The Bruins still have games against Washington State, Utah and USC before even thinking about the playoff.
Advertisement
The College Football Playoff Committee unveiled its first CFP rankings of the year Tuesday night.
The Tigers (8-0) were the top team, followed by LSU (7-0) at No. 2, Ohio State (8-0) at No. 3 and Alabama (7-1) at No. 4.
Ohio State may find itself in the top-four of the College Football Playoff rankings at the moment, but their biggest tests are yet to come.
Rounding out the top 10 were No. 5 Notre Dame (7-1), No. 6 Baylor (7-0), No. 7 MI State (8-0), No. 8 Texas Christian (8-0), No. 9 Iowa (8-0) and No. 10 Florida (7-1).
Takeaways from the first playoff rankings.
MSU is already assured of extending its school-record bowl streak to nine, and the Rose Bowl would represent a third consecutive New Year’s Six level bowl.
Something else that is evident is that the committee is punishing non-power five conference teams. Also the Tigers, LSU is ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll. Ohio State was No. 16 in the first poll past year and won the national championship. Alabama crushed Notre Dame 42-14 in the 2012 BCS Championship Game amid a scintillating atmosphere a year before Clemson outlasted Ohio State in a 40-35 Orange Bowl shootout. The Gators and Tide have identical records with a few similar results (close wins over Tennessee, blowout wins over Georgia), while Alabama has a loss at home to the No. 18 team (which Florida beat by four touchdowns) and Florida has a close loss on the road against the No. 2 team.
We take a look at the College Football Playoff poll each week to see what the committee got right and what it got terribly wrong.
All things equal, TCU’s opponent wasn’t as impressive as were the three teams behind them, but supposedly things weren’t equal-the committee had them ranked higher the previous week. The Buckeyes have No. 7 MI State and No. 17 MI to end the year.
“Our goal is to be in this conversation into December”, Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday before the rankings were revealed. LSU now has wins against two ranked teams and is playing a team ranked in the top four this weekend. There’s no way in the world that the Crimson Tide should be ranked in the top four. TCU (CFP: No. 8) 13. The Tigers are 11th in the nation in scoring offense (40.6), 19th in total offense (485.1) and 13th in passing efficiency. There is a chance Clemson could survive a loss here or that Florida State could get into the Final Four by winning out, but the best chance for the ACC to secure a bid obviously lies with Clemson’s ability to keep winning and stay unbeaten.
LSU running back Leonard Fournette (7), trying to escape two Florida tacklers, has been a major force for No. 2 LSU, rushing…
Advertisement
Sherrington: Frankly, I was shocked, and as I’m writing in a column today, I think it could really obliterate their chances of making the CFP. The selection committee must have an SEC bias, or maybe they realize it’s the strongest conference. The others are TCU at #8, Oklahoma State at #14, and Oklahoma at #15.
