Alabama Football: Reaction to second CFP rankings
The second College Football Playoff Top 25 was released on Tuesday after a week of uncertainty and cancellations. Alabama football stayed No. 1, but there was some movement.
After the first rankings were released a week ago, many people were confused by some of the committee’s decisions. Most notably the decision to leave undefeated BYU out of the top 10 entirely, behind two different two-loss teams. One decision people were not questioning was putting Alabama football in the top spot.
The Crimson Tide remains No. 1 after a tumultuous week that saw the first Alabama affiliates (that have been confirmed) miss games because of Coronavirus. Thankfully, none of the Tide’s top players missed, but they did have to play the Iron Bowl without the greatest coach of all-time on the sidelines.
Nick Saban had a Covid scare earlier in the season that later turned out to be a false positive, but this time it was legitimate. Alabama football didn’t miss a beat though, handily dispatching their hated rival, the Auburn Tigers. It was a foregone conclusion Alabama would remain at No. 1 this week. The real question was, would there be any change to the other top teams?
The short answer is, no.
The top seven stayed intact, and the only top 10 team to fall out was Northwestern who lost a comeback bid against Michigan State. The takeaway from the lack of movement at the top is the committee is not penalizing Ohio State for only playing four games. Many people believe that Ohio State MUST play their remaining two regular-season games to qualify for the BIG 10 Championship Game under the conference’s new rules.
If Ohio State misses the BIG-10 Championship Game it would definitely have an impact on the committee rankings even if they were undefeated. All in all, the rankings were pretty much on par with expectations, after a pretty ho-hum weekend of college football. Texas A&M is still ranked above Florida, even after an embarrassing offensive performance against LSU.
BYU moved up one spot to No. 13 on a BYE week, just barely ahead of one-loss Northwestern. Notre Dame is still No. 2, and No. 3 Clemson remains ahead of No. 4 Ohio State. The PAC-12’s playoff chances took a huge hit with Oregon’s loss, moving them all the way down to No. 23. The PAC’s highest-ranked team is now USC at No. 20. With the way it seems the committee currently views Pac-12 teams, even an undefeated conference champion might be left out.
Cincinnati’s window is still small even though they remained No. 7. They will need losses by Texas A&M, Ohio State, and Florida plus Notre Dame has to win the rematch with Clemson for them to really have a chance. Then the debate would be, is an undefeated Cincinnati better than two-loss Florida, Texas A&M, and Clemson?
Not much else to note in a week where there weren’t many huge upsets or letdowns. The full rankings are below if you want to see how everything is settling with a few weeks left in the season.
Full Rankings
1. Alabama (8-0)
2. Notre Dame (9-0)
3. Clemson (8-1)
4. Ohio State (4-0)
5. Texas A&M (6-1)
6. Florida (7-1)
7. Cincinnati (8-0)
8. Georgia (6-2)
9. Iowa State (7-2)
10. Miami (7-1)
11. Oklahoma (6-2)
12. Indiana (5-1)
13. BYU (9-0)
14. Northwestern (5-1)
15. Oklahoma State (6-2)
16. Wisconsin (2-1)
17. North Carolina (6-3)
18. Coastal Carolina (9-0)
19. Iowa (4-2)
20. USC (3-0)
21. Marshall (7-0)
22. Washington (3-0)
23. Oregon (3-1)
24. Tulsa (5-1)
25. Louisiana (8-1)
Next. Tide are on a revenge tour vs. LSU. dark
If you are like me, you are ECSTATIC that the LSU game got rescheduled for this weekend. You know that the Alabama football players are even more excited than we are as fans. The defending champs are just a shadow of their former selves, and when Alabama rolls into town with a chip on their shoulder you better be ready. You can bet these Alabama players remember all the antics that the Bayou Bengals pulled after the game last year and it is time to pay the piper.