College Football Playoff Rankings: 5 things to know
The initial College Football Playoff Rankings are out and here’s what the Playoff committee got right and what they got wrong.
Our long national nightmare is over. The first release of the College Football Playoff Rankings are out and the debate is only getting underway about the four teams who are most deserving of playing for the national championship.
The conversation about who would be in the top four in the first rankings centered around five teams, we just weren’t sure of the order the committee would place the defending champion and No. 1 team in the AP and Coaches Poll, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Baylor Bears, Clemson Tigers, LSU Tigers and TCU Horned Frogs.
They’re all undefeated and all have their case to make as the top team, but the Playoff committee determined the best team in the nation through the first nine weeks is
Ohio State didn’t always play up to their No. 1 ranking early in the season when quarterback Cardale Jones wasn’t playing as well as he did during the postseason run last year and the offense didn’t have much rhythm. But they’re undefeated and seemed to hit their stride in late October with J.T. Barrett returning to the starting lineup.
Baylor scores as many points as the Bears basketball team but quarterback Seth Russell is out for the year and will be replaced by true freshman Jarrett Stidham. Can the former five-star recruit continue the pace Russell set as the nation’s leader in touchdown passes and passer rating? Probably not, but he can still be very good, but the schedule is a daunting one in November.
TCU has quarterback Trevone Boykin and wide receiver Josh Doctson providing the best passing duo in the nation and their defense that was decimated by injuries and departures has steadied of late and could be set for a showdown of unbeaten teams with Baylor in late November.
Leonard Fournette is the Heisman front-runner and the nation’s leading rusher who is capable of superhuman efforts every Saturday. LSU has a showdown with Alabama on Saturday which will have a significant impact on the Playoff rankings next week, regardless if they win or if they lose. Quarterback Brandon Harris has developed into a quality passer and isn’t the glaring weakness the position was last year, but we’ll find out just how great he is on Saturday in Tuscaloosa.
The Clemson Tigers have arguably the biggest win over any of the contenders with a home win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and have a blossoming quarterback in Deshaun Watson. So they pass the eye test and have a great resume to boot.
Schedule strength, conference championships and head-to-head results are points of emphasis. Having said that, here’s how the initial College Football Playoff Top 25 looks.
25. Houston
24. Toledo
23. UCLA
22. Temple
21. Northwestern
20. Mississippi State
19. Texas A&M
18. Ole Miss
17. Michigan
16. Florida State
15. Oklahoma
14. Oklahoma State
13. Memphis
12. Utah
11. Stanford
10. Florida
9. Iowa
8. TCU
7. Michigan State
6. Baylor
5. Notre Dame
4. Alabama
3. Ohio State
2. LSU
1. Clemson
1. Clemson getting the top spot is rewarding the Tigers for their win against Notre Dame and the Irish weren’t penalized too much for their loss, they’re ahead of undefeated teams despite their two-point road loss to the No. 1 team.
2. Ohio State isn’t blowing away the committee, just like Florida State didn’t last year despite being No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Polls.
3. Alabama gets the nod ahead of Baylor despite having a loss because of their strength of schedule and Baylor’s atrocious schedule. They haven’t beaten anyone, but they’ll have a chance to move up with their remaining schedule and the same can be said for the rest of the Big 12 which seems to have saved all their marquee games for November.
4. Florida can win out and let the carnage ensue with the teams in front of them and kinda get in the backdoor of the Playoff. Their strength of schedule has them in position to be a dangerous team in December.
5. I thought Stanford would be ranked a few spots higher meanwhile Iowa came in a few spots lower than I anticipated. But they’re going to win out and enter the Big Ten Championship Game with a perfect record.
Just like with preseason polls, don’t put a lot of stock into the first Playoff rankings. It’s a fluid situation and there will be several changes at the top.
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If you’re in the top four now, it doesn’t mean anything next week or next month. The same is true if you’re outside the top four.
Last year, Mississippi State was No. 1 and joined by Auburn, Ole Miss and Florida State who was the only team to make it, meanwhile Ohio State was No. 16 and won the national championship.
There’s plenty of games left to be played and there will be plenty of upsets.
The biggest winner in the initial rankings wasn’t Clemson, LSU, Ohio State or Alabama, but rather ESPN for getting us to watch an hour of programming for 30 seconds of news that could have been shared with a news release. They’re the biggest winner.