Brett Yormark calls out College Football Playoff committee, Boise State's ranking
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Finally, the Big 12 commissioner is speaking out against the ridiculously biased College Football Playoff Rankings.
Heading into conference championship weekend, the top two teams in the Big 12 — Arizona State (10-2) and Iowa State (10-2) — are ranked No. 15 and No. 16 in the latest CFP Rankings. Ranked ahead of them are three 3-loss SEC teams, a Miami team that did not qualify for its conference championship game and a Boise State team that struggled to beat 3-9 Wyoming two weeks ago.
"The [selection] committee continues to show time and time again that they are paying attention to logos versus résumés," Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark said Wednesday on a conference call.
"Strength of schedule should matter and wins against Power 4 opponents should matter — 74% of the Big 12 wins were against Power 4 opponents this season. Meanwhile, the Group of 5 is 11-80. ... In no way should a Group of 5 champion be ranked above our champion."
But that is currently the case. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Boise State ranks No. 86 in the nation in strength of schedule — one spot behind Oregon State (5-7) and one spot ahead of Ball State (3-9).
Arizona State ranks No. 72 and Iowa State ranks No. 68. As a point of comparison, the Sun Devils beat Wyoming 48-7 earlier this season in a game that was over at halftime. The Sun Devils put up 499 yards of offense to just 118 for Wyoming. In Boise State's 17-13 win over Wyoming, the Broncos barely outgained the Cowboys, 352 to 319, and needed a late touchdown to avoid a huge upset.
"Obviously I challenge what I've seen to date, and again I'm going to lean on strength of schedule. I don't think it's played out the way it should," Yormark said. "But I do have trust in the committee that ultimately we'll land where we're supposed to land. And, you know, that ultimately will mean we'll get a bye. ... It will come down to the selection committee making that decision, but I'm hopeful it will be the right one."
The five highest-ranked conference champions in the CFP selection committee's final rankings are guaranteed playoff spots, with the top four receiving first-round byes. If the season ended today, No. 1 Oregon (projected Big Ten champion), No. 2 Texas (projected SEC champion), No. 8 SMU (projected ACC champion) and No. 10 Boise State (projected Mountain West champion) would receive first-round byes. No. 15 Arizona State (projected Big 12 champion) would be the final team in the field and would face the No. 5 seed in the first round.
We'll see how it all plays out soon enough. Boise State hosts No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West Conference championship game on Friday at 6 p.m. MST, and Arizona State and Iowa State square off Saturday morning at 10 a.m. MST in the Big 12 title game.
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
-66e6aeb5014b4c4eeac84ca997f034c9.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.
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