Tonight, the College Football Playoff Committee will release the penultimate ranking. On Sunday, they will announce the 12-team playoff teams. Last season, the College Football Playoff Committee's decisions were straightforward.
The Big Ten had 4 teams in Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, and Penn State who made it. Oregon was undefeated and the Big Ten Champion. Ohio State and Penn State both had two losses and made it. 11-1 Indiana also made it. They were easy decisions.
Then the SEC had Georgia 11-2, SEC Champion, 10-2 Texas, and 10-2 Tennessee make it. The SEC last year had 9-3 Alabama and 9-3 South Carolina on the bubble, and neither made it.
Then Miami at 10-2, didn’t make it as well from the ACC. This season, it is much more difficult with a ton of deserving teams on the bubble for the last few spots in the College Football Playoff. It is a difficult task for the committee this year.
One of the biggest debates will be between 10-2 Notre Dame vs. 10-2 Miami. Miami beat Notre Dame in week 1, but they stumbled twice in the ACC. Notre Dame lost the 1st two games of the season to Miami and Texas A&M in week two. They haven’t lost since.
In last week's ranking, Notre Dame was 9, and Miami was 12. Notre Dame would be in the playoffs, where Miami would not. Shouldn’t the head-to-head matter and Miami pass Notre Dame? It will be interesting to see if they switch them, because this is the week they would probably flip them.
The other issue is the plethora of deserving teams. Alabama playing in the SEC Championship looks like a lock, along with 10-2 Oklahoma, which was 8 in the playoff committee last week and beat LSU. In the SEC, you have 10-2 Vanderbilt, who was 14th in last week's ranking, had an impressive win at Tennessee this week.
Then you have BYU, which is playing in the Big 12 Championship, an 11-1 team. If they win, they will be the conference champion of the Big 12 and secure an automatic qualifier; if they lose, they may not get in. You also have the 10-2 Utah team, which was ranked 13th last week. Do they have any chance to make it? Probably not as well.
The other interesting team is Texas, which is 9-3, but got another impressive win when they knocked off previously undefeated Texas A&M last week. They have three impressive wins against Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M.
They are probably out of the college football playoffs, though. Many people have pointed out that their week 1 loss against Ohio State shouldn’t punish them. If they scheduled a lower-level team and beat them, they would probably be in the playoffs. The counter is that they went on the road and lost to a bad Florida team.
The penultimate ranking tonight will shed light on all these decisions for the final ranking next Sunday. No matter what, people will be upset and feel unfairly treated. It is an interesting situation for the College Football Committee to be in. They probably have more deserving teams for the playoffs than spots available. That’s the situation this year, but it is the downside of having the most impactful regular season in all sports.