The College Football Playoff Selection Committee released its second set of rankings, and what everyone cares about most is obviously the top four. Well, it's Alabama, Clemson, Michigan and Washington, in that order, which is the top four many believed the committee should have had last week.
But there are 25 teams in the rankings, and you can be sure the committee didn't get all 25 of them correct. So where has the committee gone wrong this week? Let's go over it together.
No. 5 Ohio State -- Underrated
This is an assessment of both Ohio State and Washington, but I don't want to call Washington overrated. It's a good team, but I'm just confused about why Washington is No. 4 this week when it was No. 5 last week behind Texas A&M. The reasons given for Texas A&M being No. 4 last week was that it had played a more difficult schedule and had a more impressive resume than Washington, even with its loss.
Well, how is Ohio State any different from the Aggies in that respect? Ohio State has one loss on the season to a Penn State team currently ranked No. 10. It has wins over No. 11 Oklahoma, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 19 Nebraska. Washington has one win over a ranked team, and it's No. 15 Utah.
So what changed? Why is Washington's resume suddenly good enough to warrant getting the fourth spot? Was beating Cal that impressive? Even on the same weekend Ohio State beat a ranked Nebraska team by 59 points?
Again, this isn't really a statement against Washington as much as it's confusion about the committee's selection process. It seems that the goal posts are being moved every week.
No. 8 Texas A&M -- Just about right
I understood the Aggies' ranking last week, and I understand it this week, though I'm not entirely on board. The Mississippi State loss certainly looks bad because the Bulldogs aren't very good. That being said, I'd be a lot more upset about this ranking if Texas A&M was ranked ahead of a bunch of other one-loss teams from Power Five conferences. It isn't.
The only one-loss team from a Power Five behind the Aggies in the poll is No. 16 West Virginia. Clearly the committee values the Aggies more than the Mountaineers, and the only reason it's at No. 8 is because the committee didn't want to put it behind an Auburn team it beat this season. Which is fine, I guess, and it's really not worth being upset about because odds are the Aggies will only fall from here following the news they've lost Trevor Knight for the season.
No. 16 West Virginia -- Underrated
Here is one ranking that I don't understand. I get why the committee isn't going to put West Virginia in the top 10 considering its biggest win is either TCU or Kansas State, but there needs to be some value on wins and losses, and a one-loss Mountaineers team deserves to be ranked ahead of some of the two-loss teams ahead of it. It should be three spots higher in these rankings with the chance to climb further as its schedule gets more difficult.
No. 13 Oklahoma State -- Overrated
Oklahoma State is a two-loss team ranked No. 13 despite the facts its two losses have come against a Baylor team the committee no longer ranks and a Central Michigan team that's now 5-5 and just lost to Miami (Ohio). Oklahoma State does have a win over West Virginia, but as we just went over, the committee doesn't seem to consider the Mountaineers to be all that strong of a team, so how can that win be worth enough to put the Cowboys at No. 13? It just doesn't make a lot of sense.
No. 24 LSU -- Underrated
I understand being underwhelmed by what you saw from LSU's performance against Alabama. The offense was completely shut down, and there's not a lot of reason to believe this Tigers team is an elite group. But dropping it 11 spots because it lost to the best team in the country by 10 points seems a bit drastic -- particularly when a Nebraska team that lost by 59 to Ohio State only fell nine spots.
The Tigers have three losses, and they've come against No. 1 Alabama, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 9 Auburn. There's no win on the resume worthy of ranking this team in the top 15, but dropping them all the way down to No. 24 is just an overreaction.