We've made it to November and the landscape of college football is nearly unrecognizable from our preseason expectations. With the likes of BYU, Indiana, SMU, and other party-crashers forcing their way onto the scene, many are baffled at the idea of quantifying each team's value.
Enter the College Football Playoff rankings: the authoritative list of which teams have impressed voters and which teams still have plenty to prove. This ranking is selected via committee, rather than a poll, and will be immune to poll inertia and similar problems that many teams are suffering from under the AP reign.
Indiana and BYU are both unbeaten and face 4 or less games that stand in the way of their direct course to a conference championship game and a bid at the College Football Playoff. The Hoosiers have a weaker schedule than the Cougs, but 9 wins and an impressive margin of victory through the perceivably tougher Big 10 Conference.
But with BYU owning two wins over currently ranked opponents in SMU and Kansas State, it's difficult to say that the Hoosiers would certainly win in a head-to-head matchup.
The new rankings should eliminate all voter bias and instead shift to a different, more vaguely veiled bias that they'll insist isn't present.
This week is the chance for underappreciated squads to jump the blue bloods and big names on merit, rather than brand.
Week 11 College Football Playoff Ranking Prediction
Rank | Team | Reason | Last Week |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Oregon | Big 10 Champion | 1 |
2 | Georgia | SEC Champion | 2 |
3 | Miami (FL) | ACC Champion | 3 |
4 | BYU | Big 12 Champion | 4 |
5 | Texas | At-Large | 6 |
6 | Ohio State | At-Large | 9 |
7 | SMU | At-Large | N/A |
8 | Tennessee | At-Large | 12 |
9 | Indiana | At-Large | N/A |
10 | Boise State | MWC Champion | 10 |
11 | Notre Dame | At-Large | 11 |
12 | Penn State | At-Large | 5 |