Category: Polls Rankings

The second round of the College Football Playoff rankings were released, here are 25 instant reactions from the November 9th version

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College Football Playoff Rankings: Top 25 Instant Reactions

Rankings CFP | CFN | AP | Coaches

25. The College Football Playoff committee basically held serve

It’s not bad. There were a few questionable calls, but nothing all that insane. It was a tough week because everyone but Georgia stunk – at least up top – so there wasn’t much room for movement. The committee didn’t do anything crazy, but there will be a whole lot happening next week after a big weekend of games coming up.

24. San Diego State beat Utah, so …

The committee process is all about getting the pecking order right through the meticulous way of going through each factor – more on the big debate in a moment.

San Diego State lost to Fresno State, and for those who stay up until the wee hours of the morning, it hasn’t looked great in a slew of other games. But if Utah is in at 6-3, putting SDSU in – the Aztecs won 33-31 between the two – was a must.

23. The Penn State factor, Part 1

Penn State should’ve been in somewhere. YEAH, the loss to Illinois is a killer, but it beat Auburn (17), beat Wisconsin (18) in Madison, and lost to Iowa after losing QB Sean Clifford early on and lost in a good fight with Ohio State. Not a big deal – it’ll get in the top 25 if it beats Michigan – but there wasn’t much respect.

22. Watch out for Houston

It’s not ranked, but it’s about to play a huge role. The opening day loss to Texas Tech is a drag, but it wasn’t that bad – the Red Raiders are currently 5-4. There aren’t a slew of great wins, and the schedule isn’t going to get a whole lot stronger. However, that doesn’t matter.

What does is that it’s probably going to play Cincinnati for the American Athletic Conference championship. If the Cougars win out, it’s probably pushing the Bearcats out of the New Year’s Six, much less the College Football Playoff.

21. Louisiana is probably on the Top 25 bubble

Someone from the Sun Belt will end up being in the top 25, but it probably won’t be until the end. Louisiana destroyed Appalachian State, but it doesn’t have any great wins and isn’t looking all that impressive. The only loss is to Texas in the opener, and it gets at Troy, at Liberty, ULM to close. If it wins out, it’ll be deep in the mix for a New Year’s Six appearance.

NEXT: College Football Playoff Reactions

Who’s still alive in the chase to get into the 2021-2022 College Football Playoff? After Week 10, here’s our ranking of the 13 teams still in the mix.

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CFN 1-130 Rankings | Week 10 scoreboard
Bowl Projections, College Football Playoff Predictions
Week 11 opening lines | AP | Coaches
College Football Playoff Top 25 Prediction
Big Game Reaction: Purdue, UNC, Bama, more

Unfortunately, after key losses last weekend, we’re afraid Baylor and Auburn won’t be joining us for the rest of the season.

Where we’re going, they cannot follow.

To realistically be in the College Football Playoff chase in November, you have to 1) still be unbeaten, 2) be an unbeaten Power Five team, or 3) have some ridiculously strange circumstances to overcome parts one and two.

There are still 13 teams still alive, and it’s really more like 11 still in the hunt. These teams all have a reasonable path to dream of getting into the final four, and we’re ranking them based on how much control they have over their respective destinies.

This isn’t a College Football Playoff ranking projection – that’s this. This is all based on likelihood of getting in and the clearest paths.

13. UTSA Roadrunners (9-0)

So you know when Cincinnati was struggling so much with Tulsa this weekend … and, to a certain extent, Tulane the weekend before … and Navy the weekend before that? Everyone was talking about what that meant for the College Football playoff chase.

UTSA cares about the New Year’s Six bowl hunt.

The top-ranked Group of Five conference champion according to the CFP at least gets a New Year’s Six bowl bid. This year, that’s likely going to be the Fiesta. Conference USA has yet to have a team represented in the high-profile bowl.

So no, your Roadrunners of UTSA don’t have the slightest realistic shot at getting into the College Football playoff even if they do go 13-0 with a Conference USA championship and a win at Illinois on the resumé.

However, if there are a bunch of two-loss Power Five conference champs and Cincinnati loses once, UTSA would at least be in an interesting discussion.

If UC loses, though, getting that New Year’s Six slot would be on the table.

12. Texas A&M Aggies (7-2)

With the 20-3 win over Auburn, things just changed in a huge way for Texas A&M.

Now, even with losses to Arkansas and Mississippi State, there’s a case to be made that this could and should be the first ever two-loss team to get to the College Football Playoff.

But it needs a one-loss Alabama – who it beat 41-38 in early October – to lose again before the SEC Championship.

The Tide still have to deal with Arkansas at home and Auburn on the road. If they’re still as shaky as they were against LSU on Saturday, dropping one of those team isn’t out of the question.

If Bama loses, and A&M closes out with wins over Ole Miss, Prairie View A&M, and at LSU, it’s off to the SEC Championship to face Georgia. If it wins that, even with two losses, no way and no how does the committee leave out a red-hot SEC champion with wins over Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss, and LSU.

But that doesn’t happen unless the Tide help the cause.

11. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1)

Call this ranking a possible rental.

Yes, Notre Dame lost to Cincinnati. However, the Bearcat schedule is full of layups and the team is having a hard time getting the ball to go down. Don’t be the slightest bit shocked if Notre Dame moves ahead of Cincinnati at some point in the CFP ranking process.

While the Bearcats close out with more mediocre Group of Five teams, Notre Dame finishes with at Virginia, Georgia Tech, and at Stanford to end its season with nine games against Power Five programs and possible wins against all of them.

However, it’s still going to take at least two multi-loss Power Five champions – like in the ACC and Pac-12, most likely – and Alabama can’t beat Georgia in the SEC Championship, and there would have to be a major controversial call.

Or, Cincinnati might just lose at some point and the door would be open for the Irish.

HOWEVER … not getting to play in a conference championship matters. It didn’t in the past for 12-0 Notre Dame. It sure as shoot would for the 11-1 version.

NEXT: Top 10 College Football Playoff Chase Rankings

The day after the first batch of College Football Playoff rankings were released, here are five random thoughts about what the CFP committee came up with.

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College Football Playoff Rankings: 5 Random Day After Thoughts

– CFP Rankings: Reaction to every slot
– College Football Playoff Rankings

5. Oklahoma is more than okay, even at 9

13-0 Big 12 Champion Oklahoma is absolutely in the 2021-2022 College Football Playoff.

There’s ZERO chance it’s out if it wins out. None. No way, no how, and in no reasonable or rational scenario would the College Football Playoff committee leave out an unbeaten Power Five conference champion – that includes Wake Forest, by the way, but that’s not happening.

Don’t get into any sort of a twist at OU being at 9 to start. It still has to play Baylor (12), Oklahoma State (11), and it probably has to deal with one of those two a second time in the Big 12 Championship – if all goes well.

By the way, it’s not a total lock like 13-0 would be, but 12-1 Big 12 Champion Oklahoma would almost certainly get in, too.

College Football Playoff Rankings Day After Thoughts
– The sneaky-interesting ranking was …
– Arkansas really is the the one big whiff
– Cincinnati at 6 is fine … really
– Oregon isn’t necessarily safe at 4

NEXT: The sneaky-interesting ranking was …