The latest College Football Playoff rankings showed the true colors of the committee, as they only dropped Florida one spot (from #6 to #7) following its loss to 3-5 LSU. There seems to be one miracle team almost every season in college football, but they are never in the conversation for the playoff at the season’s end.
This goes back to the 2017 undefeated UCF team, which beat Auburn in its major bowl game and showed they deserved a shot at a playoff spot. UCF also went undefeated in 2018, but had to settle for another major bowl appearance. 2019 is one of the outliers that did not have one of these teams, but Cincinnati finished 10-3 and ranked #21 in the country. Now, in 2020, Cincinnati is undefeated and are dropping in the rankings for being unable to play the past couple of weeks due to COVID issues.
These examples bring up the question, will there ever be a non power 5 team in the College Football Playoff? Sadly, the answer is there probably never will be a non power 5 team in the conversation, unless the playoff is expanded to 8+ teams. Even with 8 teams, Cincinnati would be #9 and not able to contend for a championship. There was a 16 team bracket posted to twitter that showcased numerous interesting games, but the NCAA will probably never expand the playoff that much.
Another team that is being completely disrespected are the #12 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, who have beaten two teams ranked in the top 25. Louisiana defeated #6 Iowa State earlier this season by double digits, but faltered to Coastal Carolina a couple of months ago. This raises another question, why is Iowa State ranked higher than Coastal Carolina given the results to their common opponent? Two loss Iowa State is on the cusp of a playoff berth, despite Coastal Carolina being undefeated with major wins against #19 Louisiana and #17 BYU.
Ultimately, the only way for the lesser known teams to get a chance at a playoff is if the playoff expands to at least eight teams. The latest playoff rankings showed how biased the committee is towards the power 5 teams, especially the SEC. At best, there are only two playoff spots available, which is pending Clemson and Ohio State losing. Somehow, Texas A&M is sitting pretty at the #5 spot and have the best chance at a playoff berth, despite not even winning its own division.
Conference Championship picks:
SEC Championship – #1 Alabama defeats #7 Florida
ACC Championship – #3 Clemson defeats #2 Notre Dame
Big 10 Championship – #4 Ohio State defeats #14 Northwestern
Big 12 Championship – #10 Oklahoma defeats #6 Iowa State
AAC Championship – #9 Cincinnati defeats #23 Tulsa
Pac 12 Championship – #13 USC defeats Oregon