The first set of College Football Playoff rankings is out. It is not a surprise that Ohio State and Indiana take the top two spots in the first College Football Playoff rankings, but there were some misses by the committee. The biggest of them was the ranking of Notre Dame.
Every year, the first CFP rankings come out, and there are always some hits and some misses. Back in the first rankings in 2014, Mississippi State was ranked first in the first rankings, but finished 10-3 and missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, Ohio State started 16th and won the National Title. In 2016, it was Texas A&M that was ranked fourth in the first rankings, but finished the season 8-5.
Last year, SMU and Arizona State were outside of the playoffs, but both made it to the top 12 of the final rankings. This year, the committee made some mistakes in the first rankings, and those will be exposed by the end of the season.
Honorable Mention: Tennessee
The focus for the playoff rankings is normally on the top 12 and teams that could slip into the playoffs. Still, one of the biggest errors of the committee may have come at the No. 25 slot. To begin with, just one team with three losses made the Top 25, and that was Tennessee, which holds that last spot in the rankings. Tennessee's first loss was in overtime to Georgia, which is ranked fifth. The second loss was to Alabama by 17, but it is currently ranked fourth. This past week, Tennessee lost to Oklahoma.
While Oklahoma is 12th in the first rankings, it also leaves Tennessee without a quality win. They needed overtime to beat Mississippi State, and only beat Arkansas by three points. Outside of that, the best win is either Kentucky or Syracuse, not the resume of a Top 25 team.
Meanwhile, the committee did not rank a single team from the Group of Five. One of those teams will make the playoffs as one of the top five conference champions. Navy, Memphis, and North Texas are all 8-1 on the season, coming out of the American. James Madison is also 7-1 while San Diego State is 7-1. The fact that Tennessee is ranked over five teams with just one loss, one of which will make the playoffs, is a major miss.
Notre Dame is ranked too high
The biggest miss of the playoff ranking belongs to Notre Dame. Notre Dame is currently ranked tenth in the first CFP rankings. They are the highest-ranked two-loss team in the nation. The team has also won six straight games. Still, the resume does not support a top ten ranking.
First, they lost in their first game of the year to Miami. This is a Miami squad that has two losses but is ranked 18th. Still, Miami's best win may be over USF. Notre Dame's other loss to Texas A&M, which, based on the Aggies' ranking, is a quality loss.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame does not have many quality wins. The only win over a ranked team is over USC, a ten-point win at home. Moreover, the Irish are coming off a game in which they had some struggles against Boston College.
Notre Dame is 15th in strength of record and 23rd in strength of schedule. They have a chance to improve their resume over the next two weeks. First, they will host Navy, but using the committee's own logic by not ranking a Group of Five team, this should not be a massive win. They will then visit Pitt, who is currently ranked 22nd. That will get Notre Dame two wins over top 25 teams, but none in the top 15. The final two weeks of the year are against Syracuse and Stanford, neither of which will be big wins.
There are teams behind Notre Dame that deserve to be ranked higher. Texas has a bad loss to Florida, but the other loss is to Ohio State. The team also has wins over ranked teams in Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has losses to Texas and Ole Miss, but wins over Michigan and Tennessee. Vanderbilt has losses to Alabama and Texas, but also wins over Missouri and LSU. Georgia Tech has just one loss on the year. The same is true for Virginia and Louisville.
There is no doubt Notre Dame deserves to be ranked and could be a playoff team if they win out, but 10 was too high. If the committee is hoping to get rankings for their reveal show or for the games, ranking Notre Dame is the right move. If they are trying to get the best teams in the nation, they missed on this one.
