For the first time this season, the College Football Playoff rankings are out.
Advertisement
What was the biggest surprise from the first rankings?
This week, #1 Clemson is at home versus #16 Florida State.
So much was made in the offseason about the Big 12 being left out of last year’s playoff and the round of first rankings didn’t do much to ease those concerns.
In the ACC, No. 3 Clemson hosts No. 17 Florida State. Looking at the latest playoff poll and then taking a look at the schedule of games for the month of November, we just may already be in an elimination playoff right now, and it starts this Saturday. A team with one-loss can be better than a team with none.
“Alabama from our point of view had a stronger schedule in the games they have won”, Long said. The Nittany Lions last three games come against ranked teams in the Wildcats, #17 Michigan and a season ending contest with #7 Michigan State. This season’s Top 25 has just six SEC teams overall. TCU is also undefeated and haven’t beaten any current top #25 teams either.
Similarly, the Big Ten has multiple undefeated teams and a conference champion with no losses – or even one loss – would be hard to deny a Top Four spot.
Ostendorf: Jeff Long’s explanation for putting Alabama ahead of Florida was because of how the Tide dominated Georgia and Texas A&M.
Not out of the race for the Big Ten championship, but out of the playoff hunt.
Khan: No. The committee showed us a year ago that it places significant value on winning your conference, so it’s hard to picture a scenario where the Alabama doesn’t win the league and still gets in – not only over the SEC champion, but another Power 5 conference champion. TCU played Minnesota among an otherwise nondescript non-conference schedule.
– Baylor at Oklahoma State; and TCU at Oklahoma, November 21. The Utes are followed by Memphis, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
Now, Ohio State had an advantage Oklahoma doesn’t: a conference championship game. The No. 6 ranking did one critical thing: Baylor now has Texas-sized motivation to zero in on a risky trap game at Kansas State on Thursday.
Then Michigan State spent a few weeks dodging upsets against Purdue and Rutgers. LSU handed No. 10 Florida its only loss of the season earlier this year, and have featured a multidimensional offense that has the potential to carry them to a national championship. If they lose either of those, they may not make the Big 10 title game, and likely would be left out of the playoff entirely.
But, really, there are only three teams that are contenders for a spot in the sport’s final four: the undefeated triumvirate of No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Michigan State and No. 9 Iowa.
-The Pac-12 looks all but out of the playoff.
It has been a freakish season for Nebraska, filled with last-second losses.
“I don’t think anybody should be having a party over what the (CFP) poll is and I don’t think anybody should be disappointed”, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.
Memphis was a no-brainer as the top rated team from the Group of Five at this point. I don’t see a scenario where Memphis gets in contention for a top-4 spot. They now rank 5 spots behind the Memphis team that soundly defeated them, but with the love the committee has for the SEC, I don’t believe they would keep Ole Miss behind Memphis in that scenario. A loss now can be catastrophic as far as getting to the football version of the Final Four.
Advertisement
There is a lot of football yet to be played and a lot of movement will happen from this week’s rankings in the next five weeks, but it is interesting to note where everyone now stands in the eyes of the committee after the first rankings were unveiled.
