First CFP Rankings

[AppInDC]

Top Four are:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Penn State

Here are the G5 teams ranked:

20. Cincinnati
21. Memphis
22. Boise State
24. Navy
25. SMU

Just like last year, I really wish App hadn't lost on the eve of the release just to have seen if they made the list and where they stand.

[mountaineerman]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

[EastHallApp]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

[appstatealum]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

Agree.

Texas A&M is overrated, but so is Michigan and probably Iowa, But Michigan has looked less overrated than Texas AM. Do the math, got to reward Penn St over Clemson.

[EastHallApp]

Really would have a liked to see where we’d have been too. I wasn’t convinced we’d be ranked in this first version, but seeing where all those AAC teams plus Boise are, I have to think we’d have been right in that mix.

Sigh.

[AppinVA]

It would’ve been fun. But App football is fun anyways.

[mountaineerman]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

That UNC game really hurt them.

[AppStFan1]

Top Four are:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Penn State

Here are the G5 teams ranked:

20. Cincinnati
21. Memphis
22. Boise State
24. Navy
25. SMU

Just like last year, I really wish App hadn't lost on the eve of the release just to have seen if they made the list and where they stand.

May not have mattered anyway because they have the AAC rated fairly strong and I would think they would have had two teams over us. If I'm right then my theory we needed Memphis to lose one more and still need SMU to not win out. My guess is that we would have been 22 this week. It is a shame we will never know.

I am realistic and don't see us getting ranked high enough to finish in the hunt for NY6 at the end but I would think we should be 20-25 if we won out. Although lose this weekend and there is no shot at returning to the rankings this year. Wouldn't you agree?

[AppStFan1]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

That UNC game really hurt them.

Big time. Imagine if Ohio State were to beat an Illinois or Northwestern by just 3-6 points. I would think they would be punished as well. When they are picking between undefeated teams a lot of times the only way to break the tie is how much are you beating people by.

[bigdaddyg]

It will all work out. If LSU beats Alabama the Tide is out. A Bama close win keeps LSU in the mix if they win out. PSU v OSU in a few weeks takes care of one of them most likely but OSU would be in the same boat as LSU. Interesting article on ESPN that asked the P5 coaches their opinions on the playoff- lots of mixed feelings and observations. In my opinion the argument for the expansion is due to the often imbalance in the conferences. The ACC Coastal champ could easily have 3 losses, shock Clemson and throw a wrench into the whole thing. Same could be said for about any conference. Solution- get rid of the P5 conference championship games and add the extra playoff games and maybe give a bye to the top 4. One coach had the idea that the top G5 gets, say the 8th seed but plays the 4th seeded team so potentially the game is more competitive and exciting for TV.

[Rick83]

For the NY6 contenders there's still a lot of football to be played as we're only 8 games played out of 13...that's almost 40% of the season still to go. A lot can happen.

[NewApp]

Where's ECU??? LOL! Shouldn't have fired Ruffin and shouldn't have joined the AAC. Sucked ever since.

[GregPercussion]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

Yeah that sucks for Clemson... I agree Penn State should probably be 5th instead. But SoS will do that to you. Still a lot of football to be played before the final 4.

[Yosef84]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

Yeah that sucks for Clemson... I agree Penn State should probably be 5th instead. But SoS will do that to you. Still a lot of football to be played before the final 4.

A lot of this feels like lip service to me (to Penn State / B1G). They will put PSU there for now, but I can't imagine an undefeated defending national champion being left out at the end of this process. If they did that, it would be a huge step toward expanding the playoffs because the outrage won't be coming from G5 or non-contributors. It will be coming from programs at the top of the heap. As it stands now, I think the most likely way the SEC gets two teams in would be if Georgia beats the previously undefeated SEC West representative in the CCG. Of course, a key loss or two by a contender could change that picture to allow two SEC West reps, assuming the game this Saturday is close and the West dominated the CCG game.

[Rick83]

The more controversy the better for hopes of expanding the playoffs...

[EastHallApp]

Penn state over Clemson is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen all year.

Clemson is held back by their schedule. Best win is Texas A&M, while PSU has beaten Michigan and Iowa.

Won’t matter, if Clemson wins out they’re in. They just can’t afford a loss.

Yeah that sucks for Clemson... I agree Penn State should probably be 5th instead. But SoS will do that to you. Still a lot of football to be played before the final 4.

A lot of this feels like lip service to me (to Penn State / B1G). They will put PSU there for now, but I can't imagine an undefeated defending national champion being left out at the end of this process. If they did that, it would be a huge step toward expanding the playoffs because the outrage won't be coming from G5 or non-contributors. It will be coming from programs at the top of the heap. As it stands now, I think the most likely way the SEC gets two teams in would be if Georgia beats the previously undefeated SEC West representative in the CCG. Of course, a key loss or two by a contender could change that picture to allow two SEC West reps, assuming the game this Saturday is close and the West dominated the CCG game.

I basically agree. I wouldn't quite say it's lip service; it's just that they rank teams based on their season *to date*. Certainly an undefeated Clemson will make it = OSU/PSU will play each other, as will Bama/LSU. At the most, you'd have four undefeated teams at the end (and that's in the unlikely event that Baylor runs the table).

I also think the Bama/LSU loser is still very much in contention for a bid. I think that's more likely than UGA running the table.

[AppInDC]

Top Four are:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Penn State

Here are the G5 teams ranked:

20. Cincinnati
21. Memphis
22. Boise State
24. Navy
25. SMU

Just like last year, I really wish App hadn't lost on the eve of the release just to have seen if they made the list and where they stand.

May not have mattered anyway because they have the AAC rated fairly strong and I would think they would have had two teams over us. If I'm right then my theory we needed Memphis to lose one more and still need SMU to not win out. My guess is that we would have been 22 this week. It is a shame we will never know.

I am realistic and don't see us getting ranked high enough to finish in the hunt for NY6 at the end but I would think we should be 20-25 if we won out. Although lose this weekend and there is no shot at returning to the rankings this year. Wouldn't you agree?

Disagree slightly as the American teams were mostly lower ranked than I expected. I thought maybe one could get into the teens but that didn't happen.

If we were to win out and we were to get into the 20-25 range as you suggest, I think that's potentially very much in the mix. As I and others have said in previous posts, a one loss App is probably not going to pass a one loss American/Mountain West champion. The CFP seems to confirm that. Unfortunately we don't know how far behind App is. Are we #26? Or are we closer to #40?

I pretty much agree that a loss to South Carolina likely makes the conversation moot. I'm always leery of saying 100% or 0% until it is mathematically true but with two losses, we have to hope for something silly like Tulane as American champ and a four loss Mountain West champ.

This week does provide some opportunity though. Two of the five ranked are idle. SMU plays ECU and Cincy plays UConn. Neither win would be relevant and a loss would be devastating. Boise plays Wyoming which is probably the best chance for any of the currently ranked teams to impress. Meanwhile App gets to play an SEC team. If App were to pull it off, that's arguably the best win of any G5 contender this year outside Cincy beating UCF. If App wins, it's a great statement that may get us back in the NY6 mix. If App loses, we're still competing for a Sun Belt title. Both Georgia Southern and Georgia State have potentially tricky road games this weekend. Maybe one or both will drop a game. Looking forward to seeing what happens.

[AppStFan1]

Top Four are:

1. Ohio State
2. LSU
3. Alabama
4. Penn State

Here are the G5 teams ranked:

20. Cincinnati
21. Memphis
22. Boise State
24. Navy
25. SMU

Just like last year, I really wish App hadn't lost on the eve of the release just to have seen if they made the list and where they stand.

May not have mattered anyway because they have the AAC rated fairly strong and I would think they would have had two teams over us. If I'm right then my theory we needed Memphis to lose one more and still need SMU to not win out. My guess is that we would have been 22 this week. It is a shame we will never know.

I am realistic and don't see us getting ranked high enough to finish in the hunt for NY6 at the end but I would think we should be 20-25 if we won out. Although lose this weekend and there is no shot at returning to the rankings this year. Wouldn't you agree?

Disagree slightly as the American teams were mostly lower ranked than I expected. I thought maybe one could get into the teens but that didn't happen.

If we were to win out and we were to get into the 20-25 range as you suggest, I think that's potentially very much in the mix. As I and others have said in previous posts, a one loss App is probably not going to pass a one loss American/Mountain West champion. The CFP seems to confirm that. Unfortunately we don't know how far behind App is. Are we #26? Or are we closer to #40?

I pretty much agree that a loss to South Carolina likely makes the conversation moot. I'm always leery of saying 100% or 0% until it is mathematically true but with two losses, we have to hope for something silly like Tulane as American champ and a four loss Mountain West champ.

This week does provide some opportunity though. Two of the five ranked are idle. SMU plays ECU and Cincy plays UConn. Neither win would be relevant and a loss would be devastating. Boise plays Wyoming which is probably the best chance for any of the currently ranked teams to impress. Meanwhile App gets to play an SEC team. If App were to pull it off, that's arguably the best win of any G5 contender this year outside Cincy beating UCF. If App wins, it's a great statement that may get us back in the NY6 mix. If App loses, we're still competing for a Sun Belt title. Both Georgia Southern and Georgia State have potentially tricky road games this weekend. Maybe one or both will drop a game. Looking forward to seeing what happens.

I mean because they have 4 AAC teams in the top 25. I thought there would be 3 all ranked in the 21-25 range. They clearly feel the AAC is the strongest G5 league by a mile. My big question was do you go with Memphis who now has the best win of any G5 team beating SMU or Cincy whose only loss was to Ohio State who is throttling the rest of the Big Ten so far.

It will be interesting to see where we end up if we win out. I am 100% confident we will be ranked but don't ever see us hitting the top 20 in the CFP with the GSU loss. My guess is 22-23 range. If we can pull the upset this weekend then we may even sneak in at 24-25 if a few teams in the 20-25 range go down.

[t4pizza]

So much about being ranked going forward is dependent on the other teams losing. I mean, we have to win out obviously but if the ones ahead of us don't drop games there is no place to go. However, since so many teams are in the same conference there will be lots of the AAC teams that lose again, some maybe multiple times. So, if we keep winning and the AAC beats up on itself we could very well be in the mix. I am just a little concerned about our end of it as we have had 2 lackluster offensive performances and are about to face the best set of defensive players that we have seen all season. Hopefully the lose wakes us up and we start firing on all cylinders. Also, after seeing the rankings, I have no question that had we beat Southern we would be either ahead of or right behind Cincy.

[AppStFan1]

So much about being ranked going forward is dependent on the other teams losing. I mean, we have to win out obviously but if the ones ahead of us don't drop games there is no place to go. However, since so many teams are in the same conference there will be lots of the AAC teams that lose again, some maybe multiple times. So, if we keep winning and the AAC beats up on itself we could very well be in the mix. I am just a little concerned about our end of it as we have had 2 lackluster offensive performances and are about to face the best set of defensive players that we have seen all season. Hopefully the lose wakes us up and we start firing on all cylinders. Also, after seeing the rankings, I have no question that had we beat Southern we would be either ahead of or right behind Cincy.

We definitely need teams to lose. If 18-25 won out we could go 13-1 and still not be ranked. With that said, obviously some of them are going to lose. Navy plays Notre Dame and plus we have the MWC title game, AAC title game, and a couple ranked AAC teams still have to play each other.

All we can do is win out though and it will play out. The good news is that it is pretty clear that the MWC won't have 2 ranked teams and the AAC won't have more than 2 ranked teams by the end of conference championship weekend.