College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction To Every Top 25 Slot Week 1
The first round of College Football Playoff rankings have been released. Here’s the instant reaction for each of the committee’s picks for the top 25.
College Football Playoff Rankings Top 25 Reaction
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So did the College Football Playoff committee pass the test? How did it do on its first round of rankings?
Pretty good.
I’ll nitpick below through each of the top 25 picks, but for the most part the committee did its job to provide a good snapshot of where things are at. Remember, this isn’t done like the other polls. This is a meticulous process with a pick-by-pick debate for each spot.
There might be disagreements and inconsistencies, but there’s no questioning the effort.
As always, this is all about the final set of rankings. Did you win your Power Five conference championship? Did you finish unbeaten or with one loss? Do that, and you almost certainly in.
And with that, a reaction and breakdown of each spot in the College Football Playoff top 25 rankings …
25. UCF Knights 6-2
The committee starts out with a big miss. This feels shoehorned in. UCF beating Cincinnati is fine, but it lost to at home to Louisville and got whacked a few weeks ago by East Carolina. Florida State beat Louisville, beat CFP 10 LSU, and the three losses were fights against NC State, Clemson, and Wake Forest.
24. Texas Longhorns 5-3
This doesn’t really make sense. The committee is giving WAY too much credit to a close-call 20-19 loss to Alabama, because there’s nothing else. Beating a Dillon Gabriel-less Oklahoma shouldn’t get a ton of love, and the loss to Texas Tech – along with the 5-3 record – should’ve been a bit too much to get into the top 25.
23. Oregon State Beavers 6-2
And so begins the theory that the the College Football Playoff committee completely neglected to watch the Pac-12 so far. Now the wins over Boise State and Fresno State look outstanding, the loss to USC came at the last second, and beating Washington State isn’t bad. The 42-16 loss at Utah shouldn’t be that big of a punishment – the Beavers should be hovering around the top 20.
22. NC State Wolfpack 6-2
The committee really, really, really doesn’t like teams with injured quarterbacks – Devin Leary is out. Granted, there isn’t a great win on the slate other than taking down Florida State, but losing at Clemson and Syracuse is too much of a punishment. The Pack should’ve been ranked ahead of …
21. Wake Forest Demon Deacons 6-2
There’s no real credit given to giving Liberty its only loss and there isn’t enough of a push for beating a CFP-disrespected Florida State on the road. The turnover-fest 48-21 loss to Louisville last week hurt – it would’ve been in the top 15 had it won.
NEXT: College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 20
College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 20
20. Syracuse Orange 6-2
This begins a rough mini-stretch of the rankings for the committee. Syracuse beat Purdue, CFP 22 NC State, and fought a Clemson team that got enough love to be ranked in the top four. To be fair, the committee is taking a snapshot and the injuries and two straight losses – dropping the home date to Notre Dame – is part of this, but the Orange should swap spots with Oklahoma State.
19. Tulane Green Wave 7-1
This is a HUGE miss. Yeah, losing to Southern Miss at home hurts, but considering the committee loves big wins it should’ve given more credit to the team that beat Kansas State in Manhattan. Tulane won its game against the Wildcats and should’ve been ranked ahead of …
18. Oklahoma State Cowboys 6-2
How did the committee whiff so badly on this 18-19 slot debate when it had to decide between the team that beat the Kansas State team that obliterated the Cowboys 48-0?
Apparently, beating Texas matters – ask the committee about what that did for Alabama. Other than that, Oklahoma State hasn’t done much of anything other than lose to TCU – that loss to K-State really was bad.
17. North Carolina Tar Heels 7-1
It’s an interesting ranking considering the seven wins came against a fat load of jack squat. The committee says it loves balanced teams, but the defense hasn’t done a whole bunch, there aren’t any wins over any CFP ranked teams, the home loss to Notre Dame hurts, and …
Based on resumé and the D, the Tar Heels should probably be about four spots lower, but at least they’re behind …
16. Illinois Fighting Illini 7-1
Wow did the committee really, really not like that last second loss at Indiana early on. There isn’t a fantastic win so far, but there are plenty of solid ones. The committee isn’t giving enough credit to just how dominant the Illini have been – they just aren’t pretty.
15. Penn State Nittany Lions 6-2
There were years when Penn State got too much credit rom the committee. This year it’s not getting enough respect for losing at Michigan and to Ohio State after putting up a good fight. There isn’t a win over a ranked team, but winning at Purdue and Auburn – and blowing out Minnesota – wasn’t bad.
14. Utah Utes 6-2
It’s subtle, but this is a little bit of a too-low misfire. CFP 10 LSU got full credit for trucking Ole Miss, but Utah handing CFP 9 USC its only loss is every bit as impressive.
LSU lost to Florida State on a neutral site. Utah lost at Florida – going to Gainesville to open the season is tougher than LSU losing in New Orleans. Throw in the win over CFP 23 Oregon State – USC got too much love for that – and the Utes should probably be a wee bit higher.
13. Kansas State Wildcats 6-2
This doesn’t make any sense. The 48-0 obliteration of CFP 18 Oklahoma State that just happened was obviously enough to get the Wildcats this high, and blowing out Missouri probably made a difference. However, if this really is the 13th best team – even with a home loss to Tulane – TCU should probably be higher than 7 for its win over K-State.
12. UCLA Bruins 7-1
Since we’re now living in a world full of doorknobs lapping up every possible conspiracy theory, I’m not entirely sold that the College Football Playoff committee didn’t mistakenly screw up the LA schools.
UCLA beat CFP 14 Utah and lost on the road to CFP 8 Oregon. USC lost to Utah and hasn’t beaten anyone of note other than CFP 23 Oregon State – and that was way too close.
The Pac-12 order should go Oregon, then UCLA, then Utah, then USC.
11. Ole Miss Rebels 8-1
The committee doesn’t always care about gaudy records. This is about right considering Ole Miss doesn’t have a win over a CFP-ranked team, but this spot gives credit to the wins over Kentucky or Texas A&M. The blowout loss to LSU kept it out of the top ten.
NEXT: College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 10
College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 10
10. LSU Tigers 6-2
The 45-20 win over Ole Miss apparently meant everything. It’s not like the Tigers fought the good fight in a 40-13 loss to Tennessee at home, and the Florida State loss was still a loss – even if it that was the textbook example of a team that was a tune-up game from probably winning it.
Even so, I get it. You can tell there was a discussion that LSU had to be one spot ahead of Ole Miss because that game just happened a few weeks ago.
9. USC Trojans 7-1
There has been no bigger USC Is Going To The College Football Playoff fanboy than me – I’ve been driving that party bus since April. However, ranking this team at the 9 means 1) the committee doesn’t have the Pac-12 Network, 2) it doesn’t stay up late, and/or 3) hasn’t been watching the games.
You can’t say you’ve seen this defense play and put the Trojans in the top ten.
Barely beating CFP 23 Oregon State isn’t enough to earn this spot over UCLA. Swap the Bruins and Trojans and this is closer to right.
8. Oregon Ducks 7-1
I’m trying to scream to anyone who’ll listen – and everyone who won’t – that the committee is going to take a 12-1 Pac-12 Champion over an 11-1 non-champion. Oregon being ranked this high is a big deal considering the 49-3 blasting from Georgia to start the season.
If beating UCLA is enough to get the Ducks this spot, then beating Utah, Oregon State, and (maybe) USC or UCLA in the Pac-12 Championship should be enough to get in.
7. TCU Horned Frogs 8-0
Oklahoma State is 18. Kansas State is 13. TCU beat them both.
Hanging 55 on Oklahoma should matter, taking out Kansas – yeah, really – on the road should matter, and being 8-0 while playing in the most even conference in college football should matter. I’ll buy into the idea that if this was Texas or Oklahoma with this body of work, it would be ranked fourth, at worst.
6. Alabama Crimson Tide 7-1
Here’s where the hypocrisy kicks in. Usually the committee doesn’t give any credit for losses to great teams – see Penn State at 15 – and only loves big wins. Texas being ranked 24th by the CFP matters here, otherwise there aren’t any Alabama victories over ranked teams.
Losing by just this much against the CFP No. 1 team on the road helped the ranking – and because no one loves anything more than this committee traditionally loves Bama.
5. Michigan Wolverines 8-0
Michigan did it right. There’s NO reason to play a good team before late September – ask Oregon, ask LSU, ask Utah. It’s better to tune-up on easy teams at home to prepare for what’s coming.
However, with this schedule it’s going to be hard to give the Wolverines the possible CFP love at the end if they 11-1 with the only loss coming to Ohio State. But they’re unbeaten, and they’re in a position to go back to the CFP by running the table.
With all that said, resumé-wise, TCU should’ve been here.
NEXT: College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 4
College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 4
4. Clemson Tigers 8-0
The world is about to hammer on Clemson’s ranking at the 4 – no, the team hasn’t been that impressive, and some are going to want TCU up here – but the resumé is better than it seems. Handing a then unbeaten Syracuse matters, taking out Florida State on the road is strong, and beating Wake Forest and NC State was nice.
A little credit should be given to playing just four home games so far, and it’s going to be a fifth in the first eight games.
At Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami, South Carolina, (most likely) ACC Championship. Roll through that, and Clemson is in.
12-1 ACC Champion – if there’s a misfire somewhere – and Clemson is (probably) in.
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3. Georgia Bulldogs 8-0
Put it this way – who are you taking right now in a tournament of all the still-unbeaten teams? With that said, this was one of those moments when the committee showed it’s on its game. It would’ve been extremely easy to put the Bulldogs at 1 or 2, but the performances against Missouri and Kent State were a bit off.
With that said, they probably should be 2 considering they walloped CFP No. 8 Oregon 49-3, which is far, far better than anything done by …
2. Ohio State Buckeyes 8-0
There’s no real argument here – Ohio State might be the most complete team in the nation at the moment – but outside of Penn State where’t the big win? Iowa? Michigan State? Wisconsin? Notre Dame? That all sounds nice, but there’s only one victory over a CFP-ranked team.
If the committee really thinks Penn State deserves to be 15, then on merit, Ohio State should probably be third or even fourth, but … whatever. Again, there’s no real complaining with this.
1. Tennessee Volunteers 8-0
(Clap … clap …)
It was the right move. Tennessee has been playing at a whole other level offensively, the win over the College Football Playoff committee’s beloved Alabama was massive, the blowout win over LSU was a big deal, and whacking Kentucky 44-6 when everyone was watching made this an easier-than-you-might-think choice.
It’ll all play out starting this weekend at Georgia, but for right now, the committee passed the first test on this call.
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