlin
The College Football Playoff committee unveiled its third official group of rankings Tuesday evening.
The committee continues to amaze, confuse, and frustrate the college football universe with its less than sound logic. These are my four biggest takeaways from what transpired Tuesday night.
THIS COMMITTEE HATES THE BIG 12
The highest ranked team in the Big 12 isn’t among the 12 best teams in the rankings. Not only is BYU ranked the lowest in the new projected field of 12, but the best group of five school is receiving a first round bye at the moment.
Week 13 is a critical week in the conference with its two best teams playing in difficult road tests. BYU plays the newly ranked Arizona State in Tempe while Colorado visits the red hot Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence.
It doesn’t look like any amount of style points is going to assist the winner of the conference. The winner can only win the Big 12 championship and accept its bid as the 12-seed at this point.
THE FRINGE OF THE RANKINGS IS MEANT TO JUSTIFY DECISIONS NEAR THE TOP
The committee has kept both Penn State and Alabama in the field of 12 in all three editions of College Football Playoff rankings.
What if it intentionally made decisions to pump up the Nittany Lions and Crimson Tide by including one of their wins in the fringe of the poll just for the sake of giving them a Top 25 win? That’s what it looks like with Illinois and Missouri near the bottom.
Illinois has at least won some games to get back in the poll, but the Mizzou decision is far more confusing.
Normally, you’re ousted from the poll when you lose to another team on the fringe. But there the Tigers sit at #23, making Alabama’s résumé look better.
THE VOLS ARE SUPPORTING THE TROOPS…. AND THE GATORS?!?!?!?!
Truthfully, every power four team competing for a playoff berth is a big fan of Army this week. Notre Dame’s loss to Northern Illinois apparently wasn’t bad enough to take it out of this field, so it’s a cause Tennessee, SMU, and any of the other on the outside looking in can support.
Tennessee fans rooting for a Florida win is a bizarre thought, but a Gators win over Ole Miss is the desirable outcome with the highest probability for the Vols.
Ole Miss ranking above Georgia goes to show you how maddening the logic used by the committee is. It makes sense to rank one team over another with head to head victories, but overall résumé is also being valued in some instances over head to head victories.
None of this makes any sense.
THE REST OF THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL WORLD NEEDS AN INDIANA LOSS
Indiana was a cool story to start the season. But all good things must come to an end, right?
It’s like Loyola-Chicago or St. Peter’s in March Madness, or Kentucky in baseball this spring. It’s cute, but the children need to let the men have some time to themselves.
The schedule ranks as the 106th toughest in the land. I’d like to see Indiana play a schedule of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida on a yearly basis and hear it report its findings to those who do.
If the Hoosiers get thumped by Ohio State this weekend, there’s no sound logic for keeping them in the race.
You’ve got Joey Galloway saying it’s best to rest Kurtis Rourke for the rest of the year because of what happened to Florida State last season.
Simply put, Indiana isn’t the beast this committee is pumping it up to be.
