Latest CFP Rankings...7 PM ESPN

[Rick83]

It’a true that some of our fans bitch too much about being behind 3- and 4-loss teams with no regard to SoS. To hear some people talk, an 8-3 team is basically the Washington Generals of CFB.

I have zero complaint being behind teams like Auburn and Iowa. They haven’t lost any games we wouldn’t have lost too, and they’ve beaten teams we probably wouldn’t have. Fine.

I can see the case either way between us and Iowa State or USC.

VT is a different story. They’ve had bad losses and some very shaky wins. And they have no wins over the current top 25 to counterbalance those.

The CFP is trying to get a ranked opponent for the ACC Championship game vs. Clemson.

I think this is spot on right here...the ACC has looked bad all year, even Clemson nearly lost to a team we beat. No way VT should be ahead of us but they want another ranked ACC team to set up a big ACC championship game.

[Apptrain]

We have been passed by mediocre teams in better conferences who have 3 or more losses on the season, and App hasn't lost more than 3 games over the last 2 seasons. The Sunbelt continues to battle a perception problem and their leadership does absolutely nothing to improve their image. Great job. They ought to offer us free concessions or something during the championship game in return for what we've done for them

Here is what our fanbase must understand. 3-4 losses in the ACC, SEC, etc is probably as good as just having 1 loss in the SBC.

Here is the VT schedule: https://www.espn.com/college-football/t ... e/_/id/259

Be honest. What do you think our record would be? I think we would also be 8-3 but I don't think VT would have lost to Duke or BC with the current QB. They would be 10-1 had they started with him and probably be ranked 12-15 range now.

Outside of ULL the SBC is not seen as very good and the only conferences it is better than is the MAC and CUSA as a whole.

Again, there are people on here who argue with me that we don't have to make statements but simply just win. Just winning is not good enough. Message to Drink: You have to make statements. I agree with what the committee did here. If we were VT fans we would look at our schedule and laugh that we were even this close to them. We should be thankful we stayed in the top 25. We must beat Troy by 3-4 TDs and hope that 3-4 teams in the 18-24 range lose this weekend.

I feel like we are a top 25 caliber team but we have not had to play teams like South Carolina and UNC every week like teams such as VT have to do. We could have easily lost those games and I suspect we would be 8-3 right now instead of 10-1 if we changed schedules. I'm pretty sure VT would be 11-0 with our schedule.

I couldn’t agree more Fan1. Well said. I see your statement as an objective view. We have to crush everyone in the SB with the exception of ULL to look top 25.

[AppStFan1]

1. I’m glad we are still ranked at all

2. Winner of Va Tech/UVA will be ranked ahead of us next week because the ACC will not send an unranked team to the Conference championship to face Clemson. Guaranteed.

3. If we pussyfoot around with Troy and it’s a 7 point game in the 3rd, after they got DESTROYED by UL last week, the loser of Memphis/Cincy won’t drop beneath us, ending our Cotton Bowl dreams.

4. Oklahoma State and Boise are the only teams I’m 100% confident will fall behind us with a loss.

5. A Wake win over Syracuse would move them to 9-3 and a threat to our ranking.



All of this is to say, if we take care of business like we can/should, we can be 22/23rd after this week.

Here is the full top 25 with the top teams just outside of it and who everyone plays.

Rank Team Record This Week Last Week
1 Ohio State (11-0) at #13 Michigan 2
2 LSU (11-0) vs Texas A&M 1
3 Clemson (11-0) at South Carolina 3
4 Georgia (10-1) at Georgia Tech 4
5 Alabama (10-1) at #15 Auburn 5
6 Utah (10-1) vs Colorado 7
7 Oklahoma (10-1) at #21 Oklahoma State 9
8 Minnesota (10-1) vs #12 Wisconsin 10
9 Baylor (10-1) at Kansas 14
10 Penn State (9-2) vs Rutgers 8
11 Florida (9-2) vs Florida State 11
12 Wisconsin (9-2) at #8 Minnesota 12
13 Michigan (9-2) vs #1 Ohio State 13
14 Oregon (9-2) vs Oregon State 6
15 Auburn (8-3) vs #5 Alabama 15
16 Notre Dame (9-2) at Stanford 16
17 Iowa (8-3) at Nebraska 17
18 Memphis (10-1) vs #19 Cincinnati 18
19 Cincinnati (10-1) at #18 Memphis 19
20 Boise State (10-1) at Colorado State 20
21 Oklahoma State (8-3) vs #7 Oklahoma 21
22 USC (8-4) Bye 23
23 Iowa State (7-4) at Kansas State 22
24 Virginia Tech (8-3) at Virginia NR
25 Appalachian State (10-1) at Troy 24
Navy (8-2) at Houston NR
Kansas State (7-4) vs #23 Iowa State NR
Virginia (8-3) vs #24 Virginia Tech NR
Texas A&M (7-4) at #2 LSU NR
Air Force (9-2) vs Wyoming NR
Wake Forest (8-3) at Syracuse NR
SMU (9-2) vs Tulane 25

[AppStFan1]

Boise State is the only team in the 20-25 range that if they lose I feel like we move up a slot for sure. If UVA beats VT easily and we struggle with Troy then I think they move ahead of us and we would need Boise State to lose just for us to stay in. If Texas A&M or Kansas State wins they could both move ahead of us. A&M would for sure.

Air Force, Wake Forest, Navy, and SMU are possible adds next week but they all must win big because none of them play anyone near the top 25 right now.

[ASU2012]

Ranking VT is also important for the ACC assuming Clemson goes to the CFP. The next highest ranked team goes to the Orange Bowl in that situation. Idk what happens if no team is ranked

[EastHallApp]

I expected the VT-UVA winner to be ranked anyway.

FWIW, there was an unranked team in the ACC title game last year. But it would have been tough to rank 7-5 Pitt.

I don’t think the Cincy-Memphis loser drops below us unless that game is a blowout.

[Rick83]

We need Boise to lose one more, preferably the MWC championship game to remove the MWC completely from Cotton Bowl consideration. Then a two loss AAC champion assuming we win out of course. What the committee does in that scenario is the real question. Hopefully they will have that to deal with. Long shot but still possible...either way I'm just do damn proud of our program that we're even in the freakin' rankings...

[Rick83]

Ranking VT is also important for the ACC assuming Clemson goes to the CFP. The next highest ranked team goes to the Orange Bowl in that situation. Idk what happens if no team is ranked

I believe the Orange Bowl can then pick anyone in the ACC at that point, even Miami, which would obviously be to their benefit for ticket sales.

[EastHallApp]

Ranking VT is also important for the ACC assuming Clemson goes to the CFP. The next highest ranked team goes to the Orange Bowl in that situation. Idk what happens if no team is ranked

I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess it works the same as if there’s no G5 team ranked, which is to say the CFP committee would determine which ACC team is the highest-“ranked” among the rest.

In practice, it seems likely that the VT-UVA winner would be the choice, at least to me.

[Rick83]

Ranking VT is also important for the ACC assuming Clemson goes to the CFP. The next highest ranked team goes to the Orange Bowl in that situation. Idk what happens if no team is ranked

I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess it works the same as if there’s no G5 team ranked, which is to say the CFP committee would determine which ACC team is the highest-“ranked” among the rest.

In practice, it seems likely that the VT-UVA winner would be the choice, at least to me.

The Orange Bowl:
"for the Orange Bowl bid, which automatically goes to the ACC champion if it isn’t in the playoff top four." If the ACC champion makes the playoff and
"without a “next highest-ranked" school, according to the tie-in description on the league's site, the Orange Bowl could take any ACC team it wants. Even hometown Miami.
It’s an odd situation that no one envisioned."

Per this Ed Hardin article a couple of weeks ago.
https://www.greensboro.com/sports/colle ... 6c4fe.html

[Seattleapp]

Two thoughts. No way Ohio state should jump LSU based on their pathetic schedule so far. Secondly, Iowa state is the bigger sham, not Virginia tech. At least tech has played well. Iowa state is a 4 loss team in a mediocre conference and should have lost to Kansa last week

[EastHallApp]

Wow, that’s a crazy rule about the Orange Bowl. Thanks for the link.

[bigdaddyg]

Isn’t this poll more of a “how do you look this week” kind of thing? Va Tech looks really good right now and G5’s have to be really really good. We simply don’t play the same schedule. Reality is we are a made FG (a long one) and a near TD catch from 8-3. Wins are wins but that one loss bit us. I’m still over the moon that my school has been top 25 for this many weeks. Just a few short years ago we lost to Liberty, A&T and Southern Mississippi.

[Cro-Magnon App]

We are going to have to play well to beat Louisiana. That's the second priority (after Troy) and we are going to have to play four good quarters to do it. That's the only thing we can control.

[Rick83]

Wow, that’s a crazy rule about the Orange Bowl. Thanks for the link.

The interesting/arrogant thing was that they didn't anticipate that if the ACC champion made the 4 team playoff that there wouldn't be another ranked ACC team to go to the bowl. I posted another article not long ago, link is below, that basically had the position that, with the exception of Clemson, the AAC was on par or better than the ACC this year. But of course the ACC is going to get the respect because they're a P5.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/c ... story.html

[APP93]

Happy to see App still in at #25...after taking a look at the ranked teams on Sunday morning and the unranked teams that won I really thought we could be in trouble...felt like VT would bump us (and I dont have an issue with that considering how they have played lately) and was concerned about Navy.

I really hope we beat Troy (and not just for the obvious reasons), I want to see if we are ahead of the cincy-memphis loser

[Yosefus]

I am thrilled to still be ranked, but I am really pissed that the committee has listened to the AAC and it looks to me like they are set up nicely for a 2 loss AAC to still get NY6 bid. I do not understand why Cincinnati did not drop to 23,24,25 with last couple of weeks performance. Boise should have jumped them for sure.

[AppStFan1]

We are going to have to play well to beat Louisiana. That's the second priority (after Troy) and we are going to have to play four good quarters to do it. That's the only thing we can control.

We are going to have to win big. And I know for Drink his job is to just win games but I know for a fact that Gillin has the dream of being in position to get a NY6 bid this year and/or next year. The only way to do that is look impressive. I hope Drink can figure out what we need to do to make a statement over Troy and ULL. We need to win big in both games.

I have always said all along that without some major upsets we can't get the NY6. We need the winner of the Cincy/Memphis game to lose in the AAC title game and also need Boise State to lose the MWC title just for us to have a 50/50 shot at the NY6. Both could happen but still not likely. I'm just glad Navy and Louisiana Tech took losses recently to knock both of them out. Had both won out I bet they would be challenging.

What could be interesting is that if ULL and App both win this week that the winner of the SBC title game should definitely be ranked heading into the bowls.

[savoyspecial21]

The days of "a win is a win" are over. Every stat is under a microscope. Especially when you're starting to hang out in the Top 25 consistently, where separating teams is even harder and has way more ramifications (both competitive and financial). SOR, SOS, Defensive Efficiency, Offensive Efficiency, Margin of Victory, etc, it's all getting dissected.

Like it or not, style points matter.

And our style has been way, way, way too inconsistent. If App is ever going to make any real noise, we need to be taking all these Sun Belt teams behind the wood shed. Unfortunately, we are not. But more unfortunately, the talent level is there to do so.

I'm excited about what Drink has been able to accomplish this year, and the future, but there a lot in the details that needs to be better. Starting out slow every game is a coaching problem. An offense that ebbs and flows from dominating to underwhelmingly mediocre way too often is a coaching problem. Letting teams hang around and not finishing is a coaching problem. And most of this caught up to them in the Southern game.

Also, I promise you when someone scans down our schedule and sees us giving up 41 points to UNC Charlotte and 37 to Coastal Carolina, they take note. To truly take the next step, Drink needs to figure out the consistency.

It's ok to have higher expectations, we are in the mountains.

Also, Sutton injury had nothing to do with us slipping, committee has already stated it doesn't speculate on the effect of injuries, until they actually witness the effect of the injury.

So this Saturday, start out fast, keep the foot on the pedal, and make a damn statement.

Throttle Troy.

Get'em App.

[ah59396]

I am thrilled to still be ranked, but I am really pissed that the committee has listened to the AAC and it looks to me like they are set up nicely for a 2 loss AAC to still get NY6 bid. I do not understand why Cincinnati did not drop to 23,24,25 with last couple of weeks performance. Boise should have jumped them for sure.

The AAC commissioner, despite being a whiner, does a great job branding that conference. The stats clearly show they are the premier G5 conference, but they’ve got someone at the helm that keeps them in the news week after week.

Our commissioner is a Duke alumnus who, as far as I know, is non-existent for us from a marketing perspective.