Three consecutive losses may not have prevented Penn State from falling out of the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and AP Top 25 this week, but the selection committee for the College Football Playoff certainly felt differently about Penn State’s season to date. The Nittany Lions failed to appear in the initial College Football Playoff rankings for the 2021 season, which debuted Tuesday evening.
Penn State came into the first Tuesday of November in the worst possible way for the selection committee’s first batch of rankings this season. After losing three consecutive games to Iowa, Illinois, and Ohio State, the selection committee wasn’t about to provide much benefit of the doubt for Penn State despite an improved effort against Ohio State and leading Iowa prior to the injury to quarterback Sean Clifford.
The playoff rankings ranked Georgia at the top of the poll, which was not at all surprising given the dominance of the Bulldogs this season. Alabama came in at No. 2, ahead of No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Oregon. Ohio State is the first team out at No. 5, largely due to their lone loss coming against the Ducks despite Ohio State clearly being on a better track than the Ducks since their Week 2 meeting. In the eyes of the selection committee, head-to-head wins will carry some weight, but having no losses will generally trump having any losses.
Of course, Ohio State still comes in ahead of No. 6 Cincinnati, which is drawing most of the criticism with the initial rankings. Cincinnati is No. 2 in the AP Top 25 and coaches poll, yet the selection committee continues to disrespect Group of Five programs at every opportunity. Cincinnati does have a win against No. 10 Notre Dame, but the Bearcats were slammed by the selection committee for recent performances against Navy (27-20 in a win) and Tulane (31-12) on the road.
Other than Michigan State and Ohio State, other Big Ten teams appearing in the initial playoff rankings include No. 7 Michigan, No. 20 Minnesota, No. 21 Wisconsin, and No. 22 Iowa.
Clearly, Penn State has some work to do in the month of November to regain any amount of respect from the selection committee before being able to work their way back into and up the playoff rankings. Although a shot at the playoff is long gone for Penn State, and in all likelihood any shot at the Big Ten championship, the Nittany Lions can still make a big final push up the rankings in November with games against Michigan and Michigan State highlighted the final month of the regular season.
But first, Penn State faces Maryland this weekend. Penn State’s road contest at Maryland will be played at 3:30 p.m. ET.