The first College Football Playoff rankings are out, and the committee has put Miami at No. 1. That part wasn’t especially surprising. The rest of the list, though, gives plenty to talk about.
The rankings were released Tuesday, the same day as the U.S. midterm elections. So, naturally, there was a brief opening for Election Day jokes. It seemed worth taking.
Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from the committee’s first look.
Notre Dame has a clear task
Notre Dame was left out of last year’s playoff after finishing 10-2. Both losses came early, against Miami and Texas A&M, and a ten-game winning streak to close the season still wasn’t enough to get the Irish in.
The decision caused plenty of frustration. Notre Dame also withdrew from bowl consideration, and the playoff selection process changed afterward. This season, the Irish will receive an automatic bid if they finish among the top 12 teams in the final rankings.
For now, Notre Dame sits at No. 11. The committee’s message seems fairly direct: keep winning.
The Irish host top-ranked Miami this weekend. A win would likely move them up the rankings; a loss would give them a second defeat and could leave them on the outside again. Notre Dame’s only loss so far came on the road against BYU, in a game that ended controversially, so some people were surprised to see the Irish at No. 11.
Committee chair Hunter Yurachek said the group was impressed by Notre Dame but felt the team lacked a signature win. A victory over Miami would probably change that conversation.
Apparently, signature wins mean different things
Notre Dame wasn’t the only team whose ranking prompted questions about what counts as a signature win.
Indiana is No. 4, a position that would earn the Hoosiers a first-round bye if the playoff started today. The team is 8-1, including a 5-1 record in the Big Ten, with wins over North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky, Northwestern, Rutgers, Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota. The wins over Michigan and Minnesota both came in overtime.
Indiana’s only loss was to Ohio State, which is ranked No. 12 and would just miss the playoff field in the current rankings. Boise State, at No. 25, would be the lone Group of Six team included.
Asked why Indiana was ranked so much higher than Notre Dame, Yurachek pointed to strength of schedule. That may be part of the explanation, though the distinction is still a little hard to square with the committee’s comments about Notre Dame needing a signature win.
The SEC is getting a generous reading
“It just means more” has long been a running joke about the SEC. Looking at these rankings, the committee may have taken the slogan seriously.
Ten SEC teams made the initial top 25, including three-loss South Carolina and Florida. Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss are all in the projected playoff field despite having two losses apiece. Georgia, which has one loss, is ranked No. 2, ahead of undefeated Utah.
Eight of the ten SEC teams—Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, Ole Miss, Tennessee, LSU, Missouri, and South Carolina—are ranked higher by the committee than they were in the Associated Press poll.
Alabama’s placement at No. 5 is notable. The committee appears to have given the Crimson Tide considerable credit for beating one-loss Kentucky, while showing little concern about Alabama’s three-score loss to Tennessee. Tennessee, itself a two-loss team, is also in the rankings.
In other words, SEC wins seem to carry a lot of weight. The losses, perhaps less so.
The Big 12 has a lot at stake
Five Big 12 teams made the rankings: Utah at No. 3, BYU at No. 9, Texas Tech at No. 15, Houston at No. 17, and Arizona at No. 22.
For the moment, that puts the conference in position to potentially send multiple teams to the playoff. Utah and BYU would both make the field if it began today, while Texas Tech and Houston are close behind.
The next two weeks could change that quickly. BYU and Utah meet this weekend, and Utah travels to face Arizona the following week. Those games should have a major effect on how the Big 12 is represented in the next rankings.
These rankings are only a first draft
The opening rankings are a starting point, not a final verdict. There should be plenty of movement, especially with seven games this weekend featuring teams from the committee’s top 25:
- No. 9 BYU (7-1) at No. 3 Utah (8-0)
- No. 7 Texas (6-2) at No. 18 Missouri (6-2)
- No. 5 Alabama (6-2) at No. 14 LSU (6-2)
- No. 23 Oregon (5-3) at No. 12 Ohio State (6-2)
- No. 6 Kentucky (7-1) at No. 13 Tennessee (6-2)
- No. 1 Miami (8-0) at No. 11 Notre Dame (7-1)
- No. 2 Georgia (7-1) at No. 10 Ole Miss (6-2)
Oregon’s game against Ohio State looks especially important, given where both teams sit. Notre Dame likely needs to beat Miami to stay in a strong position. Kentucky has only one loss, but its next three games are against ranked opponents: at Tennessee, at home against Florida, and at Missouri. A demanding stretch starts now for the Wildcats.
There are already plenty of questions about the rankings. This weekend should answer some of them, anyway—and may well raise a few more.
