CFP selection committee unravels season of parity with first rankings
ATHENS — The College Football Playoff Selection Committee sorted out a season of parity with its early emphasis on schedule strength amid its blend of data points and observations.
The challenge was clear, as having three undefeated teams entering November is the fewest college football has seen since the CFP era began in 2014.
The SEC had five of the top 10 teams in the CFP rankings — and 10 of the Top 25 — which was relatively consistent with the AP rankings, which have five SEC teams in the top 12 and 10 in the Top 25.
Wins over teams with .500 records or better and head-to-head matchups were key in the first set of CFP rankings, which came out Tuesday night.
Hunter Yurachek, the chairman of the 13-member committee, said “it was really unanimous” that Miami (8-0) was the No. 1 team in the country, and “not that Miami was an easy definitive choice, but that may have been the easiest decision that the committee had to make.”
Georgia (7-1) was ranked No. 2 despite what could prove to be a costly loss to an unranked Auburn should the Bulldogs drop into an evaluation “pod” of two-loss teams.
Yurachek, when asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the CFP teleconference Tuesday night about the pod Georgia fit into, revealed UGA was evaluated in a group that consisted of Miami (8-0), Utah (8-0), Indiana (8-1) and “two other teams” that would figure to be UCLA (8-0) and BYU (7-1).
“It would be fair to say that those teams that were in the top four were in a pod together,” Yurachek said. “They would have been joined by two other teams comparatively, not necessarily (No. 5) Alabama and (No. 6) Kentucky, and then you look at two of those teams that are undefeated... and then you’ve got Georgia with that one loss at home against Auburn, but they’ve got a really good win on the road against Alabama.”
The Crimson Tide’s No. 5 ranking raised eyebrows, as despite its two losses, Alabama was ranked ahead of undefeated UCLA (8-0) and one-loss teams Kentucky (7-1), BYU (7-1) and Notre Dame (7-1).
Alabama’s rank reflects the weight schedule strength carries compared with how past committees have leaned more heavily on teams’ win-loss records.
Alabama has played seven of its eight games this season against teams with records of .500 or better, and Yurachek noted the team has wins over No. 6 Kentucky, No. 21 South Carolina and a Mississippi State team that was 4-0 at the time and at full strength with “dynamic” quarterback Kamario Taylor still healthy.
“We are not over-penalizing teams for losses that the committee thinks highly of,” Yurachek said. “As we speak today, a loss to an Alabama or Tennessee or Georgia is not on the same level as an unranked team.
“Those three teams have several wins against teams the committee thinks highly of.”
The Big Ten’s run of the past three CFP Championships and Ohio State’s rich tradition could lead some to question the Buckeyes (6-2) current No. 12 rank. If the season ended today, Ohio State would not be in the 12-team field because Boise State, as the highest-ranked Group of 6 team, would assume the No. 12 seed.
Yurachek explained Ohio State’s 30-18 loss Saturday at No. 20 USC — a team that lost to unranked Wisconsin by a 24-7 count the Saturday before and has a suspect defense — factored heavily into the ranking.
Notre Dame is another traditional powerhouse whose No. 11 ranking will be scrutinized.
Yurachek quickly provided data to support the Irish’s standing, however, pointing to a 1-1 record against teams with records of .500 or above and a loss to the only Top 25 team it has played to this point, No. 9 BYU (28-24).
Of historical note, Miami, Utah and Kentucky received the highest CFP rankings in their respective schools’ history.
“We’ve got seven matchups versus Top 25 (playing one another on Saturday), so we can expect these rankings will change significantly over the next few weeks,” Yurachek said.
“The parity we have seen is great for college football, but it has made for an unpredictable year so far… and we expect that trend to continue.”
Here’s how the College Football Playoff bracket would look if the season were to end today:
First Round
(Dec. 18-19, at campus locations)
No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Alabama
No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 6 Kentucky
No. 10 Ole Miss at No. 7 Texas
No. 9 BYU at No. 8 UCLA
Quarterfinals
(Dec. 30 Fiesta Bowl, Jan. 1 Cotton Bowl, Rose Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl)
No. 1 Miami vs. winner of BYU at UCLA
No. 2 Georgia vs. winner of Ole Miss at Texas
No. 3 Utah vs. winner of Notre Dame at Kentucky
No. 4 Indiana vs. winner of Boise State at Alabama
Semifinals
(Jan. 14 Orange Bowl, Jan. 15 Sugar Bowl)
CFP Championship Game
(Jan. 25, Las Vegas)
First set of CFP rankings
1. Miami
2. Georgia
3. Utah
4. Indiana
5. Alabama
6. Kentucky
7. Texas
8. UCLA
9. BYU
10. Ole Miss
11. Notre Dame
12. Ohio State
13. Tennessee
14. LSU
15. Texas Tech
16. Wake Forest
17. Houston
18. Missouri
19. Iowa
20. USC
21. South Carolina
22. Arizona
23. Oregon
24. Florida
25. Boise State