Now, Ohio State had an advantage Oklahoma doesn’t: a conference championship game.
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Swinney is pleased with the ranking, but he is clear that this is just the first poll of the process.
But as the committee showed past year, their ideas of what teams should be in are fickle and can change from week-to-week-without notice. This is what happens when, as in the case of the Bears, you schedule SMU, Lamar and Rice as your non-conference opponents. But they’ll get a chance to beat Baylor. A one-loss, Big Ten runner-up Iowa team would probably be low on the list of one-loss contenders for a Playoff spot because the schedule just isn’t that strong.
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.
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).
Notre Dame’s former Quarterback Everett Golson’s new team the Florida State Seminoles were ranked 16th, followed by MI, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Mississippi State. A close Alabama victory would fuel speculation of two SEC teams in the Final Four. But the first ranking is a mere snapshot, and both schools have yet to play their toughest games. The Utes are followed by Memphis, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.
With all due respect, fans of non-Power Five teams not named Memphis and of two-loss teams not named MI or Ole Miss are excused from the discussion.
Although ranked seventh in the AP poll, the Tide leaped over unbeatens such as Baylor, TCU and MI State in the season’s first CFP rankings.
If you think Alabama is positioned to simply win out and get in the playoff, think again.
Notre Dame’s wins over Temple, USC, and Georgia Tech were good, but narrow, and playing Clemson down to the wire was also impressive. And with four games still to play there’s still time for Notre Dame to move up and join the four-team national playoff field. If the only loss from the top 4 comes in this week’s LSU-Alabama game, which is unlikely yet possible, they would need to hold off the Big 12 champion to secure a spot in the Final Four. 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.
“Both teams have explosive offenses, especially Baylor”, Long said.
The implication is that a team like Baylor – first in points scored, 59th in points allowed – doesn’t impress the committee as much. Strength of schedules don’t seem to matter to these naysayers, nor do the win-loss records of the top teams in the SEC. A win this week should put them in the top four because there will be a loser in the Alabama – LSU game.
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Behind Stanford at No. 12 is fellow Pac-12 member Utah.
