CFP Rankings: Alabama up to 2nd; Irish No. 4
The second edition of the College Football Playoff Rankings was released Tuesday night, and there was a bit of a shakeup at the top, which was to be expected after Alabama’s win over previous No. 2 LSU.
Clemson remained in the top spot following a win over Florida State. It will be interesting to see how the Tigers fare going forward. Their strength of schedule peaked this week with games against Syracuse, Wake Forest and South Carolina, all of which are 3-6, remaining before the ACC title game.
Alabama jumped over Ohio State to take the spot previously held by LSU after pounding the Tigers this past weekend. The loss to Ole Miss aside, few teams have played a better schedule than Alabama.
Ohio State remained third after a pedestrian win over Minnesota this week, while Notre Dame slid up one spot to No. 4 after winning at Pittsburgh.
The CFP Selection Committee had something of an epiphany in the last week with Iowa jumping over Baylor; the Hawkeyes are now up to No. 5, while the Bears remain in the sixth spot. This must be a nod to the strength of Iowa’s schedule, which is better than you think. However, the Hawkeyes’ win at Indiana last Saturday didn’t impact that strength in any significant way. There is nothing new in the data this week that would justify that move, other than that’s what the committee should have done to begin with. It’s only something of an epiphany though because Baylor is still ahead of a handful of more deserving teams, but at least the committee made a correction for one of them.
Here is how the CFP Rankings’ top 25 looks as of Nov. 10:
| College Football Playoff Rankings, Nov. 10 | |||
| Rank | Team | Record | Next game |
| 1 | Clemson | 9-0 | at Syracuse |
| 2 | Alabama | 8-1 | vs. Mississippi State |
| 3 | Ohio State | 9-0 | at Illinois |
| 4 | Notre Dame | 8-1 | vs. Wake Forest |
| 5 | Iowa | 9-0 | vs. Minnesota |
| 6 | Baylor | 8-0 | vs. Oklahoma |
| 7 | Stanford | 8-1 | vs. Oregon |
| 8 | Oklahoma State | 9-0 | at Iowa State |
| 9 | LSU | 8-1 | vs. Arkansas |
| 10 | Utah | 8-1 | at Arizona |
| 11 | Florida | 8-1 | at South Carolina |
| 12 | Oklahoma | 8-1 | at Baylor |
| 13 | Michigan State | 8-1 | vs. Maryland |
| 14 | Michigan | 7-2 | at Indiana |
| 15 | TCU | 8-1 | vs. Kansas |
| 16 | Florida State | 7-2 | vs. NC State |
| 17 | Mississippi State | 7-2 | vs. Alabama |
| 18 | Northwestern | 7-2 | vs. Purdue |
| 19 | UCLA | 7-2 | vs. Washington State |
| 20 | Navy | 7-1 | vs. SMU |
| 21 | Memphis | 8-1 | at Houston |
| 22 | Temple | 8-1 | at USF |
| 23 | North Carolina | 8-1 | vs. Miami |
| 24 | Houston | 9-0 | vs. Memphis |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 8-2 | BYE |
Oklahoma State, which pounded TCU last week to give the Cowboys by far the best win of any team in the Big 12 so far, is still behind the Bears. In fact, OSU is still behind Stanford. The Cardinal are seventh, the Cowboys eighth.
You can argue Stanford’s position if you want, but there is no defense for Baylor still being ahead of Oklahoma State. Baylor has played absolutely nobody. It has the worst schedule strength among the undefeated teams, except for No. 24 Houston, and it’s not even close to the next worst, however you choose to measure it.
Last week, CFP committee chairman Jeff Long kept referring to the number of wins teams had over opponents with a record of better than .500. Baylor has exactly zero such wins. Zero. The four Big 12 teams in this week’s rankings have a combined total of four such wins. Four teams in the top 25 each have more than that all by themselves. Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and Memphis have five such wins each. TCU is the only other team in this week’s rankings without a win over a team that’s better than .500.
If Baylor beats Oklahoma this week, then the committee will have a little something to base this love affair on, but right now, the Bears haven’t earned anything close to the No. 6 spot.
LSU fell to ninth after the loss to the Tide. That seems a bit harsh and is probably a bit of an overreaction to the margin of victory for Alabama. The other previously undefeated teams that suffered their first losses last week, Michigan State and TCU, dropped to 13th and 15th, respectively.
Navy, a 45-20 winner at Memphis this week, jumped to the top of the list of Group of Five teams. The Midshipmen are 20th, ahead of No. 21 Memphis, No. 22 Temple, and the only undefeated team of the bunch, No. 24 Houston.
The Big Ten leads all conferences with six teams in this week’s top 25. The four American Athletic Conference teams listed above help that league tie for second with the SEC and Big 12. There are three each from the ACC and Pac-12, plus one Independent.
The CFP Rankings will be issued weekly on Tuesday nights through the end of the season. The four teams ultimately selected by the 12-person CFP Selection Committee to take part in the playoff will be seeded 1-4 and play semifinals in the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve. The College Football Playoff National Championship will be held in Glendale, Ariz. on Jan. 12, 2016.
Notre Dame joins the top four of the CFP Rankings. (CBS Sports)
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