Jake
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College Football Playoff Selection Committee Doing Big Ten No Favors
The second set of rankings from the College Football Playoff Committee was released on ESPN Tuesday night. Ohio State fell to No. 2 behind LSU, who was No. 2 last week. LSU moved up a spot following their 46-41 win at then-No. 3 Alabama on Saturday.
The Buckeyes, who defeated Maryland 73-14 on Saturday, became the first team in the history of the playoff rankings to drop out of the top spot after a win.
Why did it happen?
Maybe because the committee decided to rank Texas again.
Obviously, the Alabama win helped, but chair Rob Mullens (Oregon Director of Athletics) also cited LSU’s four wins over Top 20 teams. Those four wins: Alabama, Florida, Auburn, and Texas.
Texas (6-3) was unranked a week ago but moved up to No. 19 this week thanks to a 27-24 win as time expired over then-No. 16 Kansas State (who is now 3-3 in Big XII play, 6-3 overall, and ranked No. 24).
When Mullens gave his reasons for LSU over Ohio State at No. 1, those four wins were key.
“Those two teams are both great teams, and again, Ohio State was ranked No. 1 last week because of their consistent play at a very high level,” he said. “But when you look at LSU’s resume now, with a win on the road at Alabama to add to the win on the road at Texas, plus two marquee wins at home against Florida and Auburn, so four ranked wins, that’s the most of any team in the nation. With that, the committee felt they deserved to be No. 1.”
When pressed to find out exactly why Texas made such a jump, Mullens cited quality losses and the Kansas State win.
“Well, when you look at Texas, obviously they have close losses to LSU and to Oklahoma, so two of their losses are against ranked teams, and understand they do have that third loss against TCU, but they also beat a ranked Kansas State team,” he said. “That’s what the committee saw in looking at Texas.”
So would the Buckeyes still be No. 1 had Texas not made a last-second field goal against Kansas State and lost in overtime. Probably not, but this will be a game that impacts Ohio State moving forward.
Citing LSU’s four wins over ranked opponents on more than one occasion, it is clear that this is a measuring stick the committee is planning on using. (At least when it appeals to them.) LSU only has one other game against a ranked opponent coming up, and that will be in the SEC Championship Game.
If Ohio State can also have five wins over ranked opponents this season, then maybe their overall dominance on both sides of the ball will get them back to No. 1 and allow them to choose the bowl venue of their choice.
Right now, the Buckeyes have two wins over ranked opponents: Wisconsin and Cincinnati. But they still have games against Penn State, Michigan, and possibly the Big Ten Championship Game, which would give them five wins over ranked opponents assuming UC isn’t dropped out after a loss to somebody other than the Buckeyes.
Of course, if the Indiana Hoosiers could get into the committee’s rankings, then that might help things as well.
Unfortunately, that’s not likely to happen unless Indiana wins at Penn State this weekend.
Asked why Indiana — who is ranked No. 25 in the Coaches Poll and No. 24 AP Poll — didn’t make the committee’s Top 25, Mullens was very matter-of-fact.
“Indiana, we didn’t go into great discussion about them because they weren’t on the board,” he said.
They didn’t even consider the Hoosiers. But you know who they did consider? Appalachian State, who came in ranked No. 25 and who holds wins over North Carolina and South Carolina — both teams under .500.
Indiana has no marquee win, but they at least merit discussion if Appalachian State does.
Speaking of no marquee wins, there was also a discussion between Alabama and Minnesota, who picked up their first notable win over then-No. 4 Penn State this past weekend.
Unfortunately, when those two teams were discussed, Oregon was also discussed, so Mullens had to recuse himself.
Mullens’ answer as to why Alabama gets ranked so high with no quality wins and Minnesota didn’t — and still doesn’t — despite the win over Penn State, makes as much sense as it would have even if he was there for the discussion.
“I would have been out of the room for much of that, so I don’t know the answer to that if they were put up side by side,” he said.
When asked if the committee shared anything about a discussion concerning Minnesota and Alabama, the answer was no — which likely means it didn’t happen.
“Not about those two teams in comparison to one another,” he said. “I’ve shared about Minnesota, obviously. The non-conference was a concern. The win against Penn State was big. When you see Alabama, obviously their only loss was to the team that’s now ranked No. 1 in the country, and prior to that they had been dominant against their schedule, and so we see a very, very good football team.”
Entire article: https://theozone.net/2019/11/college-football-playoff-selection-committee-big-ten-no-favors/
The humans on the committee are as flawed as everyone else, subject to perception biases based on the name of the school.
Texas > Indiana
Alabama > Everyone
All things being perceived as equal, the big names will get the benefit of the doubt (see: "eye test").
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