The main argument we hear on the College Football Playoff Rankings Show and the sports debate shows is, what matters more? Talent/”eye test,” or resume?
This weekly column will add to that 2nd part. It answers the question of which teams have the best playoff resumes in all of FBS college football. Let me be clear, I will not be reacting to the CFP rankings or making a case for who I think the 12 playoff teams should be. But, I think it’s interesting to try to definitively rank the best teams strictly according to their resumes. Although this final column of the year will include some analysis after the resume rankings, scroll down to the bottom for that.
Before I unveil this week’s rankings let me explain the methodology of them:
I’ve developed a points system for each team’s resume and it goes as follows.
- 3 points for each win against a ranked opponent (WARO). The qualifier is those opponents need to be ranked in the most recent CFP rankings . For example, I don’t care that Clemson was ranked Georgia Tech beat them in week 3. They are not ranked now so that does *not* count as a win over a ranked team for the Yellow Jackets.
- 2 points for each win against bowl eligible opponents that are unranked (WABEO)
- 1 point for each win against opponents with a .500 or better record that are unranked (WAWO)
- -1 point for every loss
- -1 additional point for every loss against an opponent with a losing record (LALO) For example, Texas has 3 losses so whatever their point total is after accounting for the teams they’ve beaten we subtract 3 points from it to get their total resume points. However, one of their losses is to Florida and they have a losing record. So we will subtract an additional point from their total. Thus, in all, Texas would lose 4 points from whatever their point total is after accounting for the teams they’ve beaten. Let’s say they have 10 points before their losses are accounted for. In that instance the Longhorns would end up with 6 points because they’d lose 3 points for their 3 losses and another because one of their losses was to a losing team.
Clear as mud? Alright. Here are this week’s College Football Playoff Resume Rankings
LOCAL TEAMS OUTSIDE TOP 12
17 Utah 4 points | #15 in CFP rankings | 10-2 record
WABEO: 3 Arizona State, Cincinnati, Kansas State
TOP 12
12 Alabama 8 points | #9 in CFP rankings | 10-3 record
WARO: 2 #3 Georgia, #14 Vanderbilt
WABEO: 3 LSU, Missouri, Tennessee
LALO: 1 FSU
11 Notre Dame 9 points | #10 in CFP rankings | 10-2 record
WARO: 1 #16 USC
WABEO: 4 Boise State, Navy, NC State, Pittsburgh
T9 Oklahoma 10 points | #8 in CFP rankings | 10-2 record
WARO: 2 #18 Michigan, #9 Alabama
WABEO: 3 Missouri, Tennessee, LSU
T9 Texas A&M 10 points | #7 in CFP rankings | 11-1 record
WARO: 1 #11 Notre Dame
WABEO: 4 LSU, Missouri, UTSA, Utah State
T6 Tulane 11 points | #20 in CFP rankings (Top G5 team) | 10-2 record, American Champion
WARO: #25 North Texas
WABEO: 5 Northwestern, Duke, East Carolina, Memphis, Army
T6 Oregon 11 points | #5 in CFP rankings | 11-1 record
WARO: 2 #16 USC, #23 Iowa
WABEO: 3 Minnesota, Northwestern, Washington
T6 Texas Tech 11 points | #4 in CFP rankings | 12-1, Big 12 Champion
WARO: 4 #15 Utah, 2x #12 BYU, #21 Houston
5 BYU 12 points | #12 in CFP rankings | 11-2 record
WARO: 2 #15 Utah, #17 Arizona
WABEO: 4 East Carolina, Iowa State , TCU, Cincinnati
T2 James Madison 13 points | #24 in CFP rankings (#2 G5 team) | 12-1 record, Sun Belt Champion
WABEO: 7 Georgia Southern, Louisiana, Old Dominion, Texas State, Coastal Carolina, 2x Troy
T2 Georgia 13 points | #3 in CFP rankings | 12-1 record, SEC Champion
WARO: 4 #6 Ole Miss, #13 Texas, 22 Georgia Tech, #9 Alabama
WABEO: 1 Tennessee
T2 Ohio State 13 points | #1 in CFP rankings | 12-1 record
WARO: 2 #13 Texas, #18 Michigan
WABEO: 4 Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, Illinois
1 Indiana 15 points | #1 in CFP rankings | 13-0 record, B1G Champion
WARO: 3 #5 Oregon, #23 Iowa, #2 Ohio State
WABEO: 3 Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, Illinois
OFFICIAL BRACKET & Analysis
VALUING ALABAMA’S WINS MORE THAN BYU’S
The committee clearly valued Alabama’s wins to the point where they far outweighed their losses, which include a 14 point loss to 5 win Florida State and a 21 point loss to Georgia in a de facto playoff game. To be fair the Tide do have a lot of quality wins including over #3 Georgia in Athens. But, the committee also clearly did not value any of BYU’s wins. It’s true that BYU didn’t have as impressive of wins than Bama, but no one had more wins over 7+ win teams in the nation than BYU and that includes 2 wins over top 25 teams in the committee’s final rankings. That coupled with the Tide’s 3 losses would have been enough for me to put the Cougars in instead of Bama.
SHOULD OLE MISS BE IN?
One team whose lack of a resume isn’t getting enough attention is Ole Miss. First of all, I have no idea why they’re ahead of Texas A&M. Head to head can’t explain it, they didn’t play one another this year. Number of quality wins can’t explain it, the Aggies had 5 wins over teams that were at least bowl eligible including a road win over #11 Notre Dame, The Rebels only had 3 such wins, although they had one more win over ranked teams. Secondly, Ole Miss probably should have had to prove that they’re the same quality of team with Lane Kiffin (their head coach AND playcaller) as they are without him before they were given a playoff spot. It’s not just that they lost Kiffin, they also lost basically all of their offensive staff. In my mind that’s significant enough to warrant more consideration to put Notre Dame or BYU in instead of them.
The CFP begins with the 1st round on Friday December 19th. ESPN 700 & 92.1 FM is your home of the College Football Playoff
