How might the loud, ticklish situation at Mississippi affect the College Football Playoff rankings from here? Could Michigan, never higher than its current No. 15 in the four College Football Playoff rankings this season, vault all the way into the 12-team field if it can defeat No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday? Could Miami, in the strange situation of having the highest ranking in its conference but with scant chance of winning that conference, qualify as an at-large team?
The questions concerned the future Tuesday night as the present lacked drama when the 12-member committee issued its fourth and latest list. With Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M still unbeaten at 11-0 and firmly in the top three spots as they have been all along, and with Georgia (10-1) still atop the one-loss contingent at No. 4, the mild rumblings came from below.
As Mississippi (10-1) fell from No. 6 to No. 7, and as Oregon (10-1) rose from No. 7 to No. 6, the hubbub about whether Mississippi Coach Lane Kiffin might bolt for LSU, Florida or elsewhere — while his current team vies for a playoff berth — found a fresh realm as a playoff topic.
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On ESPN, committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said, “We didn’t have any discussion about Ole Miss and their coach. That [change in the rankings] was all about Oregon against USC,” a reference to the Ducks’ 42-27 race through the then-No. 15 Trojans on Saturday in Eugene, Oregon.
Asked by ESPN’s Rece Davis whether the removal of a coach from the picture could affect committee deliberations, Yurachek said, “It is in the protocol, but I’m not sure if we will have a data point to use in that protocol.” By that he meant, “We will not have seen [the] team play without a coach,” so we will not be able to ascertain any effect — unlike two years ago, when the committee left unbeaten Florida State out of the four-team playoff after having seen it play without its just-injured starting quarterback.
Later, on a teleconference, to a question from Brett McMurphy of On3, Yurachek reiterated, “We [wouldn’t] have a data point from Ole Miss without their head coach,” but then, asked to clarify, said a Kiffin departure “could be considered by the committee.”
If Mississippi can win at Mississippi State (5-6) on Friday, the Rebels would, by all normal standards, secure a place in the playoff, what with a record unbeaten save for a 43-35 loss at Georgia.
Further below, a notable leap happened with Michigan (9-2), which went from No. 18 to No. 15, meaning it will play from a position potentially viable when it welcomes dear friend No. 1 Ohio State (11-0) at noon Saturday in Ann Arbor. Asked whether Michigan could reach the field, Yurachek echoed the committee chairs of the past 12 years in refraining from speculating about the future when he said, “I can’t predict that.”
The committee has a terrifying puzzle with the more contentious batch of two-loss teams, including No. 8 Oklahoma (9-2), No. 9 Notre Dame (9-2), No. 10 Alabama (9-2) and No. 12 Miami (9-2), which inched up a notch from No. 13, switching places with Utah (9-2). The Hurricanes’ situation remains strange. They do not seem likely to reach the ACC championship game, needing a nutty calculus of outcomes this weekend to qualify even though they rank ahead of No. 18 Virginia (9-2) and No. 21 SMU (8-3), both of whom can reach that game through far less complicated means: winning this weekend against Virginia Tech and California.
That means Miami probably must confine its hopes to an at-large bid. It sits three spots behind Notre Dame, which has looked mighty lately, almost three months after opening the season with a narrow loss at Miami. Such a bid might be hard to come by, especially with BYU (10-1) sitting at No. 11 and preparing to play Central Florida (5-6) in a bid to reach the Big 12 championship game, where it might play No. 5 Texas Tech (10-1).
The committee repeatedly has upgraded Miami after its place at No. 18 in the year’s first rankings. Yurachek called it “a team very much on the rise” after consistency issues at midseason, praised the recent surge of quarterback Carson Beck and called Miami “really the highest climber during [the four weeks of the rankings].” Seeing as Miami’s losses came to Louisville and SMU, the entry of SMU to No. 21 in the rankings could help the Hurricanes’ CV, while the departure of fading Louisville from the rankings two weeks ago could hurt.
No. 22 Pitt (8-3) and No. 23 Georgia Tech (9-2), the latter falling seven places after Pitt drilled it in Atlanta, also have ACC championship possibilities but need help.
Just beneath them, No. 24 Tulane (9-2) has the lead down the stretch toward the annual bid that goes to the team the committee judges the best in the Group of Six, the conferences beneath the Power Four (and Notre Dame). The Green Wave prepares to play Charlotte (1-10), then perhaps the American Conference championship game. The five highest-ranked conference champions get automatic bids to the field regardless of whether they’re in the top 12, meaning No. 10 Alabama holds the last at-large spot at the moment.
No. 4 Georgia still has the last first-round bye at present as it gets ready to play Georgia Tech in Atlanta. To a question about whether Georgia Tech might soar all the way from No. 23 to the vicinity of the field if it can beat Georgia, Yurachek said he thought it would be “very hard,” but again he “can’t predict.”
This week’s rankings
1. Ohio State (11-0)
2. Indiana (11-0)
3. Texas A&M (11-0)
4. Georgia (10-1)
5. Texas Tech (10-1)
6. Oregon (10-1)
7. Mississippi (10-1)
8. Oklahoma (9-2)
9. Notre Dame (9-2)
10. Alabama (9-2)
11. BYU (10-1)
12. Miami (9-2)
13. Utah (9-2)
14. Vanderbilt (9-2)
15. Michigan (9-2)
16. Texas (8-3)
17. USC (8-3)
18. Virginia (9-2)
19. Tennessee (8-3)
20. Arizona State (8-3)
21. SMU (8-3)
22. Pittsburgh (8-3)
23. Georgia Tech (9-2)
24. Tulane (9-2)
25. Arizona (8-3)
The post With little drama now, what may be ahead looms over the CFP rankings appeared first on Washington Post.
