Five Questions the College Football Playoff Committee Must Answer in Second Rankings

There was much consternation about the College Football Playoff selection committee’s first rankings of the year last Tuesday, but after one of the best Saturdays of college football in recent memory in which multiple top-10 matchups were played, the initial rankings can essentially be crumpled up into a ball and tossed into the trash can.

The committee has plenty of work to do and maneuvering to sort out. It also needs to answer some big questions in the aftermath of Week 10. Here are five questions ahead of the second round of rankings.

What happens with Tennessee and Alabama?

One of the biggest head-scratchers in last week’s rankings was the massive gulf between Alabama and Tennessee, considering the Volunteers’ beatdown of the Crimson Tide back in October. And while the committee was vindicated for their Crimson Tide love affair when Bama beat LSU at Death Valley, they had to be punching air watching the Volunteers blow the doors off of Kentucky. That means that the massive gulf between the two teams has to shrink in the committee’s second rankings Tuesday night. The question is, will the gap shrink enough to where the head-to-head result comes into play?

Does the SEC’s loss become the Big 12’s gain?

The SEC, which was already sitting pretty with five teams in last week’s rankings, had a real chance to stack the deck against the other three conferences, especially if Ole Miss had found a way to beat Georgia and LSU managed to do the same against Alabama. Instead, the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide won rather handily, effectively dropping the Rebels and Tigers out of playoff contention barring miracles for both and perhaps opening the door for the Big 12.

Texas Tech, ranked 15th last week, earned a thrilling win over a solid West Virginia squad while BYU only lost by eight points to Utah despite committing four turnovers. The Cougars’ win over Notre Dame also aged incredibly well this weekend after the Fighting Irish beat No. 1 Miami. Could the Big 12 have three teams in this week’s rankings?

Just how high will Notre Dame rise?

The committee essentially gave Notre Dame a CFP ultimatum last week by ranking them 11th, and the Irish, to their credit, responded with a signature win over Miami. They’ll be one of the bigger risers in this week’s rankings as a result.

However, Notre Dame’s win over Miami was very much a tale of two halves, as the Irish raced out to a 17–3 lead at halftime, only to watch the Hurricanes outscore them 21–14 in the second half to fall just short of a thrilling comeback. Plus, Hurricanes star receiver and Heisman Trophy candidate Malachi Toney is out for the rest of the regular season due to injury, which could also factor into the committee’s evaluations, both of Notre Dame and Miami.

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Will Boise State and Wake Forest see a backup quarterback bump?

We saw Ohio State seemingly get penalized for not having starting quarterback Julian Sayin under center against USC in something of a throwback to the Florida State–Jordan Travis snub.

But the committee is going to be forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: The backup QB rule can go both ways. Both Wake Forest and Boise State won decisively with backup signal-callers under center and should be viewed even more favorably by the committee given his impressive demonstration of depth. The keyword in that last sentence is should.

Does UCLA finally get credit?

UCLA, one of just three undefeated teams remaining in college football last week, found itself scorned by the committee, which ranked the Bruins a distant eighth behind fellow undefeated teams Miami (first) and Utah (third). Well, two teams ranked ahead of the Bruins last week, including the previously undefeated Hurricanes, lost, meaning UCLA is likely ticketed to rise.

Here’s where things get interesting. UCLA defeated Minnesota by 14 points on the road, a more decisive result than the Indiana Hoosiers’ seven-point win over the Golden Gophers at home in overtime. Will the committee use the differing results against common opponents, as well as Indiana’s bye week, as rationale to shift the Big Ten’s balance of power in this week’s CFP rankings? It bears watching.

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