The College Football Playoff selection committee’s rankings are very much a work in progress, as reflected by the committee’s reassessment of Georgia.
For two weeks, it deemed the Bulldogs the No. 1 team in the country, largely on the basis of their undefeated record and road win over Notre Dame. This week, the committee considered additional evidence – the Bulldogs’ lopsided loss at Auburn – and deemed them the No. 7 team.
The 13 committee members view such movement as a natural part of the process toward ultimately choosing the four teams for the playoff.
“They know that we’re dealing with a sport that has ups and downs, that’s going to change every week,” Bill Hancock, the playoff’s executive director, said this week at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, site of the national championship game Jan. 8.
“It’s true we absolutely start with a clean sheet of paper every week.”
Ranked ahead of Georgia this week: No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Wisconsin and No. 6 Auburn.
The selection committee’s work, which culminates with the top four teams on Dec. 3 making the playoff field, is far from done. Georgia’s hope at this point is to climb back into the top four as a one-loss SEC champion.
“There are still three more weeks to go,” Hancock said. “Anything can happen. Probably anything will happen. But we feel like we’re in a very good place.”
On to the rest of our weekly update of college football’s road to Atlanta …
STOKAN’S PERSPECTIVE
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl president and CEO Gary Stokan, who follows the playoff selection process closely, offered these takeaways from this week’s rankings:
> “The winner of the Clemson-Miami ACC Championship game gets in the playoff, but I don’t think both of them could get in.”
> “Ohio State, at No. 9, still has an opportunity if they beat Illinois, Michigan and then Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game.”
> “I think at the end of the day the SEC winner, the ACC winner, the Big 12 winner and the Big Ten winner probably get in. I don’t see a Pac-12 team getting in, and I don’t see Notre Dame getting in. With Georgia’s loss, I don’t see any conference getting two teams in. The conference championship games are literally going to be play-in games for the final four.”
> By the way, based on this week’s rankings, Stokan projects the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl matchup potentially could be Georgia, Auburn or Wisconsin vs. Central Florida.
ATLANTA UPDATE
Playoff officials are spending several days in Atlanta this week, finalizing preparations for the national title game.
“This is a huge week for us in terms of planning,” said Michael Kelly, the CFP’s chief operating officer. “Our final production meeting is Friday. We’ve got a lot of fine-tuning of our plans.”
Three days of events, including free concerts in Centennial Olympic Park and an interactive fanfest in the Georgia World Congress Center, will precede the championship game.
Playoff officials announced performers for the concert series: Jason Derulo and Charlie Puth, along with special guest Lizzo, on Jan. 6; The Chainsmokers, along with additional performances by Bebe Rexha and Spencer Ludwig, on Jan. 7; and Darius Rucker in a pregame event Jan. 8, along with opening act Brett Young.
INSIDE THE COMMITTEE
This week’s rankings reinforce that the committee gives particular weight to head-to-head results, reflected by its moving two-loss Auburn ahead of one-loss Georgia.
“Head-to-head has been important this year,” Hancock said. “Just go down the list: We kept Oklahoma ahead of Ohio State, Ohio State ahead of Penn State, Auburn ahead of Georgia.” (He could have added: Georgia ahead of Notre Dame.)
All of those rankings are consistent with the head-to-head results between the teams.
“But there are some head-to-heads that don’t make sense where really the teams aren’t comparable,” Hancock said. “This week, we had a head-to-head of Stanford defeating Washington, but we just felt like (No. 18) Washington’s body of work to this point is still better than (No. 22) Stanford’s.”
PLAYOFF MOVER
Just one game this week matching teams ranked in the CFP Top 25:
No. 5 Wisconsin (10-0) at home vs. No. 24 Michigan (8-2), noon Saturday, Fox: Despite valid concerns about its weak schedule, expect Wisconsin to reach the playoff if it closes the regular season with wins over Michigan and Minnesota and then wins the Big Ten championship game.
ASKED AND ANSWERED
Q: Is there any movement toward expanding the playoff from four teams to, say, eight?
A: "There's not been any talk about expanding (among the college presidents and conference commissioners who oversee the playoff)," Hancock said. "They're confident, as I am, that four is the right number. Scarcity breeds passion."
Q: How would the selection committee feel about having two teams from one conference in the playoff?
A: "One of the beautiful things about the playoff is that there are no strings attached," Hancock said. "It's just simply the best four teams, whoever they may be. ... I suspect someday there will be a two-loss team in the playoff. I suspect someday there will be two teams from a conference. When that happens, nobody knows."
ROAD TO ATLANTA
Nov. 21 and 28: College Football Playoff selection committee releases weekly updated rankings
Dec. 3: Committee releases its final rankings, which set the four-team playoff field
Jan. 1: Playoff semifinals in the Rose and Sugar bowls
Jan. 8: National championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium
The AJC’s Tim Tucker keeps you updated on the latest happenings on the Road to Atlanta and college football’s national championship game. You’ll find more on myAJC.com.
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