The first college football rankings were released this past weekend, sparking excitement throughout the entire college football universe. This year is the first year with the new 12 team format, compared to the old four team semifinal method. The 12 team playoff adds more matchups and brings the excitement of college football playoffs to campuses around the country. With 10 weeks of the college football season already done, the College Football Playoff selection committee gave us a preview of the potential seedings and matchups that could take place in December and January.
The College Football Playoff bracket is organized where the top four seeds are the conference champions of the power four conferences, which are the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12. These champions receive a first-round bye and a spot in the quarter finals. The other 8 teams that make the playoffs are determined based on the final regular season rankings, with the top 8 seeds after the four conference champions getting in. This creates a world where every regular season game matters and winning your conference is of huge importance. Strength of schedule is crucial and the teams you beat and lost to are carefully monitored.
The most recent edition of the rankings sees undefeated Oregon as the number 1 ranked team in the country. 7-1 Ohio State comes in at number 2 after an impressive win on the road against Penn State. Their resume remains strong with their only loss coming against the number 1 ranked Oregon Ducks. The Buckeyes are followed by 7-1 Georgia and 9-0 Miami, both making a strong case to win their respective conferences. Texas rounds out the top 5 with a 7-1 record. Penn State drops to number 6 after their first loss of the year last weekend, followed by the 7-1 Tennessee Volunteers. Arguably the most surprising, feel good story of this college season, the 9-0 Indiana Hoosiers, come in at number 8, with the 8-0 BYU Cougars not far behind as the number 9 seed. 7-1 Notre Dame, 6-2 Alabama, and 7-1 Boise State finish the top 12 in the latest playoff rankings.
The beauty of the new 12 team playoff is the discussions and tough decisions that have to be made by the committee. They can’t please everyone and someone will always have something to say about the rankings. Even the first release of rankings raised some concerns. People questioned why 9-0 Indiana weren’t higher than the number 8 seed and above teams like Penn State and Tennessee. Obviously strength of schedule matters, and Indiana don’t have as hard of a schedule as other teams in the SEC and Big Ten, but all you can do is win the games that are given to you on your schedule and Indiana have done just that and in dominating fashion too. Their closest game this year has been by 14 points, so it makes people wonder what more they have to do to get a higher seed than 8. 6-2 Alabama also making the top 12 was surprising to some, as there are plenty of good teams on the outside of the top 12 looking in. Teams such as number 13 SMU (8-1), number 14 Texas A&M (7-2), and number 15 LSU (6-2) will feel disrespected and as motivated as ever to finish the season strong, win their big matchups, and make the college football playoff.
As we look ahead to week 11 and the rest of the college season, things will only get better and more intense. Teams only have a few games left before conference championships, so every game matters now and one loss could end your season right there, just like how Clemson suffered a defeat last weekend and dropped from number 11 to number 23. Pivotal matchups are coming thick and fast and teams need to show and convince the college football playoff committee that they are a top 12 team in the country and deserve a spot in the tournament. Number 11 Alabama vs number 15 LSU is the game to watch this weekend for SEC standings and also national rankings. Although this may be the only game between two ranked teams of note this weekend, every team has to take care of business and keep themselves in the running to make the first ever, 12 team College Football Playoff.
