The unbeaten Tigers were followed by LSU at No. 2, defending national champion Ohio State at No. 3 and Alabama at No. 4. Notre Dame’s only loss is a 2 point loss to Clemson a month ago. Joining Alabama and LSU were No. 10 Florida, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 20 Mississippi State. Only the Seminoles wound up in the playoffs from that group. Does the Crimson Tide deserve to be there?
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Like Florida, Alabama has a loss, but it was at home to Ole Miss – a 38-10 loser to the Gators. Unless the Bama love in that room is so strong it puts two SEC teams in the playoff. Their schedule is incredibly weak, but have their best opportunities ahead of them with games against 15th-ranked Oklahoma, 14th-ranked Oklahoma State and eight-ranked TCU. That’s a good thing in that an undefeated finish is more likely, but there are no real chances to impress the committee.
Clemson holds the No. 1 spot in the first CFP Rankings.
The national championship trophy made an appearance at an LSU game on October 15.
The Selection Committee shocked everybody with their inaugural College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday night, and in the process they sent a clear message to everybody else: Strength of Schedule matters.
The committee is told to emphasize conference championships, especially when teams have similar resumes.
With the first Tuesday in November comes the first College Football Playoff rankings, and as expected, there were a few surprises.
TCU is averaging 48.0 points per game and passing for 389.4 yards per contest on an average.
The Tigers are led by Heisman Trophy favorite Leonard Fournette, who leads the nation in rushing with 1,352 yards and 15 touchdowns. Memphis is the top team out of a non-Power 5 conference.
Of course, if the season ended today, the Irish would be sitting on the outside looking in.
On that same weekend, Florida State beat 11th-ranked Georgia Tech 37-35, Ohio State whipped 13th-ranked Wisconsin 59-0, and Baylor handled 9th-ranked Kansas State 38-27.
The conference may have a tougher road this season as the teams have taken turns knocking each other off. Strength of schedules don’t seem to matter to these naysayers, nor do the win-loss records of the top teams in the SEC. Memphis’ victory against the Rebels resonated with the committee. Nor is the Clemson linebacking corps quite as developed as it needs to be to keep a back like Derrick Henry from moving the chains. “They have two other wins against teams with better than”.
Before we go forward, it’s important to understand was is at stake here.
-Temple and Houston not getting upset.
This was the first official meeting for the selection committee to issue rankings.
LSU, ranked fourth in both the AP and coaches polls, trails only No. 1 Clemson in the 2015 debut of the CFP’s poll. Both are well positioned to surge, but they might have too much traffic in front of them to get into the top four.
The first elimination game in the Big 12 is this week when Oklahoma St and TCU battle in Stillwater.
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Notre Dame plays Stanford in the regular-season finale, which could give it a leg up on the Pac-12. Could an 11-1 Notre Dame trump an 11-1 Big 12 champion? In the Associated Press ranking this week, Notre Dame was eighth.
