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The latest College Football Playoff Rankings are out and Ohio State has held steady at No. 2 according to the committee that decides these types of things.
Each week, after the rankings are revealed, the CFP Committee holds a teleconference for select media members to answer questions about the discussions and process used to rank the teams into their respective slots.
We’re a part of those and we’d like to pass on what the Playoff Selection Committee Chair Rob Mullens had to say about Ohio State. So, here goes …
On the overall comments from the selection committee on the Buckeyes:
Ohio State is strong on both sides of the ball. They’ve made a statement all year long.
On the importance of the final score of games:
Question from the media: You were asked a question last week about the
importance of final score versus what happens in a game. I’m just curious, Ohio State was up I think 42-0 on Maryland at halftime and pulled its starters. They were up 42-7 early in the 3rd and pulled the starters against Rutgers. When the committee is evaluating those games, does the evaluation kind of end there? Is that sort of a punctuation mark? How do you look at those?
ROB MULLENS: We watch the entire games. We certainly do not incent margin of victory, but we understand those were all convincing wins for Ohio State.
Follow Up Question: I think they’re winning by an average of 40 something to 6 or something over the first three quarters of games this year. How much is a statistic like that factoring in to where the committee sees Ohio State right now?
ROB MULLENS: We don’t evaluate that statistic, but again, we watch the games and we’re very aware of the flow of the game and the score.
What the CFP Selection Committee Taught Us: Poll Mentality https://t.co/0dQ0nr7S7Y
— Buckeyes Wire (@BuckeyesWire) November 20, 2019
On the separation between teams near the top:
Question from the media: I wondered if you could provide some insight in
terms of the gap between the three unbeaten teams at the top and maybe just 1 through 3 and between 4, 5 and 6 and beyond, is there a big gap in your mind between those groups?
ROB MULLENS: Well, we’re very thorough in our conversations 1 through 25 and even beyond, and so the committee does spend considerable time on 1 through 3. Obviously those are the three undefeated teams, and after last week, with LSU’s win, Ohio State’s win and Clemson’s win, the committee felt that was the order. LSU 1, Ohio State 2 and Clemson 3 through week 12.
On the evaluation of teams:
Question from the media: I just have a similar question to the last one. Do
you guys look at teams and say and evaluate and credit them when they are complete and they do seem balanced offensively and defensively compared to teams that are stronger on one side of the ball?
ROB MULLENS: Well, results are the most important thing. Let’s start with that. But sure, when you dig beyond the results, we’re looking at the how, and so we are looking at offense, defense and special teams.
On the Tua situation being similar to Cardale Jones in 2014:
Question from the media: Kind of following up on the question regarding
Tua, this is a relatively unique situation. I get Cardale Jones is the only comparable situation like this before. Has there been any talk in the committee room or was there any talk about how Alabama will be evaluated moving forward knowing that Tua Tagovailoa is not going to be there?
ROB MULLENS: No, we do not project, we do not look forward. Our charge is to rank the teams based on their body of work through week 12, and that’s what we did. Obviously we’ll watch the games moving forward and evaluate them after that.