The College Football Playoff Committee released their third set of rankings on Tuesday night, and as always, there is plenty to dissect. As we inch ever-closer toward the end of the season, it is the perfect time to take a closer look at where each of the Top 12 are currently ranked, and assess whether the Committee got them right - or wrong.
Below is an assessment of each of the CFP committee's top 12 - next to each team is an indicator as to whether they are ranked correctly, are overranked, or underranked. Also noted is how each is currently 'trending' at the moment - meant to be an indicator on their current prospects of making the playoff. We start at the top with the best team in the land:
1 ALABAMA (10-0) -
The Crimson Tide certainly look like the best team in the country to this point - and seem to be getting better and better as the season moves along. Back-to-back shutouts over LSU and Mississippi State have the Tide rolling and no one can argue their spot at the top.
Trending: UP
2 CLEMSON (10-0) -
Again, pretty clear-cut here just like the top spot. The Tigers went on the road last week and defeated #17 (at the time) Boston College by 3 scores and have really demolished the opposition as of late. Notre Dame has struggled at times with easier opponents - Clemson has not and are rightfully in 2nd.
Trending: UP
3 NOTRE DAME (10-0) -
Not much to argue about here. The Irish are one of just four unbeatens left and could not have foreseen how wins @ Virginia Tech, @ Wake Forest, and at home against Florida State suddenly aren't really helping their resume at all. That being said, ND has not been as good as the top two, overall, but the season opening victory over Michigan is huge and helps keep the Irish rightfully locked in at #3.
Trending: EVEN
4 MICHIGAN (9-1) -
Speaking of the Wolverines, #4 seems to be the correct spot for them as well. Their only loss was on the road by a touchdown to the team ranked directly ahead of them to start the season. Granted, blowout wins over Wisconsin (6-4) and Penn State (7-3) don't mean quite as much as originally thought after both have not been able to live up to lofty preseason expectations.
Trending: EVEN
5 GEORGIA (9-1) -
No problem whatsoever with the Bulldogs ranking, as I believe they are the only other team at the moment that could make an argument to jump into that #4 spot with the way they have played over the past few weeks in bigtime victories over Florida, Kentucky, and Auburn, winning those games by 19, 17, and 17, respectively. The one thing holding UGA from the top 4 at the moment is a 20-point loss at LSU. They are also in the correct spot at #5.
Trending: UP
6 OKLAHOMA (9-1) -
Funny enough, but the Sooners are actually getting a big boost to their resume thus far thanks to an early-season win over Army of all teams. The Black Knights are 8-2 and represent exactly half of the victories OU has over teams with winning records to date. Again, can't make much of an argument with the Sooners at #6, their resume is no where near as impressive as Georgia's or Michigan's. It's been a major down year for several Big XII teams (TCU, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State have all had poor seasons thus far) and that is not helping Oklahoma at the moment. Giving up nearly 30 points per game on the season is another reason for possibly dropping the Sooners further down as well, but for now, #6 seems about right.
Trending: EVEN
7 LSU (8-2) ⬆️ [Overranked]
The Tigers are a very good football team, there is no denying that. They are also the top 2-loss team in the country at the moment thanks to their overall resume, however the last two weeks have been less than ideal. A 29-0 loss at home to Alabama in which they did not look good at all, and a 24-17 win at previously 2-7 Arkansas last week has left the Tigers slightly overrated by the CFP Committee. Early season wins over Miami FL and Auburn have completely lost their luster as the Canes have struggled to just 5-5 on the season and a lowly 2-4 in ACC play. Auburn is now 6-4, and so is Mississippi State, leaving really one marque win, and it is a big one - 36-16 over Georgia. That being said, they are out of the SEC race and should not be ranked ahead of other 1-loss "Big 5 Conference" teams who can still win their respective conferences.
Trending: DOWN
8 WASHINGTON STATE (9-1)
The Cougars remain locked into the #8 spot and I don't have any issue with that position. Wins over Oregon, Stanford, and Utah have given WSU a trio of quality conference wins, but all three of those teams have been rather disappointing since. The Pac-12 is looking like the weakest out of the "Power 5 Conferences" and could leave the Cougars with an uphill climb. That being said, they actually have a better resume than Oklahoma at the moment, and deserve to be ahead of a 2-loss LSU that has looked very poor over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, the Cougars appear to be getting better.
Trending: UP
9 WEST VIRGINIA (8-1) ⬇️[Underranked]
The Mountaineers have really started to turn it on over the past three weeks. An absolute beatdown of Baylor, followed by the dramatic finish at Texas, and then last week's annilihation of TCU have WVU rolling. Granted, they are running into the same issues as Oklahoma resume-wise, thanks to several of the conferences' teams underperforming this season. That being said, WVU now has a very impressive road-win @ Texas and has done enough to merit being as high as #7. The Mountaineers are slightly under-ranked at 9 this week.
Trending: UP
10 OHIO STATE (9-1) -
I'll make this brief in terms of the Buckeyes, the Committee is spot-on placing them at 10. They now have road wins over Penn State and Michigan State and that's it resume-wise. They also easily have the worst loss out of the above listed teams, a 49-20 stinker at a Purdue team that could be considered mediocre at best this season. It all comes down to the Michigan game for OSU.
Trending: EVEN
11 CENTRAL FLORIDA (9-0) ⬇️[Underranked]
The Knights are unbeaten, and continue to cruise through their opposition. Yes, they are not in a "Power 5 Conference", but the American Athletic is actually in the midst of an up year, and is easily the best out of the "Group of 5 Conferences". Having them behind Ohio State (sorry but the Knights have a ton of speed and athleticism - the very thing that Purdue has that caused OSU fits) doesn't make much sense to me. UCF would dominate Purdue, and honestly, I'm not so sure this year's versions of Michigan State (extremely offensively challeneged) and Penn St. (we play good when we feel like it in 18') would be much of a barrier for UCF either. Wins matter and so do bad losses, the Knights should be no lower than 9. They are slightly under-ranked this week.
Trending: EVEN
12 SYRACUSE (8-2) -
Again, this is an easy one. The 2-loss Orange are not as good as LSU, but definitely deserve to be ranked ahead of all of the 3-loss teams. 12 is the perfect spot. Knock-off Notre Dame in Yankee Stadium this Saturday, and the Orange could really make things interesting for the Committee next week.
Trending: EVEN
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