College Football Playoff: The three biggest questions
With just two more rankings releases remaining, the College Football Playoff picture is coming into focus. On Tuesday night, the latest ranking was released with Ohio State taking over the No. 1 spot, followed by LSU, Clemson, Georgia, Alabama and Utah, respectively.
But a few major questions and debates remain, as always. Experts from around the Rivals network that cover the teams in the hunt addressed those key questions heading into the final stretch to determine the four-team field.
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College Football Playoff rankings released Tuesday night:
1. Ohio State (11-0)
2. LSU (11-0)
3. Clemson (11-0)
4. Georgia (10-1)
5. Alabama (10-1)
6. Utah (10-1)
7. Oklahoma (10-1)
8. Minnesota (10-1)
9. Baylor (10-1)
10. Penn State (9-2)
11. Florida (9-2)
12. Wisconsin (9-2)
13. Michigan (9-2)
14. Oregon (9-2)
15. Auburn (8-3)
16. Notre Dame (9-2)
17. Iowa (8-3)
18. Memphis (10-1)
19. Cincinnati (10-1)
20. Boise State (10-1)
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1. Can Utah leapfrog Alabama by winning out, including a victory in the Pac-12 championship game?
ALABAMA: “If the question here is 'Can Utah leapfrog Alabama?' then the answer is absolutely. However, whether it should is a different discussion.
“When you add Alabama’s hypothetical win over Auburn and Utah’s hypothetical win over Oregon, the Utes’ resume isn’t much different than the Crimson Tide’s. In fact, it’s probably worse. Utah’s best win at that point would be Oregon, which lost to an Auburn team that ended up being Alabama’s best win. Alabama would also have the better loss as a defeat to LSU is more forgivable than one to Southern California. The one thing Utah will have that Alabama won’t is a conference championship. I guess we’ll see how much that matters to the committee.” – Tony Tsoukalas, BamaInsider.com
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UTAH: “Yes, absolutely yes. A few things come into play here, but the biggest being that Utah would deserve it. There has been an uproar lately about SEC bias as well as loud arguments for an eight-team playoff. Utah is likely the beneficiary of this angry mob mentality. Although, again, they deserve it and can stack up with anyone in the Top four.
“In the end, Utah will have a stronger strength of schedule than the Crimson Tide. They’re comparable to each other in total offense and total defense rankings, with each having one unit in the top 10 and top 20 on the other. Utah is also only one of three teams ranked in the top 10 for efficiency for both sides of the ball.
“When you have two comparable teams, certain things start getting weighed in. Utah has only given up multiple touchdowns in three games. They have two shutouts and two other games the opponent finally got on the board in the closing minutes against Utah’s backups. Defense wins championships, and offense wins you style points. Quarterback Tyler Huntley is a near lock for Pac-12 Player of the Year and Zack Moss is one of the most electrifying offensive talents in the country.
“Alabama is stacked, but its big draw was Tua Tagovailoa, and with him being out, what else? The Crimson Tide aren’t even going to the SEC championship game.
“This should be an easier decision than most people east of the Rockies think.” – Alex Markham, UteNation.com
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2. If the Big Ten and SEC each end with a pair of one-loss teams, which league should get two teams in the playoff?
LSU: “The SEC seems to get the better end of the bargain in nearly all of these type of scenarios. And for the most part, rightfully so. The best case for the SEC this year would be for an SEC champion Georgia team and a one-loss LSU team, which would be contingent on the Bulldogs upsetting the Tigers on Dec. 7 in the SEC championship game. Alabama is Alabama, so they are likely to get a push from the voters.” – Jimmy Smith, TigerDetails.com
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OHIO STATE: “My natural bias, and I recognize it as bias, is to lean toward the Big Ten just based on what I cover from a day-to-day basis. But, I am not going to give Minnesota that much of a margin for error when you look at its non-conference schedule of South Dakota State, Fresno State and Georgia Southern. Yes, it would hold wins over Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State to get into this scenario, but the rest of the schedule is pretty poor.
“UGA is really in the same boat however with a non-conference slate of Murray State, Arkansas State and Georgia Tech. Yes, there are wins over Notre Dame, which is habitually overrated, Florida and I'm still not sure why they are ranked as high as they are – and Auburn. You would also have the win over LSU in a championship game of the SEC, which might tip the scales that way.
“I think that Ohio State and LSU both can afford a loss, as long as it is not a horrible loss in terms of margin or style of play.
“So when it comes down to Minnesota and UGA, I would probably just give Minnesota and the Big Ten the edge based on their loss not being as bad as Georgia’s and the fact that Minnesota is not leaking as much oil down the stretch – UGA's offense is not pleasant to watch. The CFP committee will assuredly go in the other direction however just based on where each of these teams have been ranked.” – Kevin Noon, BuckeyeGrove.com
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3. Is the Big 12 – No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 9 Baylor – not getting enough respect and essentially out of the race?
OKLAHOMA: “Narratives can be a funny thing. So too can the impact of a logo on the side of the helmet. If the roles were reversed, would Baylor have an inside track to the playoffs that Oklahoma currently holds? At the very least they would still be a part of the conversation.
“Whether people want to admit it ... Baylor has been treated like a non-Power Five conference team. Central Florida knows the feeling. And that's not a good look for the Big 12.
“Oklahoma on the other hand is making the most of its blueblood free pass. Thanks to Arizona State beating Oregon, the Sooners are right back in the playoff hunt while Baylor's lone loss -- ironically-- to Oklahoma has all but ended the Bears' dream to make a playoff push.
“But remember defense isn't played in the Big 12. Baylor leads the conference and ranks in the top 10 nationally in sacks (38.0) and takeaways (22). This would be celebrated as a talking point in another league. Oklahoma has improved drastically in Alex Grinch's first season while still leading the country offensively.
“The conference is fighting a perception problem on the national stage. There's no getting around that.” - Eddie Radosevich, SoonerScoop.com
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BAYLOR: “I have no idea what the committee thinks about anything anymore. The only thing the committee didn't have to work at was the top three of LSU, Ohio State and Clemson. After that, it's pretty much pin the tail on the team. Baylor was already facing an uphill climb when it was ranked at No. 12 in the first release. Then it dropped after a win at TCU.
“The only thing I can think of was that the Bears were punished for a soft non-conference schedule that included an ugly win over Rice and then less-than-impressive Big 12 wins over losing teams. They had a bizarre second half against Oklahoma. Even if the Bears are able to win out against Kansas and Oklahoma, they're going to have to have so many dominoes fall in front of them to get a look at the playoff. The committee has done a terrible job this year.” – Kevin Lonnquist, SicEmSports.com
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