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Let the conversations begin.
The first College Football Playoff rankings were released on ESPN Tuesday night, creating a stir across the sports world. For some, it was joy, elation and excitement. For others, it was disappointment, frustration and outright anger.
All of it was fair after seeing the Top 25 come out. It’s fair to say that some of the decisions made by the committee members behind close doors were … questionable.
Following the release of the first Top 25 of the 2021 season, here are a few thoughts and takeaways.
The SEC still runs the show, apparently
Egregious.
That’s really the only way to summarize the kind of SEC favoritism seen from the College Football Playoff selection committee on Tuesday night. It was essentially a smack to the face to every other league in America.
Predictably, Georgia was slotted in the top spot with no argument. Immediately behind the undefeated Bulldogs? A 1-loss Alabama team that owns a 2-point win over a 4-4 Florida team and suffered a road loss to Texas A&M. The Crimson Tide sit in front of 4 undefeated teams in the initial poll.
Not enough? The SEC has the nation’s top-ranked 0-loss (Georgia), 1-loss (Alabama), 2-loss (Auburn) and 3-loss (Mississippi State) teams in the first Top 25 release.
Again, egregious.
Cincinnati has been eliminated
In order to have a shot at one of the four spots, it seemed as though the Bearcats needed to be listed as one of the Top 4 teams on Tuesday night. That wasn’t the case. Instead, Luke Fickell’s squad is down at the No. 6 spot with only one truly meaningful game left in the regular season — a Nov. 20 showdown against SMU (7-1).
Sure, the 2021 season has been full of chaos. There are still four weeks remaining in the regular season, along with a conference championship weekend. But if the committee doesn’t value road wins over No. 10 Notre Dame and Indiana — UC’s only Power 5 wins — can we really expect the Bearcats to get a bump by beating Tulsa, South Florida, SMU and East Carolina?
Sorry, Bearcats. This isn’t the year a Group of 5 team reaches the field.
More love for the B1G than expected
It was pretty surprising to see 6 B1G teams make the field in the initial rankings, especially considering Wisconsin’s 1-3 start, Iowa’s struggles in back-to-back games and Minnesota’s early-season loss to Bowling Green.
The B1G West occupied spots No. 20 (Minnesota), No. 21 (Wisconsin) and No. 22 (Iowa) to give the conference a boost heading into the final month of the season. But it was really the B1G East that everyone is talking about.
All 3 power hitters in the division — Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan — landed in the Top 7 spots. The Spartans are sitting at No. 3 with the Buckeyes at No. 5 and Wolverines at No. 7. That means every game in the month of November grows in importance and significance.
That’s what November football is all about.
Being undefeated isn’t the only thing that matters
Perhaps the most interesting thing from Tuesday night’s release were the locations of Oklahoma and Wake Forest in the initial poll. We’ve already discussed Cincinnati, so let’s keep it out of the equation.
Both the Sooners (9-0) and Demon Deacons (8-0) are sitting outside the Top 6 because of weak schedules and poor performances. Oklahoma is down at No. 8, one spot ahead of Wake Forest in the No. 9 slot.
Strength of schedule was clearly an issue in ranking Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons have no notable wins to date and have played a laughably bad nonconference slate. There’s a reason they’re behind multiple 1-loss teams.
Oklahoma appears to be getting knocked because of it’s play on the field. While Lincoln Riley’s squad has managed to come out on top, 5 of their wins have come in 1-possession games. The Sooners struggled with Tulane, Nebraska and Kansas, all with losing records.
Having an undefeated record and playing in a Power 5 league doesn’t always get you where you want to go.
The SEC & B1G have legitimate shots at getting multiple teams in
Typically, this kind of speculation isn’t for me. There is still 1 month remaining in the season, so any scenario we map out probably won’t come to fruition.
However, with the SEC occupying the Top 2 spots in the field and the B1G landing 3 teams in the Top 7, it’s hard to ignore that both leagues have a really good shot to get multiple teams into the equation.
Could we even see a B1G-SEC College Football Playoff this year? It’s probably not likely, but it’s possible.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB