The initial College Football Playoff rankings for 2016 included one big surprise: one-loss Texas A&M at No. 4 over undefeated Washington and three spots ahead of high-scoring Louisville.
Updated College Football Playoff rankings 2016: Washington holds off Ohio State for No. 4
The only top 25 that matters gets an Election Night revision. The whole thing is below.
Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images
The Huskies won’t have to worry about the Aggies any more, since Mississippi State knocked off A&M four days after those rankings, but one-loss Ohio State’s resume to this point is quite comparable to UW’s.
Using the committee’s rudimentary metric, OSU’s played six teams with winning records. UW’s played three, including a bad Idaho. The Buckeyes have played three top-12 teams (Oklahoma, Penn State, and Wisconsin) and just beat a previously top-10 Nebraska by 59 points, while UW’s only ranked win is over No. 15 Utah.
However, unbeaten is unbeaten. And the Huskies have looked impressive almost every week.
This doesn’t really matter as far as this season goes, since both OSU and Washington are win-and-in (the Buckeyes have a tiebreaker advantage over Penn State, to whom they’ve lost), but these updated rankings do illustrate a bit of the committee’s thinking.
Here’s the full top 25 heading into Week 10, with an update coming each Tuesday night until selection Sunday.
| Rank | Conference | Last week | Week 10 result | |
| 1 | Alabama, 9-0 | SEC | 1 | W at LSU, 10-0 |
| 2 | Clemson, 9-0 | ACC | 2 | W vs. Syracuse, 54-0 |
| 3 | Michigan, 9-0 | Big Ten | 3 | W vs. Maryland, 59-3 |
| 4 | Washington, 9-0 | Pac-12 | 5 | W at Cal, 66-27 |
| 5 | Ohio State, 8-1 | Big Ten | 6 | W vs. Nebraska, 62-3 |
| 6 | Louisville, 8-1 | ACC | 7 | W at BC, 52-7 |
| 7 | Wisconsin, 7-2 | Big Ten | 8 | W at Northwestern, 21-7 |
| 8 | Texas A&M, 7-2 | SEC | 4 | L vs. Miss. State, 35-28 |
| 9 | Auburn, 7-2 | SEC | 9 | W vs. Vandy, 23-16 |
| 10 | Penn State, 7-2 | Big Ten | 12 | W vs. Iowa, 41-14 |
| 11 | Oklahoma, 7-2 | Big 12 | 14 | W at Iowa State, 34-24 |
| 12 | Colorado, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 15 | W vs. UCLA, 20-10 |
| 13 | Oklahoma State, 7-2 | Big 12 | 18 | W at KSU, 43-37 |
| 14 | Virginia Tech, 7-2 | ACC | 19 | W at Duke, 24-21 |
| 15 | Utah, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 16 | Bye |
| 16 | West Virginia, 7-1 | Big 12 | 20 | W vs. Kansas, 48-21 |
| 17 | North Carolina, 7-2 | ACC | 21 | W vs. GT, 48-20 |
| 18 | Florida State, 6-3 | ACC | 22 | W vs. NCSU, 24-20 |
| 19 | Nebraska, 7-2 | Big Ten | 10 | L at Ohio State, 62-3 |
| 20 | USC, 6-3 | Pac-12 | NR | W vs. Oregon, 45-20 |
| 21 | Western Michigan, 9-0 | MAC | 23 | W at Ball State, 52-20 |
| 22 | Boise State, 8-1 | Mountain West | 24 | W vs. SJSU, 45-31 |
| 23 | Washington State, 7-2 | Pac-12 | 25 | W vs. Arizona, 69-7 |
| 24 | LSU, 5-3 | SEC | 13 | L vs. Alabama, 10-0 |
| 25 | Arkansas, 6-3 | SEC | NR | W vs. Florida, 31-10 |
Remember, there’s still a long way to go.
In 2014, Mississippi State and Auburn remained in the top four at this point; they’d finish ranked No. 7 and No. 19, respectively. Notre Dame appeared in the top four at this time last year and would finish 10-2.
The committee starts its whole board from scratch each week, re-evaluating each team’s entire schedule.
One seemingly insignificant game can alter things quite a bit. We saw this in 2014, when Baylor jumped TCU in the final rankings after beating Kansas State, and thus drawing near enough in strength of schedule for the Bears’ previous win over the Horned Frogs to matter. (If that sounds like I’m making it up, no, that’s exactly how the committee described their thought process. It makes sense to me.)
Still, the closer you are to the top, the better.
(Duh.)
2014 national champion Ohio State was still No. 14 at this point in that year. In 2015, Playoff semifinalists Oklahoma and Michigan State ranked Nos. 12 and 13, respectively.
This year, it’s hard to see any teams outside the top 10 crashing the field, due to the low number of undefeated and one-loss teams soaking up all the wins, but potential Big 12 champion West Virginia shouldn’t be counted out until it loses a second game. Same for Western Michigan and its first loss, though the idea of WMU making the tourney is likely daydreaming.
This also affects more than just the Playoff.
The committee also matches up the rest of the New Year’s Six bowls. This year, that means the Cotton, Orange, Rose, and Sugar.
The Rose is simple: the top non-Playoff Big Ten team vs. the top non-Playoff Pac-12 team. Same for the Sugar with the Big 12 and SEC.
The Orange pairs the top non-Playoff ACC team against the top Big Ten or SEC team not in any of the above games. (Notre Dame also has a tie to this game, but the Irish might not be making any bowls this year, period.)
The Cotton is left to take the top mid-major conference champion and the highest-ranking at-large from any conference.
Add that together, and if the season ended right now, here’s what we’d have in the New Year’s Six.
Peach Bowl: No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 4 Washington
Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Clemson vs. No. 3 Michigan
Rose Bowl: No. 5 Ohio State vs. No. 12 Colorado
Sugar Bowl: No. 8 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Oklahoma
Orange Bowl: No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 7 Wisconsin
Cotton Bowl: No. 9 Auburn vs. No. 21 Western Michigan
See More:
