We all saw it coming from a mile away. By way of its win on the road against Alabama, the LSU Tigers have moved ahead of Ohio State and grabbed the No. 1 spot in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings. The Buckeyes checked in at No. 2.
So much for looking at things objectively and railing against the national narrative. It’s one thing for it to happen with the narrow-minded AP and Amway Coaches Polls, but it’s another for the so-called smartest minds in football to do it with an unbiased eye.
I agree that there’s something to be said about the resume the Tigers have put together with four Top 25 wins and all, but at some point it seems like a bit of a cop out. Do you reward the most deserving team, or the better team? Ohio State has been more dominant than any other team out there, yet it drops to LSU because of the Alabama and SEC curve yet again.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Teams that play well against Alabama are given preferential treatment time and time again. A two-loss Georgia team appeared ahead of a one-loss Big Ten Champion Ohio State in the last set of CFP Rankings last year. And now, simply for beating the Tide, LSU gets the benefit of the doubt and leaps over the Buckeyes for the No. 1 spot.
The advanced metrics for Ohio State have been setting records.You couple that with the Buckeyes’ total domination on the field, and it feels like the CFP fell in line with popular opinion because LSU being better than Alabama means it’s better than anyone else.
Hogwash.
It’s time to ask the question of whether this Ohio State team, if having an SEC logo on the front of its jersey, would have dropped. If Alabama would have been this dominant in recent years, I’d bet the farm that there’s no way, no how, it would drop from the No. 1 slot unless it lost. I mean, Ohio State put up 73 freakin’ points against Maryland, hasn’t played a game close yet, has the nation’s best defense, and a top five offense.
LSU is atop the College Football Playoff Rankings for the first time.
LSU is the 4th different SEC school to top the CFP rankings (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State).
Only two non-SEC schools have ever been No. 1 in these rankings (Clemson, Ohio State). pic.twitter.com/zSHkWPpCqV
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 13, 2019
Better yet, Ohio State leads the country in yards allowed per game, points per game given up, points scored per game on offense, and yet it still gets leapfrogged because a team from the SEC beat Alabama. OSU looked utterly dominant against a Power Five opponent last game despite missing its best player.
There’s not one thing Ohio State could have done better than what it has to date to be the No. 1 team in the country other than by drinking sweet tea and having grits and bologna sandwiches for breakfast.
It’s a good thing we have four teams that make this playoff because it’ll take a little of the SEC bias out of the equation. Or so we hope.
You have to do better College Football Playoff Committee and quit drinking the SEC Kool-Aid. Just you wait though until the SEC gets two teams in all the fun yet again.
[opinary poll=”should-ohio-state-still-be-no-1-in-the-c” customer=”collegewires”]