Five reactions and what we learned from the fourth rankings from the College Football Playoff committee.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– Big 12 vs. Utah
– The known unknown is …
– Penn State love
– What it all really means
5. Rapid-Fire First Reaction To Latest College Football Playoff Rankings
What’s with the refusal to like what Virginia Tech is doing? Yeah, it got wiped out by Duke 45-10 at the end of September, but that was before making a quarterback change – the committee is supposed to notice things like that – and before the team went on a run.
The Hokies have won six of their last seven game, with the one loss coming on the final drive against Notre Dame on the road. They whacked Wake Forest, and over the last two weeks beat Georgia Tech and Pitt by a combined score of 63-0. This team should be a whole lot higher than 24.
Virginia Tech being ranked makes things easier. Now we know that the Virginia-VT winner – and Coastal Division champ – will be the easy pick to go to the Orange Bowl if it loses to Clemson.
Ohio State moving up to No. 1 doesn’t matter all that much, unless it’s the committee’s way of providing a time to get used to the idea of LSU not being in the top spot. Why does this matter?
The College Football Playoff committee REALLY and truly just wants to get it right, and there isn’t some hidden agenda other than simply wanting to create the best four-team tournament possible. With that said, by moving up the Buckeyes now, it’s setting it up to avoid a possible LSU/Alabama rematch in the semifinal.
Wisconsin at 12, Michigan at 13. Thank you, College Football Playoff committee, for being the only rankings to acknowledge the Badger blowout win over the Wolverines.
Nah, Oregon’s drop to 14 isn’t going to matter as much as you might think. Utah is going to have to dominate the Pac-12 Championship no matter what and get in as a 12-1 Power Five champ. After this weekend, Oregon will move up to around 11.
18 Memphis and 19 Cincinnati play each other, and they could play the week after in the American Athletic Conference championship. No. 20 Boise State has a better shot than you think of being the Group of Five champion going to the Cotton Bowl.
– Big 12 vs. Utah
– The known unknown is …
– Penn State love
– What it all really means
