On Tuesday night, the College Football Playoff committee released its latest rankings for Week 13, and as a Big 12 outlet, one ranking stood out above the rest: SMU ranked No. 13, while BYU was ranked No. 14.
Now normally, at this point in the season, with still two games and conference championship games remaining, we don’t want to overreact to the committee’s rankings, believing that things will sort themselves out.
However, any honest college football fan, and especially Big 12 fan, should be appalled at that decision.
First, let’s remember how the committee is supposed to make these decisions. Here’s a reminder of their own criteria.
College Football Playoff Criteria
- Championships won
- Strength of schedule
- Head-to-head competition
- Comparative outcomes of common opponents (without incenting margin of victory)
- Other relevant factors such as unavailability of key players and coaches that might have affected a team’s performance during the season or likely will affect its postseason performance
BYU vs. SMU
So, with Championships being an irrelevant talking point, let’s look next to Strength of Schedule. BYU’s Strength of Schedule is 53. SMU’s is 86.
Next up, head-to-head competition. Oh! Well look at that. These two teams played each other in September, and BYU not only won the game, but won the game on the road, 18-15.
What more is needed for the committee? And why do we even bother with these rankings at this point of the season if their own criteria doesn’t matter.
Did BYU lose a tough game against Kansas on Saturday? Sure. Meantime, SMU handled Boston College. But as we talked about all last week, Kansas has been rapidly improving and looks much more like the team we though could compete for a Big 12 Championship prior to the season.
But both teams are 9-1. BYU has the Strength of Schedule, by a wide margin, and the head-to-head. Yet the committee elects to give SMU the edge in this week’s rankings.
Make it make sense. You can’t. But we’ve come to expect that with this committee for far too long.
