CFB Playoff Committee May Have Method to Its Madness

Many analysts, media members and football people were outraged by the rankings released by the College Football Playoff committee on Tuesday night. There was some shifting within the top six, but there are good reasons for why the committee did some of the things they did.

First and foremost, keep in mind that ESPN has a television show to produce each week. If the rankings stay the same with each poll released, the drama (aka viewership) is likely to be lessened.

As for the rankings themselves, the committee seemed to do a couple of strange things, but examine those a little closer and it becomes evident why they did them.

First, how can the TCU Horned Frogs move to third place, ahead of the unbeaten Florida State Seminoles? What this means is that there’s very little chance that the Baylor Bears could ever jump over TCU, despite a win in their head-to-head matchup. The committee put a little more space in between the two teams so they could justify what they are saying, which is that TCU’s body of work is much better than Baylor’s.

Also, keep in mind that the number five and number six teams will likely play in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on New Year’s Day. The committee, under no circumstances, will put Baylor against TCU in that game.

Next, how can an undefeated Florida State team fall to fourth place, which means that they would be the last team selected for the playoff? The primary argument here is that they haven’t lost in two years, how could there be three teams better? That argument is moot, because the committee is charged with only considering this year’s team.

But, how can three one-loss teams be ahead of FSU? That’s a question for committee chair Jeff Long. But Seminole fans should not be too worried about it, because if they finish fourth and face the Alabama Crimson Tide in a national semifinal, the game would be in New Orleans, which is much better for FSU than having to get to Pasadena, which is where the other semifinal will be played. The committee is actually doing Florida State a favor, logistically, by moving them to fourth to prevent a cross-country trip. Long and his cohorts may never admit that, but that’s the only logical explanation.

The final rankings will be released on Sunday and it will be interesting to see how and if anything changes.

Tim Letcher is a contributing writer for www.RantSports.com and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @TimLetcher , on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.