College Football Playoff Rankings Reaction, Top 20
20. Syracuse Orange 6-2
This begins a rough mini-stretch of the rankings for the committee. Syracuse beat Purdue, CFP 22 NC State, and fought a Clemson team that got enough love to be ranked in the top four. To be fair, the committee is taking a snapshot and the injuries and two straight losses – dropping the home date to Notre Dame – is part of this, but the Orange should swap spots with Oklahoma State.
19. Tulane Green Wave 7-1
This is a HUGE miss. Yeah, losing to Southern Miss at home hurts, but considering the committee loves big wins it should’ve given more credit to the team that beat Kansas State in Manhattan. Tulane won its game against the Wildcats and should’ve been ranked ahead of …
18. Oklahoma State Cowboys 6-2
How did the committee whiff so badly on this 18-19 slot debate when it had to decide between the team that beat the Kansas State team that obliterated the Cowboys 48-0?
Apparently, beating Texas matters – ask the committee about what that did for Alabama. Other than that, Oklahoma State hasn’t done much of anything other than lose to TCU – that loss to K-State really was bad.
17. North Carolina Tar Heels 7-1
It’s an interesting ranking considering the seven wins came against a fat load of jack squat. The committee says it loves balanced teams, but the defense hasn’t done a whole bunch, there aren’t any wins over any CFP ranked teams, the home loss to Notre Dame hurts, and …
Based on resumé and the D, the Tar Heels should probably be about four spots lower, but at least they’re behind …
16. Illinois Fighting Illini 7-1
Wow did the committee really, really not like that last second loss at Indiana early on. There isn’t a fantastic win so far, but there are plenty of solid ones. The committee isn’t giving enough credit to just how dominant the Illini have been – they just aren’t pretty.
15. Penn State Nittany Lions 6-2
There were years when Penn State got too much credit rom the committee. This year it’s not getting enough respect for losing at Michigan and to Ohio State after putting up a good fight. There isn’t a win over a ranked team, but winning at Purdue and Auburn – and blowing out Minnesota – wasn’t bad.
14. Utah Utes 6-2
It’s subtle, but this is a little bit of a too-low misfire. CFP 10 LSU got full credit for trucking Ole Miss, but Utah handing CFP 9 USC its only loss is every bit as impressive.
LSU lost to Florida State on a neutral site. Utah lost at Florida – going to Gainesville to open the season is tougher than LSU losing in New Orleans. Throw in the win over CFP 23 Oregon State – USC got too much love for that – and the Utes should probably be a wee bit higher.
13. Kansas State Wildcats 6-2
This doesn’t make any sense. The 48-0 obliteration of CFP 18 Oklahoma State that just happened was obviously enough to get the Wildcats this high, and blowing out Missouri probably made a difference. However, if this really is the 13th best team – even with a home loss to Tulane – TCU should probably be higher than 7 for its win over K-State.
12. UCLA Bruins 7-1
Since we’re now living in a world full of doorknobs lapping up every possible conspiracy theory, I’m not entirely sold that the College Football Playoff committee didn’t mistakenly screw up the LA schools.
UCLA beat CFP 14 Utah and lost on the road to CFP 8 Oregon. USC lost to Utah and hasn’t beaten anyone of note other than CFP 23 Oregon State – and that was way too close.
The Pac-12 order should go Oregon, then UCLA, then Utah, then USC.
11. Ole Miss Rebels 8-1
The committee doesn’t always care about gaudy records. This is about right considering Ole Miss doesn’t have a win over a CFP-ranked team, but this spot gives credit to the wins over Kentucky or Texas A&M. The blowout loss to LSU kept it out of the top ten.