Tonight, the latest College Football Playoff rankings are set to be revealed. There weren’t many high-stakes games on the Week 13 schedule, but a few pressing questions linger for the selection committee as they approach this fourth round of rankings.
So, what are these questions? Let’s explore them and perhaps offer some insights to the committee.
I mean, who knows, right?
Will Oregon State surpass Ole Miss?
Last week, Oregon State was ranked 7th, just trailing Ole Miss.
Ole Miss had a week off for the Egg Bowl, while the Ducks faced USC, ranked 15th. Oregon State won decisively, beating the Trojans with a score of 42-27.
Is that enough for the Ducks to leap ahead of Ole Miss? After the game, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning pointed to the differences in schedules between teams in the Big Ten and SEC.
“We played a really strong team and came out on top,” he remarked. “Often, we face tough teams and somehow find ourselves unranked. It’s frustrating. Anyway, we focus on our games and do what we can. Today, we did that well. The results speak for themselves.”
“Looking ahead, we just aim to keep performing like this. This conference is challenging. We don’t take the easy route like in some other matchups. Today was about taking on a good team and competing effectively.”
Lanning might have a valid point regarding strength of schedule. Ole Miss is ranked 32nd. He could argue that, based on the committee’s previous insights, the quality of losses matters significantly. While Ole Miss fell to Georgia, a top-four team, Oregon’s single loss was to Indiana, which also ranks highly.
Can Miami break into the top 12?
They’ve been inching closer to that goal since last week…
In the previous rankings, Miami was 13th, just behind Utah.
Utah had to mount a comeback against Kansas State for a 51-47 victory, but Miami managed to defeat Virginia Tech convincingly. Will that be enough for the Hurricanes to jump ahead of Utah?
Probably not. For many reasons I mentioned last week when comparing Notre Dame and Miami.
The committee tends to focus on the quality of losses too, and they seem to favor teams that recover from rocky starts. For instance, Texas A&M was down against South Carolina but managed to claw back for a win.
Commenting on this, committee chair Hunter Yurachek noted, “From our perspective, the second half really outweighed their first-half performance, especially in a comeback win when they weren’t playing at their best.”
Perhaps that will keep Utah ahead of Miami. Still, the Hurricanes have a slim chance this weekend against Pittsburgh, who just defeated Georgia Tech.
What’s the situation with Oklahoma and Notre Dame?
Oklahoma was eighth in last week’s rankings, while Notre Dame was right behind them at ninth.
The Fighting Irish overwhelmed a talented Syracuse team with a starting freshman quarterback, winning 70-7, but I wouldn’t anticipate Notre Dame overtaking Oklahoma just yet. The Sooners also secured a win against a ranked opponent, narrowly defeating Missouri State, 17-6.
It wasn’t exactly spectacular, but it was likely adequate for Oklahoma this week.
Is there a chance for Texas?
It seems every time the Longhorns are counted out, they somehow find a glimmer of hope.
After a loss to Georgia a few weeks back, Texas fell to three losses, landing at No. 17 last week. However, the two teams ahead of them in the rankings, USC and Georgia Tech, both experienced losses, which could potentially open the door for Texas.
Given this, Texas could very well climb to No. 15, just below Vanderbilt, which they already managed to defeat. The big question remains whether the committee will weigh the 8-3 Longhorns against the 9-2 Commodores directly. If they do, Texas might just edge ahead due to their prior win against Vanderbilt.
At the very least, Texas is finding themselves back in the conversation. Yet, their best chance to solidify a higher ranking depends on a win this weekend against Texas A&M.
