The latest College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday, and they have left many pressing questions.
This year is unlike any other we have seen, which is why the job of ranking teams is so difficult for the committee. The ACC, SEC and Big 12 aimed to play full conference schedules, while the Pac-12 and Big Ten started late and then endured multiple cancellations. Among Group of 5 teams, some conferences played full schedules.
All the cancellations and postponements, plus the relative lack of non-conference games, has made it even more difficult than usual to compare teams.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have some serious questions for the committee we would like answered.
1) Why did Cincinnati drop in the rankings?
The Bearcats are 8-0 and have not played since Nov. 21. Their last two games were canceled, but they are scheduled to play Tulsa in the American Athletic Conference Championship Game on Saturday. So why would they drop if their resume did not get weaker? Georgia moved ahead of them because they went from 6-2 to 7-2 with a win over Missouri. The way I see it, Cincinnati hasn’t lost this year, and they’ve looked good. You can’t convince me that Georgia, Florida or Iowa State — all with two losses — are better. Yet all three of those two-loss teams are ranked ahead of the Bearcats.
2) Why isn’t Coastal Carolina higher?
The Chanticleers are 11-0. They’ve played a full schedule and won every game. They played a legit BYU team in a game scheduled at the last second, and they won. They won at Louisiana, and the Ragin’ Cajuns beat No. 6 Iowa State. In a year when so many Power 5 schools have hardly played games, and when so many school have lost games, a team that has played 11 and won all 11 should be rewarded even more. There is zero excuse not to have Coastal Carolina in the top 10 at minimum.
3) What’s the infatuation with Iowa State?
Iowa State at No. 6 is a joke. The Cyclones have lost to Louisiana and Oklahoma State. If they were that good, they’d be 10-0. Maybe Iowa State loses in the Big 12 Championship to Oklahoma and drops down and this becomes moot. But I wouldn’t have them this high for now. They should be lower, and Coastal and Cincinnati should be above them.
This is not a question for the committee but an observation we all know: there is a heavy SEC bias from the committee. They have the SEC with four of their top eight teams. Alabama deserves to be No. 1. Texas A&M at 7-1 has some solid wins but proved they don’t belong on the field with Bama. And then you have Florida and Georgia each with two losses but still in the top eight. Florida just lost to a mediocre LSU team at home. What’s so impressive about that?
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