ESPN’s Heather Dinich and David Pollack joined the network’s Get Up show Wednesday morning to discuss the first College Football Playoff rankings that were released Tuesday night.
Dinich was asked what the most important signals were that the CFP Committee sent with the initial rankings, and she pointed to Michigan being ranked No. 5 behind No. 1 Tennessee, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Clemson.
“Well I will start with Michigan,” she said. “I thought it was an indictment on their schedule, and if you look at the top 15 teams, Michigan has the worst schedule strength at 79. Their non-conference opponents Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn are a combined 8-18. So, what does that mean? They better beat the Buckeyes or they are not going to get into the College Football Playoff.”
Pollack discussed how the CFP Committee valued Tennessee’s resume when slotting the Volunteers at No. 1 but favored the eye test when putting Ohio State ahead of Georgia.
“It is the same as we see every year. Sometimes they use the eye test and sometimes they use the script and the strength of schedule,” he said. “If you look at Tennessee, they are clearly No. 1. They beat LSU and Alabama, that is two top-10 teams. But then you look at Ohio State. What they have done so far is definitely not as impressive as Georgia. They thought Ohio State was better. Clemson is very interesting.”
As for TCU checking in at No. 7 in the first CFP rankings, Pollack thinks the committee sent a clear message to the Horned Frogs.
“How about TCU? TCU falling all the way down. That is a message to TCU,” he said. “Like, how far can they climb when you look at their schedule and what they have left? Baylor and at Texas, but it was a message to me that TCU, like you are not a complete football team.”
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