The first set of the College Football Playoff rankings have been released, and there were certainly quite a few surprises.
Selection committee chairman/Iowa AD Gary Barta, however, told Rece Davis on the ESPN broadcast that Georgia was a clear No. 1 and Alabama was a consensus No. 2. He also noted that the committee spent a lot of time discussing Nos. 3-9.
Of course, the only rankings that matter come after Championship Saturday, but the committee made some statements on Tuesday night.
Rapid-fire thoughts:
*The committee values the Big Ten. The league has six teams ranked, including Iowa despite playing very poorly the last two weeks.
*The committee values head-to-head results—just look up and down the Top 25.
*Oklahoma needs to re-focus and put its best foot forward. The Sooners check in at No. 8 behind 1-loss Michigan and Cincinnati.
*Is Alabama positioned to get in with two losses if the second setback is a close one to Georgia in the SEC title game?
*Mississippi State at No. 17? Really?
*Cincinnati needs help. Luke Fickell’s squad deserved a better number in these initial rankings, and the AAC as a whole is being undervalued as neither Houston nor SMU—fellow league members—cracked these rankings.
This is how the selection committee stacked up the Top 25 as we head into the first weekend of November:
1. Georgia
2. Alabama
3. Michigan State
4. Oregon
5. Ohio State
6. Cincinnati
7. Michigan
8. Oklahoma
9. Wake
10. ND
11. Oklahoma State
12. Baylor
13. Auburn
14. Texas A&M
15. BYU
16. Ole Miss
17. Mississippi State
18. Kentucky
19. NC State
20. Minnesota
21. Wisconsin
22. Iowa
23. Fresno State
24. San Diego State
25. Pittsburgh
Follow me on Twitter @Miller_Dave & email me at david.matthew.miller@gmail.com
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