Subscribe
Follow Us
CFPEverybody is buzzing about the new College Football Playoff rankings as we get closer and closer to a solid, finalized 12-team field for the first edition of the expanded postseason.
Tuesday night's CFP rankings had massive implications, especially for teams in the ACC and the Big 12. In the ACC, Miami fell out of the field after a stunning loss to Syracuse and SMU moved up to No. 8 before its title game clash with No. 17 Clemson. In the Big 12, Arizona State and Iowa State were placed at No. 15 and 16, respectively, ensuring that Saturday's conference championship game is essentially a playoff game.
In a bizarre turn of events, Tuesday's CFP rankings even had the athletic directors getting into the discourse. SMU AD Rock Hart and Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard went back and forth on social media following the reveal.
“Disappointing that strength of schedule clearly does not matter for SMU, Indiana and Boise State,” Pollard posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Message is clear – win as many games as possible regardless of who you play. Time to rethink non-conference scheduling. Very different standards than the basketball committee.”
Hart quickly responded to defend his team, saying “Jamie, respect you but bad take. ISU had [North Dakota], Iowa, Ark. St. non-con. SMU had [Nevada]., HCU, TCU, BYU. (And scrambled due to Vandy dropping us.) SMU 1 of 2 to win all conf. games, 1 of 3 with 9 P4 wins, trailed a TOTAL of 6+ mins. last 9 games. I could go on… Stay off my lawn!”
Pollard fired off one final message, saying “Rick, beat Clemson Saturday and I will respect your ranking. Until then you did not play Clemson, Miami, Georgia Tech or Syracuse AND lost to BYU at home. Looks like your lawn may be artificial.”
Pollard's strength of schedule stance is rich considering SMU scheduled a top 20 road game in non-conference play against BYU. He even called out Boise State, who played a road game against unbeaten CFP No. 1 Oregon… and came within seconds of pulling the upset.
Meanwhile, Iowa State finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 with BYU, Colorado and Arizona State; they didn't play any of them in the regular season. Instead, the Cyclones picked on Cincinnati, Utah, UCF and Houston, four of the six worst teams in the conference.
SMU should be in the CFP regardless of Saturday's result
Something that the College Football Playoff committee has stood on throughout the first season of the 12 team format is that playing in a conference championship game and losing will not hurt your resume, especially when being compared to a team that didn't reach a championship game of its own.
It's safe to assume that they didn't see a possible CFP doomsday scenario coming. On Saturday, SMU could fall to 11-2 with a loss to Clemson in the ACC title game. That would leave the final at-large spot between SMU and 9-3 Alabama, who will have the weekend off because it tripped up in games against two 6-6 teams, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma.
The bottom line is this: SMU absolutely cannot be left out of the CFP in favor of Alabama if it loses. If that happens, no team will want to play in a conference championship game again moving forward, something that Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin feared earlier this season. The Mustangs should not be punished for a more successful season than the teams below it, regardless of how Saturday night goes.
