Notre Dame can have a big impact on the playoff. 0:47 LSU is one win away from becoming the first two-loss team to make the College Football Playoff. In the most notable decision from an otherwise predictable top six, the committee decided that the Tigers were a notch above USC, which is coming off its best win of the year, a 48-45 road victory against 18th ranked UCLA. LSU was bumped up one spot after Tennessee lost to South Carolina, but the committee kept the USC in the top 25. In Baton Rouge, that same Tennessee team defeated LSU. The fact that LSU will face Georgia in the SEC Championship game is a big deal for the team. If LSU beats Texas A&M on Saturday and Georgia in the SEC title game, they will finish in the top four. "It came up over and over again to make sure, and there's reasons for both teams, but the committee at the end of the day saw the wins over Alabama and Mississippi as stronger than the wins over UCLA and Oregon State." We still don't know the strength of USC's defense, but we believe that LSU deserved to be ranked 5 and USC 6. The possibility of LSU winning the SEC should worry every other contender because it sustains the possibility of two SEC teams finishing in the top 4. This is the second time. The biggest rivalry games of Week 13 are ranked in order of their greatest impact. Jump to:
Anger Index | 12-team bracket | Résumés | If Michigan wins the Big Ten East, they will be the Big Ten's top contender for the playoffs. If Georgia beats LSU, it will eliminate the possibility of two SEC teams, and if Notre Dame beats USC, it will help the Buckeyes immensely. If Ohio State beats Notre Dame and Penn State, it will impress the selection committee enough to get in over a one-loss champ. Ohio State has five wins over teams in the top 40. The Big Ten East would be won by Ohio State if they win. It would take a win against Penn State and game film to beat a conference champion. Like Ohio State, Michigan needs Georgia to win the SEC and eliminate LSU, and it needs USC to lose to Notre Dame in order to eliminate the conference. Colorado State and Hawai'i are the second and third weakest non conference schedules in the country. Michigan is in the top four in the strength of record metric, while the other two are in the bottom six. Two of Michigan's four wins against teams ranked in the top 40 of the Fpi were by one possession. The NEW #CFBPlayoff top 25 rankings heading into rivalry week‼️ Which matchup are you looking forward to? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/HPRCgNRmbd
1. Michigan at Ohio State
USC is already looking up at a two-loss team if Notre Dame wins, because the conference's champion would have at least two losses. If Notre Dame wins, it will give Ohio State another boost in case they lose to Michigan.
If USC wins, the Pac-12's hopes would stay strong, and USC could jump LSU and crack the top four in the committee's fifth ranking after the loser of Ohio State-Michigan falls out. There could still be a debate even if USC wins the conference and finishes with three straight wins. The possibility of two SEC teams in the top four is what USC needs Georgia to do. The best-case scenario for USC is for Ohio State to win the Big Ten and USC to lose to Michigan. Depending on how the game plays out, that could be a challenge. If Georgia, Ohio State and TCU are in, USC seems to have separated itself from one of the other one-loss teams. If the committee is bothered more by USC's porous defense or the average offense of the opposing team in the conference championship game, the question will be.
The defense is looking for a stronger showing. A more dominant win in those situations is what the committee wants.
If the Tigers win, they'll avoid elimination, but they're still in need of help. At this point in the season, no team has been ranked lower than 7. After its loss to Georgia Tech, North Carolina dropped four spots, but the win against Florida State helped the Tigers. Louisville jumped into the ranking this week at 25th. The committee will penalize the team for its 35-14 loss to Notre Dame, even though it could finish the season with three wins. It would be the third-largest regular-season loss by a semifinalist if they finished in the top four. USC and Ohio State will have played Notre Dame, so the loss to the Irish could be a factor in keeping the tigers out. If you want to have a realistic chance, you need to run the table and hope for Georgia to win the SEC and a two-loss USC champion.
The committee wants to know what it sees from the offense.
Will Shipley is a great player for them. There have been some ups and downs with regards to the quarterback position that we've talked about in the room.
If South Carolina wins, the conference will be finished. Neither of the two teams that lost in the conference title game has played well enough to compensate for that.
"These rankings don't really mean anything" is a common refrain during the first few rankings.
At this point, there is little precedent for a team not in the top four to make the playoffs. The committee has mostly decided who it thinks is best, and a few teams have a reason to argue with those decisions.
This is the first thing. The tigers are in the top eight.
We'll do a little blind review here.
56 strength of schedule, three wins by a touchdown or more over teams ranked in the top half of the game, two wins over teams ranked in the top 15.
58 strength of schedule, one win by a touchdown or more over teams ranked in the top half of the FBS, two wins against teams currently ranked in the top 15.
You would give Team A the slight edge. The team is called Team A. If the status quo holds, USC is better positioned to make the playoffs than any other team.
Why isn't the USC getting dinged in a similar way to the tigers? USC lost to Utah, which was ranked at the time. Notre Dame was not ranked at the time of the game. It's important that context matters.
Notre Dame scored 21 points on two turnovers and a blocked punt, as well as on two other occasions. USC was + in turnover margin against Utah. There is a lot of luck and situational differences involved in turnover margin. If you want to play a game without turnovers, you should play Notre Dame. The 21-point loss is worse than the one-point loss. It's worth looking at all the context, not just the metrics.
Pundits have said that the Tigers aren't doing anything particularly well. Even though the defense is terrible, USC's offense is amazing. There is no problem with the school. Even if there is nothing to specifically critique, there is very little to be excited about.
Let's compare another one.
The team scored 36.5 points per game and gave up 19.7 points per game.
Team B scored 34.7 points per game and allowed 20.8 points per game.
The team has been more impressive. It might be a slight advantage for Team A. The team is called Team B. The team that won the national championship was from Team A.
Even though it isn't great at anything at the moment, it's pretty good at almost everything. When the tigers have avoided turnovers, they have handled their competition with ease.
They are ranked No. 8 and seem to have received a message from the committee. If it wants to make the playoffs, it needs to have a lot of other things go its way. The top seven teams have never made the final four.
There are two The Tennessee Volunteers are ranked 10th.
It's not possible to put a bow on South Carolina's hanging of 63. The Volunteers lost a very bad game. The committee is supposed to avoid recency bias and look at the entire season. Tennessee, LSU and Alabama all have at least one loss. Both LSU and Alabama were defeated by Tennessee. Alabama and LSU are both in the top five.
If the committee's point is that Tennessee was underestimated before and the South Carolina game revealed some previously unknown flaw, then okay. It's a good idea to drop the Vols. The losses suffered by LSU and Alabama should also be reexamined.
There isn't a perfect formula for making the playoffs. For all we know about teams, nothing matters more than what happens on the field. Head-to-head should be the final line of separation. The committee decided that a bad loss to South Carolina is more important than head-to-head wins over two teams.
There are three. Washington is ranked 13th in the nation.
We made a case for Tennessee. You can copy and paste it here. Washington has the same record as Oregon and beat Oregon head-to-head, but it has a worse overall loss.
There are four. All three of them are unranked.
Group of 5 teams have not made the playoffs in most of the past years. There is still a chance of a New Year's Six bid. The committee decided that whoever wins the American Athletic Conference deserves the bid, despite the fact that UTSA only lost to Houston and Texas.
Perhaps the lackluster performance of Conference USA explains that oversight, but the Sun Belt has actually been quite good this season, and yet Coastal Carolina (9-1) and Troy (9-2 with a four-point loss on a last-second Hail Mary to Appalachian State and a road loss to No.20 Ole There's no clear-cut best team outside the Power 5 this year, but it feels like what could easily be a six- or seven-team race for the New Year's Six spot is being decided by a few games.
There are five. The state of Minnesota is un ranked.
We are not weeping for the University of Minnesota. Lose to Iowa and you won't be sorry. It is a simple rule. It's worth pointing out that Minnesota is ranked in the top 20 in the world. There are no unranked teams that rank higher. Don't let Iowa win.
The College Football Playoff should be expanded to 12 teams in time for the 2024 season, according to everyone with the power.
Expansion is scheduled to start in the year 2026. We're taking a look at how a 12-team playoff would look today based on the model released by the commissioners and presidents.
The next six highest-ranked teams will be included in the field. The top four seeds will get a bye in the first round. The higher seeds will host the lower seeds in the first round, with the other eight teams playing at another location.
The playoffs would look like this if the format were in place.
There are seeds with byES.
1. Georgia 2. Ohio State 3. TCU
4. USC
Remaining seeds are still alive.
(conference champs in bold)
5. Michigan 6. LSU 7. Alabama
8. Clemson
9. Oregon 10. Tennessee 11. Penn State12. Tulane
There are games in the first round.
No. 12 Tulane at No. 5 Michigan No. 11 Penn State at No. 6 LSU No. 10 Tennessee at No. 7 Alabama
No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Clemson
There are games in the quarter final.
No. 9 Oregon-No. 8 Clemson winner vs. No. 1 Georgia No. 10 Tennessee-No. 7 Alabama winner vs. No. 2 Ohio State No. 11 Penn State-No. 6 LSU winner vs. No. 3 TCU
No. 12 Tulane-No. 5 Michigan winner vs. No. 4 USC
The record is 11-0.
Biggest win: Nov. 5 vs. Tennessee
Last playoff appearance: 2022 CFP National Championship: No. 3 Georgia 33, No. 1 Alabama 18
The record is 11-0
Biggest win: Oct. 29 at Penn State, 44-31
Last playoff appearance: 2021 CFP National Championship: No. 1 Alabama 52, No. 3 Ohio State 24
There was a record of 11-0 with a score of 74 and a margin of error of four.
Biggest win: Oct. 15 vs. Penn State, 41-17
Last playoff appearance: 2022 playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl: No. 3 Georgia 34, No. 2 Michigan 11
There was a record of 11-0 and it was not a good one.
Biggest win: Nov. 12 at Texas, 17-10
Last playoff appearance: Never
The record was 9-2 with a score of 8.
Biggest win: Nov. 5 vs. Alabama, 32-31
Last playoff appearance: 2020 CFP National Championship: No. 1 LSU 42, No. 3 Clemson 25
The record is 10-1
Biggest win: Nov. 19 at UCLA, 48-45
Last playoff appearance: Never
The record is 10-1
Biggest win: Oct. 15 at Florida State, 34-28
Last playoff appearance: 2021 playoff semifinal at the Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Ohio State 49, No. 2 Clemson 28
All Rights Reserved © 2024
