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Urban Meyer Believes CFP Committee Fixed Its Mistake in Latest Rankings

The coach turned FOX analyst shared his beef with the CFP-- which he says the Committee at least somewhat mitigated.
Joe Cox|
Former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer discussed his College Football Playoff concern-- and how the Committee might be fixing it. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]
Former Florida and Ohio State coach Urban Meyer discussed his College Football Playoff concern-- and how the Committee might be fixing it. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun] | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Indiana Hoosiers

Everybody has something to say about the College Football Playoff selection work. Even people who used to be on the inside of college football, like Urban Meyer, who won national titles coaching at both Florida and Ohio State, have their own takes. Now a FOX analyst, Meyer's experience and knowledge make his take a little more relevant than most. One shift from the Week 1 to the Week 2 CFP Rankings caught the eye of Meyer.

Meyer's Take

Rob Stone, Meyer's co-host on The Triple Option podcast, mentioned to Meyer that Indiana dropped five spots-- from No. 4 to No. 9-- despite not playing in week 10. Meyer noted, "Wonder what that looked like in the Committee room, saying, 'Holy Cow, did we screw that one up! I wonder if anybody will notice this. A team didn't play and we're going to drop them five spots because we made a mistake.' I guess that's good."

Meyer's central thesis was that putting the Hoosiers No. 4 was an error in judgment. Indiana's situation is one of the more controversial among the College Football Playoff contenders.

Indiana's Situation

Unlike a season ago, Indiana's wins tend to have been of a fairly unimpressive variety-- and against teams that haven't exactly faced banner schedules. The Hoosiers have one-score victories over Northwestern, Nebraska, Michigan, and Minnesota, none of whom are Playoff contenders. Indiana lost to an Ohio State team that has amassed three losses and itself seems to be out of the Playoff race. Indiana will play USC this week, but otherwise won't have any opportunities in the regular season to gain any validating victories.

ESPN's metrics rank Indiana's strength of schedule at 42th and their remaining strength of schedule at 48th. UCLA has gained significant momentum as the likely second Big Ten team in the field, but Indiana's initial No. 4 ranking raised more than a few eyebrows.

Playoff Field Moves

Notre Dame and UCLA were the biggest gainers of the Week 2 rankings, with Notre Dame's victory over Miami all but guaranteeing the Irish a slot in the Playoff field and UCLA's 9-0 start jumping them up to replace Ohio State or Oregon as the most likely Big Ten squad to join the field other than Indiana. The Big 12 may be set to leap the Big Ten as the conference which places the second-most teams in the Playoff behind the SEC.

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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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