ESPN’s Heather Dinich has one problem with updated college football rankings

On Monday, ESPN's Heather Dinich came to the rescue with simple cause-and-effect logic when explaining why the AP Poll's ranking of two important college football teams in the Week 6 is way out of line.

In a video Dinich uploaded to her Instagram account, she took umbrage with the eight-spot canyon between No. 10 Alabama and No. 18 Florida State in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Of course, Florida State just suffered their first loss this weekend on the road at one-loss Virginia, while the Alabama team who fell in Tallahassee vs. the Seminoles enjoyed a major ascension up the ranks after bottling up Georgia for a ninth win in their last 10 vs. the Bulldogs, and this time in Athens.

Sure, what a wonderful win for Alabama, while FSU fell to an unranked foe. But Dinich argues that if AP voters used College Football Playoff Selection Committee logic, then Florida State ought to remain ahead of Alabama despite the most recent results.

"Did Florida State not beat Alabama?" Dinich asked rhetorically. "Do you remember? Because I do, and everyone said Florida State looked like the SEC team on the field that day because Florida State pushed Alabama around up front. Now, they're the 18th-best team in the country after that same Alabama team went on the road and beat Georgia?"

A baffled Heather Dinich explained that her own spin on the rankings would put FSU ahead of Alabama, and Alabama over Georgia, and Georgia over Tennessee, based on a chain of results. She also pointed out that the 2024 final CFP rankings laid out the obvious and reasonable blueprint for how to handle ranking teams who have squared off head-to-head.

"Here's the proof for that: last year's ranking going into selection day; if you're a South Carolina fan, you'll remember, painfully, being stuck here," Dinich said in reference to the Gamecocks' position at No. 15 in the final CFP poll, behind both Alabama and Ole Miss. "Why? Because South Carolina lost to Ole Miss and Alabama, and up until the very end, the Selection Committee honored those head-to-head results."

The head-to-head argument is a sticking point for Dinich, but she also noted that a one-loss Virginia team, who scored 40+ points and toppled Florida State, deserves more respect.

"The Selection Committee would also note that Virginia is a much better football team this year," Dinich asserted. "I don't know what the AP Poll voters think of Virginia, but this is a decent football team. And the committee would note that going on the road for the first time, against a respectable opponent, and losing in double overtime, is hardly the equivalent of going on the road and getting smacked by a lesser opponent."

Dinich provides a bold take on the situation... but she's not wrong? The Alabama win is great... but Florida State did manhandle them while barely losing an OT thriller against a UVA squad that is under the radar but could prove to be a very quality foe down the road.

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