Auburn Football: 3 reasons Tigers have earned No. 2 spot in CFB Playoff

2. Rise of Jarrett Stidham under center

While this reason alone may not be enough to impact playoff rankings, the committee has to look at the play of some of the Tigers’ top players. Realizing that sophomore quarterback Jarrett Stidham is playing the best football of his career had to help them rank the Tigers this high.

It would be much different if Auburn had been winning strictly because of its defense, but the Tigers have been well-rounded. Stidham is playing at an extremely high level and is getting some help from the players around him, such as Kerryon Johnson as well.

We saw last year that a two-loss Oklahoma team was left out of the College Football Playoff because they didn’t play enough defense. That is proof that the committee values resume, the eye test, trends as well as well-rounded teams over one-dimensional ones. Stidham has made this offense formidable as opposed to lackluster which it was at the start of the year.

On the year, the Baylor transfer has passed for 2,682 yards, 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions while completing 69 percent of his passes. The Tigers are 9-0 when he passes for over 200 yards this season.