When the calendar flips to November, in the world of college football, it means we are on the cusp of nut-cutting time. Big games galore line the calendar, and in the second year of the 12-team College Football Playoff, November means we begin getting weekly updates on the rankings that will determine the field.
Earlier this week, the CFP committee put out their first set of rankings. About a dozen folks sat in a room, grinding over pages and pages of analytics, and having watched hours upon hours of games to formulate their “eye test.” Here are the rankings they came up with, ten weeks into the season:
1. Ohio State
2. Indiana
3. Texas A&M
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Ole Miss
7. BYU
8. Texas Tech
9. Oregon
10. Notre Dame
11. Texas
12. Oklahoma
13. Utah
14. Virginia
15. Louisville
16. Vanderbilt
17. Georgia Tech
18. Miami
19. USC
20. Iowa
21. Michigan
22. Missouri
23. Washington
24. Pitt
25. Tennessee
These rankings are obviously going to undergo some change over the next few weeks, as some of the big dogs will play each other. The attrition with take care of itself. For now, here are a few observations on the initial set of CFP rankings:
Three Texas teams in the top 11 makes for a fun November!
Texas A&M is ranked third, and that’s not surprising. Texas Tech is ranked eighth, and th strength of their position will be determined this weekend when they host 7th ranked BYU. Meanwhile, Texas’ last month has consisted of unimpressive wins over Kentucky and MIssissippi State, and a win over Vanderbilt, where they cruised for three quarters, and then almost coughed up the game. They are 11th in the nation, first one out among the at-large teams. Texas still has Georgia and A&M coming up this month. If they win both of those games, they should be in.
That said, the reveal show hammered home the Coogs’ missed opportunity last weekend
Man, it sure was fun for a week having the University of Houston in the AP and coaches’ polls in the Top 25, ranked 22nd in each of them. Had they beaten West Virginia at home this past weekend — they were favored by 13 points — then it’s likely the Coogs would have been in the College Football Playoff Top 25 somewhere, and that brief moment where they reveal the teams, seeing the University of Houston on millions of TV screens, would have been worth its weight in NIL money. Alas, the Coogs are, understandably after Saturday’s debacle, unranked.
Is the conference structure still really a Power Four?
When the Pac-12 disintegrated a couple years ago, with the various schools bolting for bigger pay days and safe havens in other conferences, we went from a “Power Five” conference pecking order to a “Power Four.” After looking at the first set of rankings, I begin to wonder if it’s even a “Power Four” anymore, and I’m looking at you, ACC! Before we even get to the first ACC team in these rankings — UVA at 14th — we have six SEC teams, three Big Ten teams, three Big XII teams, and Notre Dame. Additionally, the two flags bearer schools for the ACC over the last two decades, Clemson and Florida State, are both unranked and playing poorly This season. This feels more like a Power Three and a Half.
Good move by the committee to change the “first round bye” rules
Last season, in the first iteration of the 12-team playoff, the committee chose to reward the top four conference champions with a bye in the first round, and be seeded first through fourth. It sounds good on paper, and without any specific schools tied to the idea. Then last season unfolds, and due to that rule, the bracket had to have Boise State seeded 3rd and Arizona State seeded 4th. It’s no shock that the 5th through 8th seeds all made it to the semifinals. That method was broken. Now the top four teams in the rankings, independent of conference, are the four byes. If it were last year’s method, Virginia would be the four seed, which would be criminal.
The post Three Texas Schools Among Top 11 in College Football Playoff Rankings appeared first on Houston Press.
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