Boise State received the fourth and final bye in Tuesday night’s College Football Playoff rankings, leaving BYU out of that mix and placing the Big 12 alongside the SEC on the list of power conferences with a gripe.
Undefeated Oregon received top billing once again, delivered by the committee a few hours after Big Ten number crunchers ran through tiebreaker scenarios and realized the Ducks had clinched a spot in the conference title game no matter what happens between now and December.
Ohio State stayed at No. 2, one spot ahead of Southeastern Conference co-leader Texas. Miami of the Atlantic Coast Conference was ranked eighth but gets the third seed and a bye that goes to the top four ranked conference leaders. And likewise, Boise State of the Mountain West was ranked 12th by the committee but was slotted into that fourth and final bye.
BYU was ranked 14th, but gets the last spot in the 12-team bracket as the fifth-best conference leader. That bumps out No. 11 Tennessee, which lost to Georgia last week and now takes the spot the SEC’s Bulldogs held last week: first team out.
There are three more weeks of rankings to go, culminating with the reveal on Dec. 8 that sets the bracket for college football’s first 12-team playoff.
Boise State’s rise into the bye wasn’t all that unexpected after BYU suffered its first loss of the season, which caused its eight-spot tumble down the rankings. It’s a bit of a comedown for Big 12 backers, who would point out that every team in their league has a stronger strength of schedule than the Broncos. But BYU’s season has been full of close calls — four wins by six points or less — and that factored into its ranking this week.
“Given some of the games they played and close games they had, it was an indicator that some of the teams below them should move ahead,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, who serves as the chair of the selection committee.
Of course, nobody cries foul louder than the SEC, which was generally appalled at seeing Georgia left out last week after its lopsided loss to Mississippi. Now, the Bulldogs are back at No. 10. Alabama is No. 7 and Ole Miss is No. 9. All three teams, along with Tennessee, have two losses. But nobody can argue with that conference’s strength of schedule.
“One, they just had a loss to Georgia. It’s really splitting hairs,” Manuel said on the committee’s choice to leave Tennessee out and put the other three SEC teams in. “They have great offense, great defense, they play hard. The committee had a hard time. You’re talking about four really good teams.”
Other rankings: No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Indiana and No. 6 Notre Dame.
And, in this week’s biggest quirk, SMU is undefeated and alone in first place in the ACC, but still got ranked 13th.
This week’s projected first-round matchups
All games on campus, Dec. 20-21.
No. 12 BYU at No. 5 Ohio State: Buckeyes would be a three-touchdown favorite.
No. 11 Georgia at No. 6 Penn State: Who needs a playoff? They were ranked 1 and 2 in the 1983 Sugar Bowl; Penn State 27, Georgia 23.
No. 10 Mississippi at No. 7 Indiana: So far, Hoosiers have been paired against Tennessee, Alabama and now, Ole Miss, in projected brackets.
No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Notre Dame: The second (Tide) vs fourth (Irish) winningest programs in history
Big games this week
Indiana at Ohio State: Indiana’s weak schedule (106th per ESPN) hurts it. A win at Ohio State would break a 28-game losing streak in the series and put a rest to all that.
Army at Notre Dame: Speaking of weak schedules, Army’s ranks 133 out of 134. A win here would get the 19th-ranked Black Knights in the conversation.
BYU at Arizona State: A Sun Devils win (and a Colorado loss at Kansas) throws the Big 12 into chaos and could cost it that first-round bye for good.
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