Projected 2020 College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings for Week 13
By Zach Bigalke
This week the AP Top 25 takes a backseat to the College Football Playoff rankings. Where will everyone fall in the selection committee’s first Top 25 list?
On Tuesday, November 24 at 7:00 pm Eastern, the College Football Playoff selection committee will release its first set of Top 25 rankings for the 2020 season. In a year where some teams are only just playing their first games and others have already contested nine, 2020 presents the biggest challenge yet in the seven-year existence of the College Football Playoff.
The selection committee was not helped by the postponement or cancellation of 18 more games in Week 12. That included the Clemson-Florida State matchup in Tallahassee, which was called off just hours before the noon kickoff on Saturday. In total, a half-dozen games featuring teams ranked in the AP Top 25 weren’t played.
Other Teams Considered
North Carolina (6-2)
Liberty (8-1)
San Jose State (4-0)
Buffalo (3-0)
Florida Atlantic (5-1)
Boise State (3-1)
Washington (1-0)
Army (7-2)
Iowa (3-2)
Appalachian State (6-2)
(teams in italics still finishing Week 12 games)
Among the games that were played, only three featured matchups of ranked teams. The Big Ten was the biggest beneficiary over the weekend, as the last two undefeated teams in both divisions squared off in a duet of de facto conference championship play-in games. The Big 12 also benefitted from the Bedlam game that pitted two of its ranked programs in a showcase battle, offering an opportunity to get a boost right before the College Football Playoff rankings come out for the first time.
There has been relative flux in the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll so far this season. A look at the former BCS computers shows even wider variance, given the lack of intersectional play. It will be interesting to whether the selection committee opts to cast a wide net or whether it sticks to the usual suspects.
Considering the difference between projecting the will of 62 AP voters versus the will of a dozen selectors without public ballots is always tricky, especially the first week of the season. The shape of the 2020 season makes that challenge doubly difficult this year. Bearing that in mind, here are the latest Saturday Blitz projections for what the inaugural College Football Playoff selection committee Top 25 will look like on Tuesday night heading into Week 13 action on Thanksgiving weekend.