The College Football Playoff committee won’t release its first official rankings of the 2016 season until November, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be totally stunned by what they give us.
College football rankings: How Week 4’s Top 25 scores changed the Playoff picture
Quick notes on each ranked game’s long-term impact. (New polls are out over here, along with a couple other interesting rankings.)
Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Based on two years of statements and rankings, we know the committee values wins over teams that are ranked at the end, wins over bowl teams, and authoritative wins, plus that it reevaluates full schedules rather than just sliding teams up or down a little bit.
Below, scores for every Week 4 game involving a team ranked in the AP Top 25 (since there are no Playoff rankings yet, the AP will do just fine), updated as each reaches its final. More stuff to come Sunday, but for now, here’s how we stand.
No. 1 Alabama 48 (4-0), Kent State 0 (1-3)
No. 2 Ohio State is off, so the polls won’t change at the top. Kent State does not project as anything near a quality win for the Tide.
No. 3 Louisville 59 (4-0), Marshall 28 (1-20)
Putting a ton of points on a potential bowl team is good. Clemson’s up next, though.
No. 4 Michigan 49 (4-0), Penn State 10 (2-2)
This will likely count as an okay W by the end of the year, but nothing major.
No. 5 Clemson 26 (4-0), Georgia Tech 7 (3-1)
The Tigers’ defense looked mean as hell, and this should stand as a pretty good road win. The main thing is Louisville next week, though.
No. 6 Houston 64 (4-0), Texas State 3 (1-2)
Did exactly what a great team should do on the road against a weak team.
No. 7 Stanford 22 (3-0), UCLA 13 (2-2)
By season’s end, likely one of the best wins by any Pac-12 team, even though it was much closer than that score suggests
No. 11 Wisconsin 30 (4-0), No. 8 Michigan State 6 (2-1)
The Badgers might be cut out for this brutal schedule after all. Three Big Ten teams in the top eight of the polls again.
No. 9 Washington 35 (4-0), Arizona 28 (2-2)
The Wildcats are in bad bowl shape, making this yet another Washington win over a weak team, in the committee’s eyes. But Stanford’s up next.
No. 10 Texas A&M 45 (4-0), No. 17 Arkansas 24 (3-1)
We’ve officially got our long-term SEC West runner-up favorite at the moment, right? That’s a long way of saying “team that maybe sneaks in if Bama somehow collapses.”
No. 23 Ole Miss 45 (2-2), No. 12 Georgia 14 (3-1)
The SEC East might be in pretty desperate shape soon, and the West’s New Year’s standing jumps. Now we’ll never know why UGA was No. 12 in the polls, though.
No. 14 Tennessee 38 (4-0), No. 19 Florida 28 (3-1)
Clear SEC East favorite. Georgia next, but that doesn’t sound so scary now.
No. 13 Florida State 55 (3-1), USF 35 (3-1)
This will almost certainly count as a pretty good win for the Noles at the end of the year.
No. 16 Baylor 35 (3-0), Oklahoma State 24 (2-2)
The Bears are undoubtedly the Big 12 favorite, which is uncomfortable, and just added a quality win. West Virginia’s still unbeaten, though.
Auburn 18 (2-2), No. 18 LSU 13 (2-2)
The preseason No. 5 team is pretty much out of the Playoff race, and the SEC West just got more confusing. Auburn making a bowl could be great for Clemson and others.
No. 20 Nebraska 24 (4-0), Northwestern 13
Nothing that will wow the committee this week, but 4-0 is 4-0.
No. 24 Utah 31 (4-0), USC 27 (1-3)
We’ve got our Pac-12 South favorite, I’d say, and the Trojans should regain enough at some point to make this win worth something. The Utes are making a quieter run at the Playoff than they did last year around this time.
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