Smeltz: College Football Playoff Rankings: Where the committee was right and wrong

By: Joe Smeltzer

Clemson QB Deshaun Watson stiff arms a Florida State defender (photo creds to USA Today)

Hello, everybody. The second batch of rankings in the college football playoff poll came out on Tuesday, and as usual, there is plenty of debate as to what the playoff committee got right and where they screwed up. Let's get into what Joseph Arthur Smeltzer thinks of these rankings.

Where the committee got it right 

Alabama's Derrick Henry has inserted himself into the Heisman conversation (photo creds to nola.com)

The top 3 of Clemson, Alabama and Ohio State is completely accurate and should not cause much debate at all among college football supporters. The rankings beyond the top 3 get a little interesting. At number 4, we have the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame making their top 4 debut, one spot ahead of Iowa, who moved into the top 5 for the first time since 2009. Some believe neither team deserves to be ranked this highly, and some say that a one-loss Notre Dame team does not deserve to be ranked ahead of the undefeated Hawkeyes. I disagree with both of these claims, as I feel that Notre Dame has played a very tough schedule and the fact that their only loss came against the #1 team in the land on the road should be taken into consideration by all skeptics. As good as Iowa is, I do not believe that they deserve to be ahead of Notre Dame due to the Irish having a much tougher list of opponents (Iowa's strength of schedule is #62 while Notre Dame's is at #12). Baylor comes in at #6, which is right where they deserve to be my mind, as they are undefeated but with an even less impressive resume than Iowa to this point. So, I have no issue with the top 6 teams in the country. After this, it gets a little interesting. 

Where they got it wrong 

Christian McCaffrey and Stanford are for real, but are they that good? (photo creds to rukkus.com)

My first problem with these rankings comes at #7. There is no question that the Stanford Cardinal are on a roll right now. However, the fact that they are ranked at #7, ahead of an Oklahoma State team that is undefeated and is coming off of a major statement win over TCU. Ahead of an LSU team with a stronger strength of schedule and strength of and who's only loss of the season came at Alabama on Saturday, and ahead of a Florida team with the same win-loss record but a stronger strength of schedule, is wrong. All that Stanford did this past weekend was pound an awful Colorado team, which is another reason that I am puzzled as to why Stanford is ranked this high. The team that got screwed the most out of these rankings is Oklahoma State, who proved that they are legit by handing TCU their first loss (a blowout at that). It is also surprising that LSU dropped seven (seven!) spots down the ladder after losing an away game to a team that could very well win the national championship. The Florida Gators are proving that a one-loss SEC team can, in fact, fly under the radar, as they are ranked four (four!) spots below Stanford in spite of their only loss being at LSU and having the #4 strength of record in the country while Stanford's is at #10. If the Cardinal can get into the playoffs via beating Notre Dame and winning the Pac 12 championship game, a lot of controversy could ensue.

I've been saying for almost two months that TCU is overrated, and last Saturday may have proven that to be accurate, as Oklahoma State undressed the Horned Frogs. However, a one-loss TCU team being ranked at #15 while a two-loss Michigan team (with a much weaker strength of schedule and record) is ranked at #14 doesn't make sense to me.

So those are my thoughts on this week's college football playoff rankings. I do not feel strongly about numbers 16-25, as I am not in strong agreement or disagreement with where those teams stand. Every week, these rankings will cause some debate, and this week was no different. The playoff committee will never be perfect, and in my mind they certainly had some issues this week. All we as fans can do is sit back and enjoy what the rest of the season will bring for us.

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