Three teams were disrespected by the selection committee in the second College Football Playoff rankings, which were released Tuesday.
This is a subjective process, so it will never be perfect. But clearly, the committee holds some teams to certain standards and other teams to different ones. Some teams’ one-loss records hold up against undefeated squads, while other unbeaten teams can’t seem to do enough to get respect (even when they’re literally doing all they can). All wins and all losses aren’t equal, of course, but how is a win over a top-4 team less valuable than a loss to a top-4 team?
These rankings obviously don’t mean a whole lot in the middle of November because we have no idea what the College Football Playoff picture will look like in a few weeks. But they offer a little insight into the committee’s logic.
They also do a nice job of riling up college football fans, and the people who cheer for these three disrespected teams are right to be outraged.
No. 8 Minnesota (9-0)
What exactly do the Golden Gophers have to do to get a little respect? Plenty of people underestimated them against Penn State — For The Win included — but they took down a team the selection committee initially identified as the fourth best in the country. And the game was not nearly as close as the final 31-26 score. Minnesota was up, 24-10, at one point against a team just about everyone assumed it would lose to badly.
Minnesota debuted this season in the rankings at No. 17, which already seemed absurdly low. And then the Golden Gophers knocked off the No. 4 team and only rose to eighth, which is still the largest jump into the top 10 in the CFP era, per ESPN. Looking at the seven teams ahead of Minnesota, LSU is the only other that can say it beat a top-4 team, and it’s appropriately No. 1. But Minnesota should be higher than it is.
The logic for putting No. 4 at Georgia is its big wins against Florida and Notre Dame matter more than one bad loss to South Carolina. Minnesota has no losses, a massive win and a top-four strength of record, but it’s four spots behind the Bulldogs. We’re not saying the Golden Gophers should be No. 4, but anything less than No. 6 or even No. 7 this week is disrespectful.
No. 13 Baylor (9-0)
Unlike Minnesota, Baylor doesn’t have a win over a top-4 opponent. Actually, it hasn’t played a ranked opponent yet and needed triple-overtime to beat a TCU team that’s now 4-5. But the Bears are still undefeated and deserve to at least be closer to the top 10. Instead, their No. 13 spot is the lowest ranking by a 9-0 Power Five team in the CFP era, according to ESPN.
There are six one-loss teams and two two-loss teams ranked ahead of Baylor, and many one-loss teams deserve to be there. Despite Baylor’s No. 65 strength of schedule (which is still four spots higher than Clemson), it has the No. 3 strength of record, putting it higher than Auburn (No. 7) and Florida (No. 9). This undefeated Bears team should probably be No. 11, and if it beats Oklahoma this weekend, it needs to crack the top eight at least.
No. 18 Memphis (8-1)
Surprise! A team from a Group of Five conference is being disrespected. The Tigers have a two-point loss to Temple, which is important to remember. But in Week 10, they also beat a good and previously undefeated SMU team, 54-48, before having a bye last week. (And SMU actually dropped out of the rankings this week after debuting at No. 25, despite winning in Week 11. Just because the committee wants to add Appalachian State to the top-25 doesn’t mean it has to drop another Group of Five team.)
Memphis jumped three places in this week’s rankings, but maybe it should have been a couple spots more, especially when we know the committee won’t seriously consider a Group of Five team for the playoff anyway, regardless of record.
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