RJ Young
FOX Sports National College Football Analyst
THE Oregon geese remained No. 1 within the third set of College Football Playoff rankings, launched Tuesday evening. The Ducks, who at present sit at 11-0 general and 8-0 within the Big Ten, have been adopted Ohio State at no. 2 e Texas at no. 3. Pen State AND Indiana full the highest 5 groups.
But the true shock this week got here when the choice committee ranked Boise State No. 12, two spots forward of BYU (14) and 4 spots forward of Colorado (16). After the Cougars suffered their first lack of the season final weekend, a 17-13 loss to Kansas (4-6), it ought to come as no shock that the committee was unkind to BYU. However, with Boise State now ranked forward of BYU, now we have to simply accept a situation the place a G5 champion may very well be one of many 4 highest-ranked convention champions within the sport.
(Related: College Football Playoff Standings: Oregon Remains Lead; BYU drops eight spots)
Add to that the truth that Army might transfer to 10-0 with a win over No. 1 Notre Dame. 6 within the charts this weekend. If that have been to occur, the Black Knights — ranked nineteenth — might doubtlessly transfer into the highest 10 rankings subsequent week and transfer the presumptive American Athletic Conference champion forward of no less than one presumptive Power 4 champion.
With 5 SEC groups, 4 Big Ten groups and one ACC staff ranked forward of any Big 12 staff, an increasing number of individuals will understand that the choice committee is obligated to present the 4 highest-ranked convention champions — not simply Power 4 Champions: One of the coveted prime seeds who’s rewarded with a first-round bye earlier than collaborating within the playoffs.
The standards for rating and deciding on groups for the CFP are clear to the committee: it should bear in mind the convention champions. What if it wasn’t so?
This would be the subsequent huge hurdle for the game on this evolving postseason format.
Conference championships are a comparatively new concept. The SEC created its championship title recreation in 1992. Every different iteration of a convention title recreation has been reinvented or established for the primary time within the final 26 years — from the MAC (1997) to the Sun Belt (2018 ) — and the one staff that advantages from not taking part in for a convention title is Notre Dame, which looks like the one program that stands to learn from sitting out convention title weekend.
Five convention title video games, together with three in Power conferences, have been (re)created over six years (2011-2017) to persuade nationwide title selectors to incorporate one or each of a championship’s convention title contenders as worthy contributors to play for the nationwide championship. It labored for the SEC, which has seen its convention championship turn into the nationwide title recreation twice since 2017.
This yr, as much as three groups might really feel unfairly overlooked of the 12-team subject as a result of somebody in a league not as powerful because the SEC managed to win theirs, resembling an American or Mountain West program.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, whose staff is vying for choice within the 12-team subject, harassed that the danger is not well worth the reward.
“I’ve talked to different coaches, so I’ll simply provide the really feel of another coaches, who do not wish to be part of it,” Kiffin said of the conference championship games. “You know, the reward of getting a bye versus the danger of being fully eradicated. I imply… it is a actually huge danger.
“There’s a value and a profit to every part. There are nice advantages to this playoff system and so many people who find themselves excited, followers, schedules and extra video games, after which there’s additionally a value. Conference championships do not they imply simply as a lot.”
And lastly, there’s Indiana, sitting at 10-0 with the chance to make this committee look actually foolish, as Ohio State (2), Texas (3), and Penn State (4) all have losses on this season.
You by no means know what you are going to get with this committee, which is why now we have to bear in mind their unusual logic of rating 10-0 Indiana behind 9-1 Penn State. I would not put it previous them to incorporate two G5 champions on the expense of the most effective groups within the SEC or Big Ten.
Seeds have the ability to make issues actually attention-grabbing. After all, they overlooked 13-0 Florida State simply final yr and, truthful or not, that program has but to get well.
RJ Young is a nationwide school soccer author and analyst for FOX Sports and host of the podcast “The number one college football show.” Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young AND Subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
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