College Football Playoff Rankings

[Raves]

Honestly, with how Ohio State has played to end the season I don't know if I even want them in the playoffs.  It seems like they were getting worse as the year went on, maybe it was just CJ Stroud trying to protect his Heisman/draft stock, but it felt like he wasn't taking any chances letting the numerous great receivers make a play.  On top of that, I just really hate how he starts off moving in the pocket, it's almost always some kind of Madden-esque spin move.

Now where Ohio State will actually be ranked and end up, them moving to #5 should be expected after Tennessee took such a slight drop from their first loss.  Ohio State has still played some legit opponents like Penn State and Notre Dame, so their opponents aren't completely devoid of accolades, it's definitely better than some others.  I think USC gets the at #4 as a 1-loss conference champ > 1-loss non-conference champ.  If USC had lost to Notre Dame then I think there would've been a better case for a 1-loss Ohio State to make it in over a 2-loss conference champ.

[NateDawg]

No surprises in the rankings. I did think they would maybe have Michigan ranked 1, but I also think that could have created an issue if something happened with either TCU or USC with a Ohio State in at four, which would have set up a rematch, which they would not have wanted. As it stands, I think these are the matchups we are going to see as I don’t expect any upsets this weekend. 

[beekay414]

There's just no consistency with the rankings honestly. There's no reason to have Michigan behind Georgia right now other than avoiding a potential rematch with Ohio State. So, is it resume or is it matchup? They probably shouldn't release the damn playoff rankings until they select for the actual playoff. The committee would look a lot less stupid that way.

[beekay414]

And what happens if both TCU and USC lose and Michigan's #2? They going to flip Michigan to #1 and Georgia to #2 or are they not going to move TCU off the 3 line no matter what? Cuz you'd be looking at #1 Georgia having just beat #14 LSU, while Michigan at #2 beats unranked Purdue, USC dropping their 2nd game and TCU losing to #10 Kansas State. 

You rank Michigan #1 and TCU and USC handle business, there's no problem. You rank Michigan #1, TCU and USC lose, you drop TCU to #4, bump Ohio State to #3 and you get Michigan-TCU, Georgia-Ohio State. Only USC loses? You flip Georgia to #1 after beating a top #14 team and you get the same matchups as the previous scenario. Only TCU loses? Well, you bump TCU for Ohio State and, again, flip Michigan and Georgia so you get Georgia-Ohio State, Michigan-USC.

There's just no way to manipulate the rankings if TCU and USC lose to avoid the Ohio State-Michigan rematch that makes any type of consistent sense cuz you're not flipping Michigan and Georgia when Georgia beat the better opponent in the conference title game. They handicapped themselves for no real reason.

[BobbyPhil1781]

13 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

There's just no consistency with the rankings honestly. There's no reason to have Michigan behind Georgia right now other than avoiding a potential rematch with Ohio State. So, is it resume or is it matchup? They probably shouldn't release the damn playoff rankings until they select for the actual playoff. The committee would look a lot less stupid that way.

My guess is UGA is the defending champ and really hasn't done anything to warrant the drop that can't be said about Michigan. I think a part of it is something you eluded to as well which is the potential rematch with OSU. 

I don't see TCU or USC losing though so I feel it'll be moot when it's all said and done

[pf9]

There won't be a legitimate CFP title game until one is played outdoors in a cold-weather city.

[ronjon1990]

13 hours ago, BobbyPhil1781 said:

My guess is UGA is the defending champ and really hasn't done anything to warrant the drop that can't be said about Michigan. I think a part of it is something you eluded to as well which is the potential rematch with OSU. 

I don't see TCU or USC losing though so I feel it'll be moot when it's all said and done

If they're so scared of rematches (which, they haven't been in the past- they've touted how great it is, though usually because it works for them) they shouldn't have done something so stupid like a 4 team playoff with 5 major conferences lol. 

They put their chips on 1 team dominating each conference and everyone else being clearly out of the running. 

The forever obvious choice was conference champs from the power 5, top group of 5 champ, #'s 1 and 2 get a bye. 

 

I hope chaos reigns and we get a dud of a rematch. 

[naptownskinsfan]

11 hours ago, pf9 said:

There won't be a legitimate CFP title game until one is played outdoors in a cold-weather city.

The time of this is gone.  They make more money by having it in a climate controlled environment and making a weekend out of it for everyone.  This is the way.  

[naptownskinsfan]

If both UGA and UM win their conference championships, I think both teams have the same resume.  UGA will have beaten #11 Oregon to open the season, and took down #1 Tennessee.  UM beat #10 PSU and beat #2 OSU.  UGA would win against #14 LSU, while UM is going to roll an unranked Purdue.  

So while that is one more ranked team for Georgia, in what the voters likely feel is a stronger conference- as well as the stronger out of conference game- UM does have a signature win on the road against their arch rival.  And this is coming from a Georgia fan.  

My guess is that they go with UGA #1 as defending champs, given how close the resumes are.  

[MWil23]

Ohio State has zero argument to being in regardless of what happens unless USC stumbles this weekend for a 2nd time.

Alabama has 2 losses and has zero argument finishing fourth in their own conference. Plus, their lone ranked wins are against Texas who they played with a hurt backup quarterback/should have lost and Mississippi State...who I guess is ranked because "reasons".

Georgia and UM are LOCKS

IMO TCU should be a lock since the committee has used "past conference title games won't hurt you when other teams don't make it to one" logic, but that won't happen. If they lose, they're in trouble.

If both USC and TCU lose, the chaos factor will be interesting, because UT will absolutely make noise about beating Alabama head to head, beating LSU who beat Alabama, and getting penalized for having to play UGA when Alabama didn't play them this year.

[CWood21]

15 hours ago, beekay414 said:

There's just no consistency with the rankings honestly. There's no reason to have Michigan behind Georgia right now other than avoiding a potential rematch with Ohio State. So, is it resume or is it matchup? They probably shouldn't release the damn playoff rankings until they select for the actual playoff. The committee would look a lot less stupid that way.

Unless you're putting recency bias in play, the rankings are correct.  Outside of Ohio State, Michigan's best win is against then #10 Penn State.  Their OOC schedule consists of Colorado State (3-9), Hawaii (3-10), and UConn (6-6) with a combined winning percentage of .324 compared to Georgia who had Oregon (9-3), Samford (FCS), and Kent State (5-7).  Their best win was against then #1 Tennessee.  Georgia was #1 going into this past week, and Georgia won without much challenge.  They deserved to stay at #1.  That Oregon win is probably the difference maker tbh.

[BobbyPhil1781]

3 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

If they're so scared of rematches (which, they haven't been in the past- they've touted how great it is, though usually because it works for them) they shouldn't have done something so stupid like a 4 team playoff with 5 major conferences lol. 

They put their chips on 1 team dominating each conference and everyone else being clearly out of the running. 

The forever obvious choice was conference champs from the power 5, top group of 5 champ, #'s 1 and 2 get a bye. 

 

I hope chaos reigns and we get a dud of a rematch. 

I'm looking forward to the 12 team scenario in a couple years. Just have to work w/ what we have right now. Inconsistencies will absolutely happen as there's no perfect formula and, like every year, people's feelings will get hurt. That will happen when the 12 team is introduced but I feel like it'll be lessened

[BobbyPhil1781]

3 hours ago, MWil23 said:

Ohio State has zero argument to being in regardless of what happens unless USC stumbles this weekend for a 2nd time.

Alabama has 2 losses and has zero argument finishing fourth in their own conference. Plus, their lone ranked wins are against Texas who they played with a hurt backup quarterback/should have lost and Mississippi State...who I guess is ranked because "reasons".

Georgia and UM are LOCKS

IMO TCU should be a lock since the committee has used "past conference title games won't hurt you when other teams don't make it to one" logic, but that won't happen. If they lose, they're in trouble.

If both USC and TCU lose, the chaos factor will be interesting, because UT will absolutely make noise about beating Alabama head to head, beating LSU who beat Alabama, and getting penalized for having to play UGA when Alabama didn't play them this year.

I think OSU will be in by default b/c their only loss it to who it is and they're only a one-loss team regardless of how bad it was. I don't disagree that they don't deserve to be in there. I feel a requirement should be to at least play in your conference championship which I guess they would have if we didn't have these dumb divisions. I also don't like the idea of a 2 loss team being in there either. Even w/ a TCU loss, throw them in. Is USC loses to..... hell if I know... What I think is fairly irrelevant but for the sake of banter, here we are.

[beekay414]

3 hours ago, CWood21 said:

Unless you're putting recency bias in play, the rankings are correct.  Outside of Ohio State, Michigan's best win is against then #10 Penn State.  Their OOC schedule consists of Colorado State (3-9), Hawaii (3-10), and UConn (6-6) with a combined winning percentage of .324 compared to Georgia who had Oregon (9-3), Samford (FCS), and Kent State (5-7).  Their best win was against then #1 Tennessee.  Georgia was #1 going into this past week, and Georgia won without much challenge.  They deserved to stay at #1.  That Oregon win is probably the difference maker tbh.

Nonsense. You can't just take the arguable best win in the country off the table lol

[CWood21]

9 hours ago, beekay414 said:

Nonsense. You can't just take the arguable best win in the country off the table lol

Who said anything about taking things off the table?  I'd say Georgia's win over Tennessee is comparable to Michigan's win over Ohio State.  I'd say that Georgia's win over Oregon is comparable to Michigan's win over Penn State.  Beyond those two games, what argument would you make that you could present Michigan as being clearly better than Georgia?