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Kirk Herbstreit previews first College Football Playoff rankings

Scott Schultz

By Scott Schultz

Published:

ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has given his take on the College Football Playoff rankings, set to be released Tuesday at 7:00PM ET on ESPN.

Herbstreit’s preview gives some insight on some of the other storylines, outside of the “unanimous” top four.

There is widespread agreement that Alabama (7-0), Notre Dame (8-0), Ohio State (4-0) and Clemson (7-1) will take up the top of the rankings. But the next six spots, according to Herbstreit, are a question mark.

“Man, I always feel like there’s a wrinkle in the first release every year — and I don’t know, in the top four, if we have a potential wrinkle,” Herbstreit said on Monday’s episode of the CFB Podcast with Herbie, Pollack & Neghandi. “I think we all seem to agree that ‘Bama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson seemed (fitting). It’s kind of a unanimous thought, coast to coast, that those are the four for now. We’ve still got a lot of games to be played with four weeks to go, but that — there’s no way they could surprise us with that, even if they slip Clemson up to three and Ohio State to four, which is what I would have. I don’t think you’re necessarily going to be shocked.”

The question is, does the committee take a different path than guided by the Associated Press Top-25 Poll, with Herbstreit making reference to the Pac-12’s USC and Oregon, both at 3-0.

“I think the drama is five, six, seven, eight and even nine — and maybe 10,” Herbstreit said. “I really want to see how they stack these teams up because the Pac-12’s only had three weeks to show what they can do. Nobody’s talking about USC. I mean, USC’s sitting there at 19 in the AP and, yet, they’re 3-0. And I’m not saying they’re worthy of being up in the top 10, but I wouldn’t be shocked, as an example, that the committee looks at them maybe differently than everybody else is looking at them.

“Sometimes, in the AP poll, you’re punished because if you don’t start on the radar, you’re punished. It takes weeks to build up. Other teams need to lose in front of you to move up. I noticed, with the committee, they don’t do that. And so, let’s see what they do with the Pac-12, with USC and Oregon.”

As non-Power Five teams, Cincinnati (8-0) and BYU (9) would seem to be on the outside, but Herbstreit had high praise for both teams.

“We’ve talked all year about Cincinnati and BYU and how do you split those two,” Herbstreit said. “I think Cincinnati, with the win over UCF, probably moves up above BYU — who I am in love with. I love the BYU team.”

Scott Schultz

Scott Schultz covers Michigan State Football, along with Breaking News for B1G Football & Basketball for Saturday Tradition. He also serves as an Automotive News Editor & Writer, and Softball Writer elsewhere on the web. Follow him on Twitter @SRSchultz.