There was bound to be some whiplash involved in the release of the second version of this season’s College Football Playoff rankings — especially coming off a weekend packed with big games that would reset an opening-week top 25 that produced more confusion than certitude.
Consider it done: Yes, Georgia moved to No. 1, as expected, when the latest list came out Tuesday. Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s win over Miami resulted in the Irish moving up six spots (to No. 5) and the Hurricanes moving down six (to No. 7), with poor Indiana wondering what it did to drop five notches to No. 9 when it didn’t even play.
“Last week we said there would be a lot of movement in these rankings, and there certainly was,” said Hunter Yurachek, the chair of the 13-person CFP selection committee. “Not a single team is in the same spot they held last week.”
The Hoosiers’ fall, along with undefeated UCLA’s vault up four spots to No. 4, were among moves that looked like “corrections” by a selection committee that, by most accounts, had a rough opening week.
There are three more Tuesday-night rankings shows before the bracket is set on Dec. 6 — the day after a slate of conference title games that will go by the wayside next season when the playoff expands to 24 teams.
But this year’s bracket involves 12 teams and the rest of this week’s top 12 were: No. 2 Utah, No. 3 Alabama, No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 10 BYU, No. 11 Kentucky and No. 12 Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders would be the first team out, with No. 24 Boise State of the Pac-12 getting the last spot as the best team among the Group of Six.
A busy week among the top 10 was reason for the flux
Miami’s six-spot drop was severe for a team that lost by a touchdown on the road and was without arguably its best player, Malachi Toney. It’s almost certain Toney’s absence, for however long it lasts, will impact Miami both on the field and in the committee room, where they take player availability into account.
“You have that combination of Miami losing as a No. 1 team and then five teams behind them having some signature wins,” Yurachek said. “The committee thought moving those teams ahead of Miami was the right thing to do.”
Yurachek explained that Indiana was “probably a victim of having a bye week at the wrong time.” That the biggest weekend of the season also involved losses by three teams the Hoosiers had previously beaten did nothing for the their strength of schedule.
And UCLA’s two-touchdown pull-away over a Minnesota team that took the Hoosiers to overtime the week before, made the Bruins “look like the number-four team in the country,” Yurachek said.
UCLA and Utah are the lone remaining undefeated teams in BCS.
SEC gets five teams in projected bracket
As usual, the Southeastern Conference, now featuring five teams with two losses, got the most love. It would have five teams in this week’s projected playoff bracket.
Hardly anyone would argue over Alabama (7-2) moving up two spots to No. 3 after the Tide’s 31-13 win over LSU. Kentucky (7-2) got blasted 34-6 by Tennessee (7-2) and dropped six spots to No. 11, staying in the bracket based much on its fourth-ranked strength of schedule.
The Big Ten and Big 12 had two teams each — BYU (7-2) only dropped one spot after its loss to Utah — and Miami was the ACC’s only team in the bracket, with Wake Forest (8-1) ranked 13th and badly in need of a rematch with the ‘Canes in the ACC title game.
Teams outside the top 12 have chance to state their case
The teams ranked 15-18 — Iowa (7-2), Oregon (6-3), South Carolina (6-3) and USC (7-2) — are all contenders with big games left on their schedules that could easily move them into the hunt.
South Carolina, for instance, plays Georgia in two weeks. Iowa and Oregon could still find their way into the Big Ten title game and play for their league’s automatic berth. And for USC, the push starts Saturday at Indiana and closes Nov. 28 with its traditional meeting with UCLA.
Yurachek called USC “a team we should all keep an eye on.”
If the playoffs started today
No. 12 Boise State at No. 5 Notre Dame — They played last season, a 28-7 Irish win under the Golden Dome.
No. 11 Kentucky at No. 6 Texas — The SEC’s round-robin continues (and someone finally gets eliminated).
No. 10 BYU at No. 7 Miami — In 1990, Ty Detmer helped BYU knock off No. 1 Miami on his way to winning the Heisman.
No. 9 Indiana at No. 8 Tennessee — Did anyone notice when the Vols scored twice late in the span of 30 seconds to steal the 2020 Gator Bowl from the Hoosiers, 23-22?