The annual made-for-television College Football Playoff rankings kicked off Tuesday night. Don’t worry if you missed it — there weren’t any surprises. In…
The annual made-for-television College Football Playoff rankings kicked off Tuesday night. Don’t worry if you missed it — there weren’t any surprises.
In fact, it nearly mirrored the top seven of the Associated Press poll. The only difference was Tuesday’s rankings had LSU at No. 3 and Notre Dame fourth. The two flip-flopped in the AP poll.
Committee chair Rob Mullens, the Oregon athletic director, cited the strong record against opponents with a winning record for LSU, the only team in the top four with a loss.
“They’ve beaten six teams with a winning record,” Mullens said on ESPN. “Within the FBS, no other team has that record against winning teams. They have played a strong schedule. Their only loss was a close loss at Florida. Really impressed with their defense and overall their body of work was pretty strong.”
As expected, undefeated juggernaut Alabama was ranked first, followed by Clemson, LSU and Notre Dame. Michigan was fifth, then Georgia and Oklahoma. Surprising Pac-12 North leader Washington State was eighth, before Kentucky and Ohio State rounded out the top 10. The top four almost certainly will change by this time next week, after Alabama and LSU meet Saturday night in the Bayou, and there are three other games featuring teams in the top 20 that could cause further movement.
In the first four years of the initial rankings, half of the teams in the top four reached the playoff. A year ago, three of them — Georgia, Alabama and Clemson — finished in the top four.
Interestingly, the ACC, viewed by most experts as suffering through a down season, had five teams in the top 25, one more than in the AP poll. The Pac-12, meanwhile, was represented by just two teams — Washington State and No. 15 Utah — and seems likely to miss out on the playoff for the third time in four years barring a number of unpredictable results. The powerhouse SEC, which sent two teams to the playoff a year ago, landed three of the top six teams, and seven teams altogether, including three-loss Mississippi State at No. 18.
Undefeated Central Florida, with a nation-best 20-game winning streak, was the highest non-Power 5 school, ranked 12th, six spots higher than it debuted last year and the spot it finished a year ago. In explaining Central Florida’s ranking, Mullens said it is the only team in the top 25 without a win against a team over.500.
“That was duly noted by the committee,” he said.
New rankings will be revealed every Tuesday by the 13-member committee until the final selections are announced Dec. 2.
