Taking A Look At Week 13's College Football Playoff Rankings
-The tone of most of these blogs each week has been #MadOnline, which has a bad connotation. After this week’s rankings, I’ve decided to embrace the whole #MadOnline thing. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not furious, but jeez does it seem like the playoff committee is lost.
-Virginia Tech and South Carolina at #24 and #25 is quite funny. The committee could not be more obvious about trying to get Alabama, Miami and Clemson another top-25 win. I’m not sure why that matters to them, but it makes it easier for them to answer questions like “why is this team higher than the other.”
-I have no idea why Miami is now ranked higher than Clemson. Did they all just sleep on putting Clemson over Miami in last weeks rankings for a week and ultimately decide that wasn’t right? I’m laughing imagining those old white dudes in the committee tossing and turning at night thinking about the “mistake” they made putting Clemson #2 and Miami #3.
-Another blatant move up to strengthen a top-4 teams resume is Mississippi State jumping UCF to #14. Mississippi State needed a late score to beat a 4-win Arkansas team that was playing their third-string quarterback, but that somehow told the committee that they are just that much better than UCF! You don’t just go into Arkansas and escape with a W!
-What we continue to come back to is humans being irrational. Were the computers better? Maybe this is a “you never know what you got until it’s gone” situation? A professor at UCLA still runs the BCS rankings formula every week and this is what the top 10 would be currently:
-Are these necessarily better than the current rankings? Ehhh, not really. For better or for worse, the committee has made college football more entertaining. These next two weeks have multiple games (Auburn vs. Alabama, SEC championship, ACC championship, etc.) that are essentially play-in games to the CFP. Look at the top 10 of the BCS….those games wouldn’t be as big if we were using that system.
-A positive for the BCS rankings: I would be more than happy to see a UCF team make the playoff over an ACC champion Clemson just to watch the cult of Clemson and state of South Carolina burn to the ground.
-It seems like the committee is made up of a bunch of old white guys who believe in the eye-test. My only wish would be to have a more analytically based committee. I don’t need a committee made up of strictly retired ADs and coaches. There should be some modern blood in there that take a more analytical approach.
-Margin of victory is a big part of the evaluation process. Look at how far Georgia fell after losing to Auburn by 24 points. Agree with it or not, it’s a piece of the process you should keep in mind while watching the big games this weekend and next. Ohio State should try to win each game by 50 points similar to how they flattened Wisconsin in 2015. If Alabama takes a one score loss in the SEC championship game will they drop out of the top 4? There are A LOT of potential scenarios out there right now, which is exciting. College football’s regular season is the best out there. Enjoy it.
-Even though they rank ahead of OSU currently, it seems that Notre Dame is dead. OSU would have to lose to Michigan this week then beat Wisco combined with a Auburn shalacking of Alabama and Georgia for ND to have any chance at the #4 spot. Oklahoma could lose the Big 12 championship game, but TCU is looking beyond depleted.
-Ps. RIVALRY WEEK IS HERE. GET EXCITED:
-Is there a 40-second video out there that makes you miss playing football more than this? I don’t care if you only played JV football in your day, this will give you chills down your spine?
-Is this the biggest Iron Bowl ever? More on that later in the week.