The second installment of the College Football Playoff rankings was released Tuesday with no changes to the top five and only two newcomers.
But there was no shortage of debate as the CFP selection committee favored the usual suspects and banished the ACC to the bottom half of the rankings.
Our instant reaction:
— If the field were selected today, the top four seeds (with opening round byes) would be Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M and Alabama. No longer are the top seeds reserved for conference champions; they are assigned to the best teams.
— SEC teams accounted for eight of the 25 spots followed by the Big Ten (six), ACC (five) and Big 12 (four). But the distribution was hardly even: The SEC filled seven of the top-14 spots.
— Oregon climbed just one position, to No. 8, after the last-second victory at No. 21 Iowa.
The Ducks (8-1) remain in slightly dangerous territory. With another loss (to Minnesota, USC or Washington), they could drop onto the CFP bubble and find themselves at the mercy of results in other conferences.
— Notre Dame also moved up one spot, to No. 9, and stands as the highest-ranked two-loss team. The position is further indication that the Irish (7-2) will make the field as long as they beat Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Stanford.
“The committee really likes Notre Dame as a complete team,” said committee chair Mack Rhoades, who is Baylor’s athletic director. “Their run game is as good as anybody, if not the best in the country.”
Because the Irish cannot access the CFP as an automatic qualifier, they would reduce by one the number of at-large berths available for non-champions from the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC.
— Were the field set today, No. 10 Texas would be the last team in the field based on selection protocols, but the Longhorns (7-2) are a fascinating team to watch for another reason.
They have upcoming dates with No. 5 Georgia and No. 3 Texas A&M. Would a split of those showdowns cancel each other out and allow Texas to become the first three-loss team to participate in the CFP?
— Brigham Young dropped five spots, to No. 12, following the lopsided loss to Texas Tech, a clear indication the selection committee doesn’t view the Cougars (8-1) as a playoff-caliber team at the moment.
— Utah remained No. 13 and is now one spot below BYU, likely a result of the head-to-head loss in the Holy War. The Utes (7-2) have so little juice left in their schedule, with three unranked teams remaining, that an at-large berth seems unlikely.
— The highest-ranked ACC team was No. 15 Miami, a reflection of the conference’s chaotic results in recent weeks and dearth of high-level non-conference victories in September.
The Hurricanes are below three teams from the Big 12, the second consecutive week that has been the case.
— The Big Ten’s two-loss teams, USC and Michigan, were No. 17 and No. 18, respectively.
The order makes sense, what with USC’s decisive head-to-head victory, but both are ranked lower than two-loss teams from the Big 12 (BYU and Utah), SEC (Texas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt) and ACC (Miami).
That said, the Trojans and Wolverines have enough high-level opponents remaining — USC plays Iowa and Oregon, while Michigan, of course, faces Ohio State — to climb the rankings and vault into the CFP.
— Unlike last week, a representative from the Group of Five conferences was included: South Florida, which is 7-2 with wins over Boise State and Florida, was ranked 24th. If the Bulls win out in the American, they will qualify.
“The committee felt like of the Group of Five to date, they’re the most consistent,” said Rhoades, who added that the committee also discussed Tulane, James Madison and Boise State.
The Bulls were one of the two newcomers, along with No. 25 Cincinnati.
— As a reminder: The five highest-ranked conference champions receive automatic bids.
Winners of the Power Four (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC) aren’t guaranteed spots but likely will be ranked ahead of the best team from the Group of Five.
However, if the ACC continues to eat its own, there’s a remote possibility that two teams from the Group of Five — the best bets would be James Madison (Sun Belt) and the American champion — could be ranked ahead of the ACC winner.
In that case, the ACC could be excluded entirely.
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