College Football Playoff Teams Taking Shape

12 Nov, 2014

TCU still has Baylor beat in the College Football Playoff rankings – even though the Bears got the better of the Horned Frogs on the field.

The Horned Frogs moved up to fourth in the rankings released Tuesday night, while the Bears were up to seventh, closing the gap between themselves and their Big 12 rivals.

“For the third consecutive week, the committee looked at the overall body of work, their strength of schedule, and looked at the number of top 25 wins,” committee chairman Jeff Long said. “TCU has two top 25 wins and Baylor has one. And TCU’s loss is a top-10 loss. When you put all those factors together, we still think at this time TCU has a better résumé and was voted that way ahead of Baylor. “

Oregon (9-1) jumped undefeated Florida State and moved into second. The Seminoles (9-0) slipped to No. 3. Mississippi State remained No. 1.

The Ducks now have three wins against teams currently in the top 25 (Michigan State, UCLA, Utah). Florida State has beaten two teams in the top 25 (Notre Dame and Clemson).

Long said the committee had a long discussion about the merits of the Ducks and Seminoles, and decided to look beyond the record.

“It was a very close call, but the committee placed significant value on Oregon’s quality of wins against three top 25 teams, two of which were on the road,” Long said.

The 12-person selection committee will choose the four playoff teams on Dec. 7.

Alabama (8-1) is No. 5 and Arizona State (8-1) is sixth, and both appear to be in good shape to secure a spot in the playoff if they can keep winning.

Alabama hosts Mississippi State on Saturday. If Arizona State wins out, it would have to go through Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game.

The Big 12 doesn’t have a championship game.

The selection committee has been directed to use conference championships and head-to-head matchups as ways of distinguishing between teams with similar resumes.

AP

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