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Robert Griffin III and Paul Finebaum Echo Each Other on Controversial CFP Rankings

One major CFP question arose from two different notable sources in college football media.
Joe Cox|
The initial CFP rankings left Paul Finebaum (shown here) and Robert Griffin III shaking their heads.
The initial CFP rankings left Paul Finebaum (shown here) and Robert Griffin III shaking their heads. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Tennessee VolunteersAlabama Crimson Tide

College football rankings are always subject to interpretation and generally contain some anger fuel for virtually everyone. The College Football Playoff rankings are the most important and thus the most scrutinized. Which left a pair of college football analysts on the same side of one mystery of the initial CFP rankings-- ESPN's Paul Finebaum and FOX's Robert Griffin III.

Finebaum and Griffin Befuddled by CFP Rankings

The topic that left both Finebaum and Griffin scratching their heads was the treatment of Alabama and Tennessee.

To recap, the issue is the ranking treatment of 6-2 Alabama and 6-2 Tennessee. Yes, the teams each have two losses-- Tennessee's coming to Texas and South Carolina and Alabama's to Georgia and Tennessee. That head-to-head victory, a 26-10 thumping, suggests that it was recently settled on the field that Tennessee was substantially better than Alabama. But in the first edition of CFP rankings, Tennessee was 13th and Alabama was 5th.

"Alabama has no business being where they are," said Finebaum. "That is truly absurd to have Alabama that far ahead of Tennessee, a team that just disemboweled them a couple weeks ago in Neyland Stadium.... I'm used to the committee not making any sense. I'm hoping that was some late Halloween trick on America. "

That's not say Alabama/Tennessee was the only issue Finebaum had-- in fact, far from it.

"It is about a discombobulated a ranking as I've ever seen," Finebaum said. "It really doesn't make any sense."

The Complication of Head-to-Head

That said, head-to-head considerations can be difficult to quantify. For instance, Missouri beat Florida, Florida beat Auburn, Auburn beat Georgia, Georgia beat Alabama, and Alabama beat Tennessee-- so should Missouri, by that logic, by the topic team in the Playoff? Of course, Missouri lost to Mississippi State itself, so the circle can be unending.

Why the SEC Pecking Order Will Matter

These types of arguments matter because in what is apparently going to be the final year before a 24-team Playoff is effectuated, the final spot or two in the Playoff will be messy. A multitude of two-loss teams already abound in the SEC (Alabama Ole Miss, Texas, LSU, Missouri, and Ternnessee). Only Georgia and Kentucky on the list of CFP competitors have just a single loss.

But ESPN's FPI rankings give Alabama a 69% chance of making the Playoff. That might get confusing if Alabama, say, loses at LSU in Week 10. The Tigers have a 51.5% shot at the Playoff, which would then go up, but Alabama's would surely decline. The last two Playoff fields each included one 3-loss team, although Clemson made the field because of winning the ACC Championship. A season ago, Alabama was a controverisal three-loss Playoff squad, and the CFP beauty contest will matter incredibly in that context.

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Joe Cox
JOE COX

Joe is a journalist and writer who covers college and professional sports. He has written or co-written over a dozen sports books, including several regional best sellers. His last book, A Fine Team Man, is about Jackie Robinson and the lives he changed. Joe has been a guest on MLB Network, the Paul Finebaum show and numerous other television and radio shows. He has been inside MLB dugouts, covered bowl games and conference tournaments with Saturday Down South and still loves telling the stories of sports past and present.

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