Alabama tops the top of the college football playoffs, followed by Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State, while BYU makes its debut in 14th place despite a 9-0 start to the season.
Nick Saban Crimson Tide is among the top four teams in the top nine of the first rankings, along with 5th in Texas and 6th in A&M, Texas, 9th in Florida and 9th in Georgia. (Auburn, who finished 24th, will give the team five teams at the conference.) Georgia is the top-ranked two-losing team, despite Alabama and Florida suffering a double-digit defeat, while Clemson, which lost a single match from Notre. Dame plays in two overtime, without starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the highest-ranked, losing team.
Although BYU is behind three two-losing teams – Georgia, 11th Oklahoma and 13th Iowa State – Cincinnati received a more favorable starting rank in 7th place, despite playing one less match than BYU. The Bearcats have won championships over SMU, Memphis, UCF, Houston, East Carolina and South Florida, and are scheduled to visit Tulsa on December 12, which will debut at No. 25 on the CFP rankings.
In BYU’s original 2020 schedule, they played matches against six Power 5 opponents – Utah, Michigan State, Arizona State, Minnesota, Missouri and Stanford – and all were canceled when Pac-12, Big Ten and the SEC only was in the league because of the COVID-19 epidemic. As an independent member of the FBS, BYU revised its schedule and won over Boise State, Houston, Navy and Troy, winning all but one of its matches by 17 points or more and beating its opponents by 428-125 this season.
“It’s a big motivation for the guys,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said of his 14th-place team. “Love our team, love our players – I think we play a great football brand with excitement and passion, and a lot of work and a lot of evidence in an obviously short time, and hopefully we can do that.”
Gary Barta, chairman of the CFP selection committee who is on the ESPN rankings, has indicated that the committee is “certainly impressed with BYU”, but acknowledged that “a timetable has set in.”
The Cougars have an open date for both this week and next week, and only one regular season match will be played on Dec. 12 against San Diego State. BYU is ranked 8th in both AP and coach polls this week.
Sitake said BYU had the opportunity to play in Washington this week, but “it just failed for whatever reason.”
He continued: “There is a narrative like this that we are hiding, ducking or waiting for, and it’s just not true. It’s a false narrative. I want to make sure everyone understands that we’re not afraid of anyone. me and 19 that we are willing to play football – and if there is anyone who really has the opportunity to play these games, we want to do it. ”
Two undefeated 5-team teams are behind BYU in 20th place in Carolina and 21st in Marshall.
Ohio State (4-0) is the top ten team in the Big Ten in the CFP rankings, followed by Northwestern No. 8, which is 5-0 and is likely to meet the Buckeyes for the second time in a Big Ten league match. three seasons. The Big Ten also tied the SEC with five of the teams in the initial rankings (Indiana 12th, Wisconsin 16th and Iowa 24th).
The ACC placed three teams in the top 10 of the rankings as Miami (7-1) made its debut in 10th place despite a 42-17 loss to Clemson. North Carolina, which hosts Notre Dame on Friday, will rank 19th.
Oklahoma and Iowa State are the top-ranked teams from the Big 12, which also puts Texas (17th) and Oklahoma State (23rd) in the Top 25.
Pac-12, the last FBS conference to kick off the 2020 season, has only two teams in the rankings: No. 15 in Oregon and No. 18 in USC, both 3-0. Two unbeaten Pac-12 teams – Washington (2-0) and Colorado (2-0) – are not ranked.
The CFP Selection Committee is scheduled to publish the rankings on December 1, December 8, and 15 before announcing the final selection on December 20.
The pandemic did not prevent the selection committee from meeting in person as usual at the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas. The playoffs themselves are scheduled to start with the Jan. 1 semi-finals at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, as well as the Jan. 11 league game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Associated Press contributed to the report.
