This article appeared on pennlive.com
SEC fans and media mouthpieces are struggling to come to grips with the latest College Football Playoff rankings. Those who puff out their chest and say SEC football “just means more,” those filled with immense and sometimes deluded pride, have had a rough week. And unsurprisingly, they’re taking it out on Penn State and the Big Ten.
Georgia, after losing at Ole Miss and picking up its second loss, fell to No. 12 in the committee’s latest rankings. The Bulldogs are currently outside of the projected bracket. The reality that the team that’s won two of the last three national titles and started the year No. 1 might not crack the field has set off an existential crisis.
But it’s not all about Georgia. Tennessee didn’t move from its spot at No. 7 despite Georgia and Miami losing. The Vols won last weekend and were jumped by Indiana and BYU. Now, one-loss Tennessee’s CFP position is precarious if it loses to Georgia this weekend.
Meanwhile, the Big Ten is sitting pretty. Four of the top five teams in CFP rankings are Big Ten schools: Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. There’s still three weeks left in the regular season, and a lot can happen. But all four teams have great odds to make the CFP.
All of those factors have caused SEC fans and talking heads to lash out. And the Nittany Lions have been caught in the crossfire.
Paul Finebaum, ESPN’s resident SEC homer, said Georgia’s No. 12 ranking was “a complete travesty.” He continued, saying: “How the committee can disrespect them and put in schools like Penn State? Are you serious? What has Penn State done this year?”
For starters, Penn State has lost one game. By seven points to Ohio State. In a game the Nittany Lions took down to the wire and could have — and maybe should have — won. They’ve played the rest of their schedule and handled their business in mostly convincing fashion.
Georgia has two losses. Texas A&M has two losses. Ole Miss has two losses, including a loss to now 3-6 Kentucky. Alabama has two losses, including a loss to Vanderbilt. Tennessee has one loss, and it was to an Arkansas team that’s currently 5-4.
Georgia has the hardest schedule in the country, according to ESPN’s metrics. The Bulldogs have wins over Texas and Clemson. Credit where credit is due. Georgia’s “strength of record,” according to ESPN, is No. 3 in the country. Penn State’s is No. 5. Indiana’s is No. 6. Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Ole Miss rank Nos. 8-12, in that order.
But when you’re Georgia and you lose to Alabama and Ole Miss — and look uncompetitive for five quarters in those games — you’re going to be ranked behind the Crimson Tide and Rebels. And when they have two defeats each and a couple bad losses, they’re going to be ranked behind other one-loss or undefeated power conference teams. It’s that simple. That’s how this works.
I don’t feel bad for CFP committee members. It’s a cushy gig. But it’s harder now for the committee than it was in the four-team format, trying to sift through and rank a collection of two-loss teams. The way you avoid being a part of that conversation? Don’t lose.
Instead, you have talking heads and fans in SEC country fantasizing about what would happen if Georgia played Indiana. Well, maybe if the Bulldogs stopped losing we might find out instead of guessing on social media.
People have argued that Indiana shouldn’t be ranked No. 5 because the Hoosiers have beat one team with a winning record. But we’re not throwing our hands up about No. 3 Texas, which has also beat one team with a winning record.
Clay Travis, an SEC supporter in the college football media landscape, called the rankings “a joke” because Alabama and Ole Miss would easily beat teams like Indiana, BYU, Miami and Notre Dame on a neutral field. Again, Alabama and Ole Miss lost to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, respectively. And yet they’re unbeatable?
There have been those who have taken issue with the rankings because the top SEC teams have more talent than BYU and Indiana. In that case, what’s the point of even playing the games? Let’s set the 12-team field based on composite recruiting rankings and skip the regular season completely.
I saw one post on social media from a Tennessee fan arguing that the SEC is superior to the Big Ten and used last year’s Cheez-It Bowl between the Vols and Iowa as a talking point.
This is unhinged behavior. Which makes sense, because college football fandom is unhinged, biased and beautiful. But normally it’s fans of Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 teams demanding respect this time of year. Now, it’s SEC fans squirming. Now Georgia is in trouble, and the sky is falling, and the CFP needs to be expanded again.
And the funny thing is, this is still going to work out for the SEC. The conference has six teams ranked inside the top 15. They will get three or four (maybe five) teams in the CFP, and that won’t be enough.
Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia and Texas A&M are legitimate contenders. Even South Carolina, LSU and Missouri have an outside chance at reaching the SEC title game and playing for an automatic bid and first-round bye.
But with three weeks left to go, fans are losing their minds that their two-loss team might not reach the 12-team College Football Playoff. And if those teams don’t make it, don’t blame Penn State, Indiana or the committee. Blame your coaches and players. They’re the ones who lost.
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