The committee unveiled the first College Football Playoff rankings last Tuesday, and they did not shy away from showing their belief in the SEC, specifically one loss Alabama sitting at #2. To no surprise, the Georgia bulldogs were ranked #1. Followed by Alabama, Michigan State and Oregon respectively, rounding out the top 4.
Analysts and fans across America were pretty surprised and critical of the Crimson Tide sitting at #2. Fox Sports College Football Analyst Joel Klatt took to twitter, tweeting and dropping videos reacting to not only these rankings, but critical of committee as well.
So what is the deal with Alabama being #2 and how does the committee affirm this ranking? Let’s dive in and expose some details.
The State of Mississippi
Ole Miss and Mississippi State saw themselves slide into the #16 and #17 spots, giving Alabama “good quality ranked wins” judged by the committee’s rankings and standards. Let’s take a look at the Bulldogs.
Are we sure that MSU is better than even Penn State? Both teams are 5-3. The only difference is that Penn State is currently riding a three game losing streak. MSU has a one point win over LA Tech, a loss to Memphis, loss to LSU, win over #13 Texas A&M, #18 Kentucky and and a win over #19 NC State. Spoiler alert, Kentucky and NC State are not that good. Meanwhile, Penn State has wins over #13 Auburn and #21 Wisconsin and are unranked. If Sean Clifford hadn’t gotten hurt, they would have beaten Iowa and maybe survived Illinois the following week. They would have lost to Ohio State either way, but would be a top 10 team easy with their only loss being to the Buckeyes.
Ole Miss gives the Crimson tide another ranked win, but their defense is not doing them any favors. They are really bad on that side of the ball. On the offensive end, QB Matt Corral is nursing an ankle injury that knocked him out of the game last week vs Auburn. With that defense and health concerns surrounding Matt Corral, we could see the Rebels start to stumble.
So What Did This Mean to the Committee?
These wins justify the raking of Alabama at #2. Also, with their only loss being to #13 ranked Texas A&M (who couldn’t beat Arkansas or Mississippi St, mind you), you can now argue that Alabama has a really good resume.
It really seems like the committee settled early on ranking Alabama high, then proceeded to rank Texas A&M, Ole Miss and MSU accordingly to justify this ranking.
If Alabama wins the rest of their games, then loses a close game to Georgia in the SEC championship game, the stage is set for Alabama to possibly sneak in to the 4th spot. However, there is a long way to go and that is a conversation for later.
