To the College Football Playoff selection committee: time to take a look at your report card.
Ever since the first set of rankings were released two weeks ago, there have been plenty of chaos in the sport to turn the rankings on its head and alter the course for the 12-team playoff. While some teams have deservingly moved up or down as a result of events, others have been left in questionable spots. That one squad that clearly belongs in the field has an uncertain path, or another is getting too much credit despite a lackluster resume.
There’s plenty of debate as to who is in the right spot and who is either ranked too high or too low, and the arguments will continue to heat up with only a few weeks left before the official bracket is revealed. As we head into the home stretch of the regular season, here are the grades for where every team is ranked in the latest College Football Playoff rankings:
Even with the shaky performance at Wisconsin, Oregon remains the top team in the country and is deservingly at No. 1.
The Buckeyes can get a major boost to its resume by taking down Indiana this week, and should be behind a Ducks team it narrowly lost to.
The resume isn’t all that strong for the Longhorns, but they still have the inside track toward making the SEC championship game and getting the automatic bye.
The only loss is against Ohio State, but there aren’t many opportunities for Penn State to boast a good resume. Should Indiana also lose to Ohio State, what justifies Penn State likely being much higher than the Hoosiers?
The ranking doesn’t really matter at this point since Indiana faces its biggest game of the season at Ohio State, with a chance to jump high in the rankings. In addition to the result, how the Hoosiers play will be a major emphasis for the committee.
It must be nice that the loss to Northern Illinois isn’t being punished as much as it should be, but the Fighting Irish benefit from teams ahead of them falling. But a win against Army would be a big boost.
Alabama capitalizes on cupcake week and teams ahead of them falling. Georgia (a team it beat) winning likely is the reason why Alabama jumped Miami, but the Crimson Tide shouldn’t be rewarded for beating Mercer by jumping over Miami.
The Hurricanes get to move up a spot after having the week off, but they have to be annoyed by Alabama leapfrogging them in the rankings.
Mississippi gets a resume booster with Georgia beating Tennessee and rightfully is ahead of a Bulldog team it beat.
Georgia gets into the projected playoff field with a win over Tennessee and shouldn’t be anywhere near jumping the two teams to beat them in Alabama and Mississippi.
The Volunteers didn’t drop too far down after the loss to Georgia, even though they maybe should have gone down a bit further. The other loss this season came from a middling Arkansas team that doesn’t appear to be hurting as much as it should.
How about a first-round bye for Boise State? While projected to do so, it doesn’t look like Boise State will be able to hold it. IT doesn’t have any opportunity to move up as long as the SEC teams ahead of them win out, plus it appears the ACC and Big 12 champion will get a bigger boost to their rankings.
Still on the outside of the projected field, SMU is now pretty reliant on winning the ACC title or a catastrophic downfall from one of the at-large SEC teams to make the playoff.
Sure Kansas is surging, but it’s still a team BYU should’ve beaten. However, the drop-off shouldn’t have put the Cougars behind an SMU team it beat. At the moment, BYU wouldn’t get a first-round bye − losing it to Boise State − even though it has better wins than the Broncos.
Seemingly stuck in purgatory with the best win coming against a wrongfully ranked Missouri team, Texas A&M shouldn’t be moving up. It does have a chance to win the SEC, but the season rides on handling Auburn and upsetting rival Texas.
Colorado is red-hot, but moving up only one spot after dismantling Utah and stuck behind so many SEC teams shows there isn’t much chance for the Big 12 to get two teams into the playoff.
Clemson should have lost to Pittsburgh but escaped with a victory and moved up three spots. An ACC title is still in reach, but it has to hope things swing its way. Plus, the Palmetto battle with South Carolina is in two weeks.
A wild win over Missouri boosts South Carolina three spots in what has become an impressive season. However, South Carolina doesn’t have any shot of making the playoff unless some absolute chaos breaks out.
After starting off low, Army got its biggest jump in these rankings so far. The resume is hurting the undefeated Black Knights, but the season rests on how Army does against Notre Dame. After this Saturday, Army’s ranking can really be assessed.
With a spot in the American title game locked up, Tulane will be vying to be second Group of Five team to have an argument to make the playoff. The Green Wave should be behind Army since it has two losses.
The Sun Devils are finally ranked after an impressive win over Kansas State and a Big 12 title within reach. However, Arizona State has a strength of record at 18th, which questions why they are still behind Tulane and perhaps Army.
Iowa State is back on the winning side after it lost two games in a row. The ranking is more a result of teams completely dropping out of the poll, even if there’s an outside shot the Cyclones win the Big 12.
Lose and don’t move at all? Missouri not getting punished for losing to South Carolina is questionable and gives teams in Alabama, Texas A&M and South Carolina the chance to say they have a ranked win when they shouldn’t.
UNLV has been good this season with an 8-2 record, but this ranking is questionable since the Rebels don’t control their destiny in the Mountain West and their best win is against 5-5 Fresno State. It does add some intrigue to Boise State’s resume since they beat UNLV.
The Big Ten suddenly has another ranked team, which Oregon and Penn State are loving since they both beat Illinois. Watch how this team finishes the season and how high they can move to boost the Ducks’ and Nittany Lions’ resume.
