There’s still plenty of football left, but it’s time to overreact to the first edition of the College Football Playoff rankings of the 12-team postseason era.
The college football world has been waiting for the first release of the rankings, eager to see how the new 12-team playoff will take shape. Especially since the top four spots won’t go to the top four ranked teams, and just because a team is ranked in the top 12, doesn’t mean it will get a playoff spot.
Yes, there are still plenty of games remaining that can alter the playoff race – and there’s no precedent for how this new playoff alters things – but the first set of rankings sets the path teams need to go down in order to secure one of the 12 coveted spots. So who got snubbed and faces an undeserved uphill battle heading into the final stretch of the season?
Indiana
The surprise story of the season, Indiana still is getting disrespected with its No. 8 ranking. The committee proved last season the eye test matters when it picked Alabama over Florida State. So why hasn’t the same been applied to the Hoosiers?
Indiana has dominated every team it has faced this season with double-digit victories in every game. It trailed for the first time at 10-0 against Michigan State, and responded with 47 unanswered points. To this point, no team has been able to stop Curt Cignetti’s team, but it appears the schedule is preventing the Hoosiers from moving up. Their best win is against Washington with no wins over current ranked teams. However, Texas and Penn State also don’t have any victories over currently ranked teams.
So far, it’s looking like the name is hurting the Hoosiers more than the play on the field. There’s extra importance being place on Indiana’s game against Ohio State, with the Hoosiers needing to play a great game to possibly avoid being left out.
Brigham Young
As long as it wins the Big 12, where BYU is ranked won’t matter since it will get a first-round bye. But clearly there is little error if it drops one game.
At No. 9, the Cougars are behind teams like Texas and Penn State, who at this point don’t have any impressive victories. Meanwhile BYU has wins over No. 13 Southern Methodist and No. 19 Kansas State, the later which was a blowout. Sure the Longhorns and the Nittany Lions lost to good teams, but they both have a loss and BYU doesn’t – and the Cougars have more ranked victories than Miami.
The low ranking assumes if BYU loses it can fall out of the top 12 and will have to rely on winning the conference title should it happen.
Boise State
It’s no secret the Broncos are the best Group of Five team in the country and are rightfully in the projected playoff field, but a case could be made for them to be higher.
Boise State’s only loss was to Oregon on the road, and it was a game it could’ve won at the end. As the Ducks continue to look as the best team in the country, Boise State’s stock continues to grow. Outside of that game, the Broncos have also been dominant with Heisman candidate Ashton Jeanty leading the squad. The closest victory was at UNLV, which is another Group of Five team that has a chance to sneak into the field. Boise State’s one loss makes much more sense than Notre Dame’s, which is two spots ahead of the Broncos.
Still, there aren’t many impressive victories for the Broncos. What’s nice for the moment is if Boise State loses again, it likely will be the highest ranked Group of Five team, but that Oregon loss shouldn’t penalize them as much as the committee could do.
Southern Methodist
So far, SMU has excelled in its first year of the ACC. Despite the impressive start, the Mustangs are just outside of the projected playoff field.
SMU has a comparable resume to Notre Dame. The Mustangs have two ranked victories in Pittsburgh and Louisville, which Notre Dame also beat. However, SMU’s lone loss was a close one to BYU. The Fighting Irish lost to a Northern Illinois team that is near the bottom of the MAC. There’s no reason Notre Dame should be above SMU, and now the Mustangs are on the outside trying to play themselves into one of the spots.
Army
Army has yet to trail in a game this season, yet it trails nearly the entire top 25 in the rankings.
The Black Knights have had convincing wins in every game. However slotting them in the last spot of the rankings looks past their undefeated record. Sure there aren’t any impressive victories, but Army is one of five undefeated teams remaining and it isn’t being rewarded for it, with teams that don’t have big victories ahead.
Army still has Notre Dame on the schedule and that should pretty much decide whether it has any chance to make the College Football Playoff. But even if it wins, the odds are stacked very much against the Black Knights getting close to the playoff field.
Vanderbilt
One team that should have been in the top 25 field was the surprise of the SEC in Vanderbilt.
When the season ends, no one will forget when Vanderbilt shocked the college football world when it beat Alabama and it was not a fluke. However, the loss against Georgia State seems to outweigh the big win. The Commodores do have close ranked losses to Missouri and Texas, but the justification for Missouri to be ranked is that it beat Vanderbilt. So shouldn’t the Commodores be ranked?
Vanderbilt doesn’t really have a path to the playoff, but it has been a good team so far that has proved its worth of a ranking at this point.
When is next College Football Playoff rankings?
The next set of rankings will be revealed next Tuesday on Nov. 12.